social cognition- selman's level of perspective taking Flashcards
social cognition definition
describes the mental processes we make use of when engaged in social interaction. for example, we make decisions on how to behave based on our understanding of a social situation. both understanding and decision making are cognitive processes
perspective-taking definition
our ability to appreciate a social situation from the perspective of other people. this cognitive ability underlies much of our normal social interaction. referred to specifically as social-perspective-taking or also called role taking because we take on the role of another and therefore their perspective
what was Selman concerned with
how children develop perspective-taking or more specifically social perspective taking
how is Selman different from Piaget
-Different from Piaget’s ideas of physical perspective taking(egocentrism), demonstrated by the 3 mountains task. social perspective-taking concerns what someone else is feeling or thinking (social cognition)
-Piaget believed in domain-general cognitive development, so he believed that physical and social perspective-taking would occur hand-in-hand whereas Selman proposed that the development of social perspective-taking is a separate process, a domain-specific approach to explaining cognitive development
what was Selman’s research on
perspective taking- looked at changes that occurred with age in children’s responses to scenarios in which they were asked to take the role of different people in a social situation
Selman’s perspective taking research -procedure
-30 boys and 30 girls. 20 were 4 year olds, 20 were 5 year olds and 20 were 6 year olds
-all were individually given a task designed to measure perspective-taking ability. this involved asking how each person felt in various scenarios.
-one scenario featured a child called Holly who has promised her father she will no longer climb trees, but who then comes across her friend whose kitten is stuck up a tree. the task was to describe and explain how each person (holly and her friend) would feel if holly did to did not climb the tree to rescue them
Selman’s perspective taking research - sample
30 boys and 30 girls. 20 were 4 year olds, 20 were 5 year olds and 20 were 6 year olds
Selman’s perspective taking research - findings
-number of distinct levels of perspective taking were identified
-Selman found that the level of perspective taking correlated with age, suggesting a clear developmental sequence
what is role taking
the role of another person allows a child to see situations from the other’s perspectives
what are Selman’s stage of development
-stage 0 Egocentric (3-6) years old
-stage 1 Social-informational (6-8)
-stage 2 Self-reflective (8-10)
-stage 3 mutual (10-12)
-stage 4 Social and Conventional system (12+)
Selman’s stage of development stage 0 name and age
-Egocentric
-3-6
Selman’s stage of development stage 1 name and age
Social-informational
-6-8
Selman’s stage of development stage 2 name and age
Self-reflective
-8-10
Selman’s stage of development stage 3 name and age
Mutual
-10-12
Selman’s stage of development stage 4 name and age
Social and Conventional system
-12+
Selman’s stage of development stage 0
Egocentric- a child in this stage cannot reliably distinguish between their own emotions and those of others. they can generally identify emotional states in others but do not understand what social behaviour might have caused them
Selman’s stage of development stage 1
-Social-informational
child can now tell the difference between their own point of view and that of others, but they can usually focus on only one of these perspectives
Selman’s stage of development stage 2
-Self reflective
-at this stage a child can put themselves in the position of another person and fully appreciate the other’s perspective. they cna, however, only take on board one point of view at a time
Selman’s stage of development stage 3
Mutual
-children are now able to look at a situation form their own and another’s point of view at the same time
Selman’s stage of development stage 4
-Social and conventional system
-young people become able to see that sometimes understanding other’s viewpoints is not enough to allow people to reach agreement. this is why social conventions are needed to keep order
what did Selman believe development through stages is based on
maturity and experience
why did Selman develop his theory
recognised descriptions of cognitive reasoning do not fully explain social development
who suggested there are 3 aspects to social development
Schultz et al
what were the 3 aspects of social development that were later developed ot Selman’s theory
1-interpersonal understanding
2- interpersonal negotiation strategies
3- awareness of personal meaning of relationships
later developments to Selman’s theory - interpersonal understanding
what Selman measured in his earlier perspective-taking research, if we can take different roles then we can understand social situations
later developments to Selman’s theory - interpersonal negotiations strategies
as well as understanding what others think in social situations we also have to develop skills in how to respond to them. we therefore develop social skills such as asserting our position and managing conflict
strength of Selman’s levels of perspective taking as an explanation of social cognition - research support for stages
-Selam tested 60 children (boys and girls aged 4-6) using scenarios like that involving holly and kitten. there were significant positive correlations between age and ability to take different perspectives, this cross-sectional research has since been supported by findings of longitudinal studies (Gurucharri and Selman). such longitudinal studies have followed children over a period of time and recorded improvements in their perspective-taking ability. longitudinal studies have good validly because they control for individual difference whereas cross-sectional studies don’t –> means that there is solid support from different lines of research for Selman’s most basic idea, that perspective-taking improves with age
strength of Selman’s levels of perspective taking as an explanation of social cognition - research support for perspective taking
- a key element of Selman’s approach if the importance of perspective taking in social development. this is supported by an observational study of child-parent interaction in toy shops and supermarkets. Builjzen and Valkenburg observed interactions including those in which parents refused to buy things their child wanted. the researchers noted any coercive behaviour in children (such as trying to force parents to buy them things), which is an example of unhealthy social behaiour. the study found negative correlations between coercive behaviour and both age and perspective taking ability which was assessed by interview –> suggests that there is a relationship between perspective taking abilities and healthy social behaviour
limitation of Selman’s levels of perspective taking as an explanation of social cognition - counterpoint to research support for perspective-taking
-other lines of research have not supported the links between perspective-taking and social development. for example, Gasser and Keller assessed perspective-taking in bullies, victims and no -participants. they found that bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective-taking –> suggests that perspective-taking may not a key element in healthy social development
limitation of Selman’s levels of perspective taking as an explanation of social cognition - too cognitive
-focuses on cognitive factors alone
-perspective-taking is a cognitive ability. however, there is far more to children’s social development than their increasing cognitive abilities. by focusing on the cognitive element of development, Selman’s approach fails to take into account the full range of other factors that impact a child’s social development. other internal factors include the development of empathy and emotional self-regulation. there are also important external factors including parenting style, family climate and opportunities to learn from peer interaction –> means that Selman’s approach to explaining social development is too narrow
evaluation of Selman’s levels of perspective taking as an explanation of social cognition - nature or nurture
-some evidence for cultural differences in perspective-taking ability. Wu and Keysar compared American and matched Chinese children and found that the Chinese children were significantly more advanced. this suggests that cultural influences might be important
-however, Selman believed that his stages of perspective taking were based primarily of cognitive maturity (such as biological driven) and hence universal
later developments to Selman’s theory - awareness of personal meaning of relationships
as well as understanding social situations and how to manage them, social development also requires the ability to reflect in social behaviour in context of different relationships. thus a violent gang member may have an advanced social understanding and good social skills, but chooses a simple approach to conflict (Violence) because of role in the gang
