Perspective-taking
- Selman’s (1971) research on perspective-taking is based on the idea that children develop the understanding that other people have thoughts, feelings, viewpoints and attitudes that are different to their own
- Perspective-taking develops via a range of mechanisms and at specific stages of a child’s development, according to Selman
- Unlike Piaget’s theory, which states that children develop both cognitive and social perspective-taking synchronously, Selman believed that social perspective-taking develops separately from cognitive perspective-taking
- Perspective-taking is similar to Piaget’s ideas about a child’s egocentrism e.g. an egocentric view limits the ability of the child to take on another person’s perspective
- Selman argues that as cognitive ability in general develops, this in turn leads to the child being able to better understand the world around them
- To test his theory Selman (1971) asked children aged four to six years old to explain how various different people might feel in specific scenarios e.g. ‘How will Holly/her dad/Holly’s friend feel if Holly climbs the tree to rescue the kitten?’
- Selman (1971) found (based on the above scenario) that the younger children (e.g. four year-olds) used egocentric thinking to understand how other people might feel e.g. they used information that they themselves were aware of but which other characters in the scenario could not have been aware of e.g. Holly’s dad will not know that she has climbed the tree to rescue the kitten
- Selman concluded from the above results that the younger the child the less they were able to take on another person’s perspective
Exam Tip
Selman’s theory shares a lot in common with Piaget and even more so with Theory of Mind so make sure that you understand how each theory overlaps and how each theory is unique. Make a Venn diagram of similarities and differences between the theories to aid your revision.
It’s not just young children who struggle with perspective-taking…