cognitive development - selmans levels of perspective taking Flashcards
What was the key assumption of Selmans theory
Social perspective taking is a separate process that develops at a different rate to physical perspective taking - this is a domain specific approach to explaining cognitive development.
How did Selmans theory contrast with Piaget
Piaget believed that social perspective taking went hand in hand with physical perspective taking. This is a domain general theory where it is assumed all cognition develops at same rate.
Outline the procedure that allowed Selman to test his domain specific theory
30 boys and 30 girls took part, 20 4 year olds, 20 5 year olds, 20 6 year olds. All given a scenario in which the children had to describe how each person in that scenario would feel.
outline an example of a scenario selman would use to test perspective taking.
Child called Holly who promised her father she will no longer climb trees after falling out one and injuring herself, comes across her friend whose kitten is stuck up a tree. Should holly climb the tree, how will the dad feel? how will the friend feel?
What did selman find from his scenario test?
number of distinct levels of perspective taking were identified, these levels correlated with age.
Outline stage 0 of selmans stages of development (with reference to holly scenario)
(3-6 years). Child in this stage is egocentric meaning cannot decentre and distinguish between their own perspective and the perspective of others. Will suggest that holly should climb the tree and that her dad wont mind, however this is only because the child likes kittens and wants to rescue it, not because they have considered Holly or her dads perspective.
outline stage 1 of selmans stages of development - with reference to holly scenario.
(6-8 years) - social informational stage. The child understands that different people have access to different information and so may have different perspectives. But any difference in perspective is put down to differences in information, not e.g. differences in values.
The child understands that Holly’s father might be angry that Holly climbed the tree if he doesn’t know that she climbed the tree to save the kitten but assumes that he wouldn’t be angry if he knew this. The child can’t understand that, even with the same information, he might still be angry due to different values
outline stage 2 of stages of development
(8-10 years) self reflective -The child understands that people may have different values that shape their perspective in addition to access to different information. The child also understands that other people can also see things from other people’s perspectives.
The child will say Holly’s father will understand why she climbed the tree. This shows the child can put themself in the shoes of Holly’s father, who has in turn put himself in the shoes of Holly and her values.
outline stage 3 of stages of development - reference holly
(10-12 years) mutual -The child can imagine the perspective of a neutral third person observing an interaction between two people. This requires being able to integrate two perspectives simultaneously
The child describes the situation from a neutral perspective. For example, that Holly climbed the tree because she likes kittens even though she promised not to, and that Holly’s father will not punish Holly if he also knows about the kitten.
outline stage 4 of stages of development - reference holly
social and conventional system -children consideres cultural and moral views and apply to scenario for example the kitten should be saved because it is morally right
AO3 - what are the practical problems in analysing verbal responses
not all children can easily verbalise their understanding, therefore may be labelled as having poor social cognition, perhaps in a different social context they may have a more advanced understanding of social perspectives. In addition many responses given may overlap with themes associated with different stages. Too much qualitative data can make it difficult to pinpoint what stage the child is at. As a result of flaws in the methodology cannot validate what stage each child is reasoning at which decreases the validity of Selmans theory.
AO3 - what is a practical application of Selmans stages
If a child is underdeveloped in a stage not in relation to their age, may indicate they have difficulties with social cognition. This could be useful as an early indicator that the child may need to be reviewed for ASD (associated with slow social development). As a result the stages have good clinical value as can aid diagnosis and early intervention.
Selman’s theory is could be an oversimplification why?
Selmans theory focuses only on the cognitive ability to take another’s perspective, Selman’s perspective-taking is too reductionist to be a complete account of social cognition. For example, social experiences (e.g. interactions and disagreements with other people) and biological factors (e.g. genetics) are likely to play a part in both the development of perspective-taking and the development of social cognition more broadly.
What is a cultural limitation of selmans theory (AO3)
Keysar found young adult Chinese pps did better on perspective taking than US pps, this suggests there may be more to perspective taking than just maturity, might be a cultural impact. Selmans theory is derived from western cultures where there is emphasis on the individual rather than the group like collectivist. Therefore theory fails to acknowledge that there might be cultural differences in the stages of development.
