Selman

• Selman (1971) 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) procedure

  30 boys and 30 girls took part in the study - 20 aged four, 20 aged five, and 20 aged six

  All were individually given a task designed to measure role-taking ability

  This involved asking them how each person felt in various scenarios

  One scenario featured a child called Holly who promised her father she will no longer climb trees, but comes across her friends whose kitten is stuck in a tree

  the task was to describe and explain how each person would feel if Holly did or did not climb the tree to rescue the kitten
• Selman (1971) Findings

  Five distinct levels of role-taking were identified

  Selman found that the level of role-taking correlated with age, suggesting a clear developmental sequence
• Selman's stages of development - based on children's typical responses to perspective-taking scenarios at different ages, Selman proposed five stages of social cognitive development

  • 0 - Socially egocentric
  • 1 - Social Informational role-taking
  • 2 - Self-reflective role-taking
  • 3 - Mutual role-taking
  • 4 - Social and conventional system role-taking
• Stage 0 (3-6) - Socially egocentric

  The child cannot distinguish between their own emotions and those of others

  They can generally identify emotional states in others but do not understand what social behaviour might have caused them

  They believe everyone has the same beliefs and likes as them
• Stage 1 (6-8) - Social information role-taking

  The child can now tell the difference between their own point of view and that of others, but they can usually only focus on one of these perspectives
• Stage 2 (8-10) - Self-reflective role-taking

  At this stage the child can put themselves in the position of another person and fully appreciate their perspective

  However, they can only take on board one point of view at a time
• Stage 3 (10-12) - Mutual role-taking

  Children are now able to look at a situation from their own and another's point of view at the same time
• Stage 4 (12+) - Social and conventional role-taking

  Young people become able to see that sometimes understanding others' viewpoints is not enough to allow people to reach an agreement

  This is why social conventions are needed to keep order