AO1 - Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking

• As social cognition refers to how an individual becomes aware of how they fit into a social world, Selman (1980) suggests that to appreciate another person’s point of view, we must understand that not everyone thinks the same.
• Selman (1980) investigated social cognition using role-taking interpersonal dilemmas. From this he established levels of interpersonal interactions, which he called perspective taking.
• Interpersonal dilemmas are stories about people interacting with each other, which have different possible outcomes.
• Level 1 of Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking is the social-informational stage, where individuals can understand that others may have different perspectives based on different information.
• Level 2 of Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking is the self-reflective stage, where individuals can understand that others may have different perspectives based on different beliefs or values.
• Level 0 of Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking is the egocentric stage, where individuals can only understand their own perspective.
• Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking provide a framework for understanding how individuals develop the ability to take the perspective of others and understand that different people may have different thoughts and beliefs.
• Level 3 of Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking is the mutual stage, where individuals can understand that others may have different perspectives based on mutual perspectives and can engage in reciprocal role-taking.
• Level 4 of Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking is the societal stage, where individuals can understand that others may have different perspectives based on societal norms, values, and roles.
• Selman (1980) proposed that there are different levels of perspective taking in interpersonal interactions.
• Level 0 is the egocentric viewpoint (3-6 years) where a child can label other people’s obvious feelings but do not see the cause of those feelings.
• Level 1 is the social informational role taking stage (6-8 years) where children know other people may have different information and may or may not agree with them.
• Level 2 is the self-reflective role taking stage (8-10 years) where children can see other people’s viewpoints, but not at the same time as their own.
• Level 3 is the mutual role taking stage (10-12 years) where children can see the mutual and simultaneous viewpoints of others.
• Level 4 is the social and conventional system role taking stage (12-15+ years) where children realise that society has a view and a set of values/ norms that should be obeyed.
• Gurucharri & Selman (1982) tested the interpersonal dilemmas in a longitudinal study over 5 years with 41 children. They found that 40/41 children developed perspective taking as predicted by the Levels theory.
• Epley et al (2004) found that egocentric errors decline with age, supporting the levels of perspective taking idea.
• Selman (1970) 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 (1971) investigated perspective taking using a sample of 30 girls and 30 boys. They were split into three groups of 20 based on their age; 4, 5 or 6 years. The children were tested individually and given a task to measure perspective taking.
• Selman (1971) used scenarios which required children to consider how each of the people in the situation felt. Selman found that the level of perspective taking correlated with age, suggesting a clear developmental sequence.
• Selman believed that development through his stages is based on maturity and experience.
• Selman used his perspective taking research to formulate a stage theory, using a series of developmental levels.
• Selman used the term ‘role-taking’ to explain how taking the role of another person allows a child to see behaviour from a different perspective.