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Hub AI
Role-taking theory AI simulator
(@Role-taking theory_simulator)
Hub AI
Role-taking theory AI simulator
(@Role-taking theory_simulator)
Role-taking theory
Role-taking theory (or social perspective taking) is the social-psychological concept that one of the most important factors in facilitating social cognition in children is the growing ability to understand others’ feelings and perspectives, an ability that emerges as a result of general cognitive growth. Part of this process requires that children come to realize that others’ views may differ from their own. Role-taking ability involves understanding the cognitive and affective (i.e. relating to moods, emotions, and attitudes) aspects of another person's point of view, and differs from perceptual perspective taking, which is the ability to recognize another person's visual point of view of the environment. Furthermore, albeit some mixed evidence on the issue, role taking and perceptual perspective taking seem to be functionally and developmentally independent of each other.
Robert Selman is noted for emphasizing the importance of this theory within the field of cognitive development. He argues that a matured role-taking ability allows us to better appreciate how our actions will affect others, and if we fail to develop the ability to role take, we will be forced to erroneously judge that others are behaving solely as a result of external factors. One of Selman's principal additions to the theory has been an empirically supported developmental theory of role-taking ability.
Social cognitive research on children's thoughts about others’ perspectives, feelings, and behaviors has emerged as one of the largest areas of research in the field. Role-taking theory can provide a theoretical foundation upon which this research can rest and be guided by and has relations and applications to numerous other theories and topics.
Robert Selman developed his developmental theory of role-taking ability based on four sources. The first is the work of M. H. Feffer (1959, 1971), and Feffer and Gourevitch (1960), which related role-taking ability to Piaget's theory of social decentering, and developed a projective test to assess children's ability to decenter as they mature. The second is the research of John H. Flavell (1968), which studied children's growing abilities to judge other people's conceptual and perceptual perspectives. The third is the developmental ideas of differentiation, whereupon one learns to distinguish his/her perspective from the perspectives of others, and integration, the ability to relate one's perspective to the perspectives of others. The final source of influence comes from Selman's own previous research where he assessed children's ability to describe the different perspectives of characters in a story.
One example of Selman's stories is that of Holly and her father. Children are told about Holly, an avid 8-year-old tree climber. One day, Holly falls off a tree, but does not hurt herself. Holly's father sees this and makes Holly promise that she will stop climbing trees, and Holly promises. Later, however, Holly and her friends meet Shawn, a boy whose kitten is stuck in a tree. Holly is the only one amongst her friends who can climb trees well enough to save Shawn's kitten, who may fall at any moment, but she remembers the promise she made with her father. Selman then goes on to ask children about the perspectives of Holly and her father, and each stage is associated with typical responses.
Level 0 (ages 3–6, roughly) is characterized by two lacking abilities. The first is the failure to distinguish perspectives (differentiation). More specifically, the child is unable to distinguish between his perspective, including his perspective on why a social action occurred, and that of others. The second ability the child lacks is relating perspectives (social integration).
In the Holly dilemma, children tend to respond that Holly will save the kitten and that the father will not mind Holly's disobedience because he will be happy and he likes kittens. In actuality, the child is displaying his/her inability to separate his/her liking for kittens from the perspectives of Holly and her father.
At level 1 (ages 6–8, roughly), children now recognize that they and others in a situation may have different information available to them, and thus may differ in their views. In other words, children have matured in differentiation. The child still significantly lacks integration ability, however: he/she cannot understand that his views are influenced by the views of others, and vice versa, ad infinitum. In addition, the child believes that the sole reason for differing social perspectives is because of different information, and nothing else.
Role-taking theory
Role-taking theory (or social perspective taking) is the social-psychological concept that one of the most important factors in facilitating social cognition in children is the growing ability to understand others’ feelings and perspectives, an ability that emerges as a result of general cognitive growth. Part of this process requires that children come to realize that others’ views may differ from their own. Role-taking ability involves understanding the cognitive and affective (i.e. relating to moods, emotions, and attitudes) aspects of another person's point of view, and differs from perceptual perspective taking, which is the ability to recognize another person's visual point of view of the environment. Furthermore, albeit some mixed evidence on the issue, role taking and perceptual perspective taking seem to be functionally and developmentally independent of each other.
Robert Selman is noted for emphasizing the importance of this theory within the field of cognitive development. He argues that a matured role-taking ability allows us to better appreciate how our actions will affect others, and if we fail to develop the ability to role take, we will be forced to erroneously judge that others are behaving solely as a result of external factors. One of Selman's principal additions to the theory has been an empirically supported developmental theory of role-taking ability.
Social cognitive research on children's thoughts about others’ perspectives, feelings, and behaviors has emerged as one of the largest areas of research in the field. Role-taking theory can provide a theoretical foundation upon which this research can rest and be guided by and has relations and applications to numerous other theories and topics.
Robert Selman developed his developmental theory of role-taking ability based on four sources. The first is the work of M. H. Feffer (1959, 1971), and Feffer and Gourevitch (1960), which related role-taking ability to Piaget's theory of social decentering, and developed a projective test to assess children's ability to decenter as they mature. The second is the research of John H. Flavell (1968), which studied children's growing abilities to judge other people's conceptual and perceptual perspectives. The third is the developmental ideas of differentiation, whereupon one learns to distinguish his/her perspective from the perspectives of others, and integration, the ability to relate one's perspective to the perspectives of others. The final source of influence comes from Selman's own previous research where he assessed children's ability to describe the different perspectives of characters in a story.
One example of Selman's stories is that of Holly and her father. Children are told about Holly, an avid 8-year-old tree climber. One day, Holly falls off a tree, but does not hurt herself. Holly's father sees this and makes Holly promise that she will stop climbing trees, and Holly promises. Later, however, Holly and her friends meet Shawn, a boy whose kitten is stuck in a tree. Holly is the only one amongst her friends who can climb trees well enough to save Shawn's kitten, who may fall at any moment, but she remembers the promise she made with her father. Selman then goes on to ask children about the perspectives of Holly and her father, and each stage is associated with typical responses.
Level 0 (ages 3–6, roughly) is characterized by two lacking abilities. The first is the failure to distinguish perspectives (differentiation). More specifically, the child is unable to distinguish between his perspective, including his perspective on why a social action occurred, and that of others. The second ability the child lacks is relating perspectives (social integration).
In the Holly dilemma, children tend to respond that Holly will save the kitten and that the father will not mind Holly's disobedience because he will be happy and he likes kittens. In actuality, the child is displaying his/her inability to separate his/her liking for kittens from the perspectives of Holly and her father.
At level 1 (ages 6–8, roughly), children now recognize that they and others in a situation may have different information available to them, and thus may differ in their views. In other words, children have matured in differentiation. The child still significantly lacks integration ability, however: he/she cannot understand that his views are influenced by the views of others, and vice versa, ad infinitum. In addition, the child believes that the sole reason for differing social perspectives is because of different information, and nothing else.