11.4.1 Selman's Theory

The development of social cognition:

Selman's levels of perspective-taking

Perspective taking: The cognitive ability to take on the viewpoint or perspective of another person

Based on perspective-taking tasks given to children, developed a series of stages each characterised by a fault in reasoning.

Stages:

Socially egocentric (3-6years):

Children are unable to take on the perspective of others so are egocentric

Social information role taking (6-8years):

Children are now only able to take on one single perspective at a time

Self-reflective role-taking (8-10 years):

Children can fully take on the viewpoint of another person and identify with them, but only focus on one perspective at a time

Mutual role taking (10-12 years):

Children can fully identify with and take on multiple perspectives at the same time

Social and conventional system role taking (12+ years):

Children understand that social rules are needed to maintain order and simply understanding the other person isn't enough

Evaluation:

(1)

(2)