AO1
- PIAGET: DOMAIN-GENERAL COGNITVE DEVELOPMENT – believed PHYSICAL and SOCIAL PERSEPECTIVE-TAKING would occur HAND-IN-HAND
- SELMAN: DEVELOPMENT of SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE-TAKING is a SEPARATE PROCESS
PERSPECTIVE-TAKING RESEARCH
- CHANGES that occur with AGE in the CHILDREN’S RESPONSE to scenarios in which they were asked to take the ROLE of DIFFERENT PEOPLE in a SOCIAL SITUATION
- 30 BOYS AND 30 GIRLS – 20 aged FOUR, 20 aged FIVE and 20 aged SIX were given the task INDIVIDUALLY to measure the ROLE–TAKING ability – ASKED HOW EACH PERSON FELT
- ONE SITUATION: child called HOLLY promised her father she wouldn’t CLIMB THE TREES anymore BUT then comes across her friend whose KITTEN is STUCK UP A TREE
SELMAN’S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
- STAGE 0 (3-6 YRS) SOCIALLY EGOCENTRIC: CAN’T distinguish between their OWN EMOTIONS and those of OTHERS – can IDENTIFY EMOTIONAL STATES but don’t understand WHAT SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR may have CAUSED THEM
- STAGE 1 (6-8 YRS) SOCIAL INFORMATION ROLE-TAKING: CAN now tell the difference between THEIR OWN POV and that of others BUT CAN only focus on ONE of those perspectives
- STAGE 2 (8-10 YRS) SELF-REFLECTIVE ROLE-TAKING: CAN put themselves in the POSITION of ANOTHER PERSON and FULLY APPRECIATE their perspective BUT only ONE PERSPECTIVE at a time
- STAGE 3 (10-12 YRS) MUTUAL ROLE-TAKING: able to look at a situation from THEIR POV and ANOTHER’S at the SAME TIME
- STAGE 4 (12+ YRS) SOCIAL AND CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM ROLE-TAKING: able to see that sometimes UNDERSTAND SOMEONE ELSE’S POV is not enough to reach an AGREEMENT – need SOCIAL CONVENTIONS to keep in order
LATER DEVELOPMENT OF SELMAN’S THEORY
- INTERPERSONAL UNDERSTANDING: what SELMAN measured – if we can take DIFFERENT ROLES then we can understand SOCIAL SITUATIONS
- INTERPERSONAL NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES: need to have skills of HOW TO RESPOND to them = develop social skills such as ASSERTING OUR POSITION and MANAGING CONFLICT
- AWARENESS OF PERSONAL MEANING OF RELATIONSHIPS: ability TO REFLECT ON SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR in the CONTEXT of LIFE HISTORY and the FULL RANGE OF RELATIONSHIPS – g. VIOLENT GANG-MEMBER may have ADVANCED SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING BUT choose a SIMPLE APPROACH to CONFLICT (VIOLENCE) due to their role in their gang
AO3
- EVIDENCE THAT PERSPECTIVE-TAKING GETS BETTER WITH AGE: SELMAN saw a POSITIVE CORRELATION between the AGE of the child (4-6 YRS) and the ABILITY to take DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES and LONGITUDINAL FOLLOW UP STUDIES (GURUCHARRI + SELMAN): show it develops with age in each INDIVIDUAL CHILD = earlier research wasn’t just down to INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
- MIXED EVIDENCE FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSPECTIE-TAKING: BUIJZEN + VALKENBURG: OBSERVATION of CHILD-PARENT INTERACTIONS in TOYSHOPS and SUPERMARKETS = NEGATIVE CORRELATION between AGE and PERSPECTIVE-TAKING + COERCIVE BEHAVIOUR i.e. asking parents to buy things = perspective-taking behaviour is important in developing PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
BUT GASSER + KELLER found BULLIES displayed NO DIFFICULTIES in PERSPECTIVE TAKING = may not be an important factor in the development of SOCIALLY DESIRABLE BEHAVIOUR
- APPLICATIONS IN UNDERSTANDING ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT: CHILDREN with ADHD and those on the AUTISTIC SPECTRUM have problems with PERSPECTIVE-TAKING – MARTON ET AL: compared 50 8-12 YR ODS with ADHD with a CONTROL GROUP through TASKS à ADHD DIAGNOSED did WORSE with understanding SCENARIOS, identifying EMOTIONS and EVALUATING the CONSEQUENCES of different actions = helps us to understand ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT
- OVERLY COGNITIVE: entirely based on COGNTION and there is MORE to a child’s SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT than developing their COGNITIVE ABILITIES e.g. INTERNAL = EMPATHY AND EMOTIONAL SELF-REGULATION + EXTERNAL = FAMILY CLIMATE AND OPPORTUNITIES to learn FROM PEER INTERACTION