Cognition and development

According to Piaget are children born with schemas?

Yes, but only a small number to help them make sense of the world, and they construct new ones in infancy, such as ones about themselves.

What are schemas?

Mental frameworks that contain understanding of an object or idea, becoming increasingly complex during development as we aquire more information, and are developed from experience.

What is cognitive development?

General term describing the development of all mental processes, in particular how we think, which develops throughout life but psychologists mainly study it in childhood.

What did Piaget show about how children think compared to older assumptions?

He showed that young children think in entirely different ways to adults instead of being less competent thinkers than adults. According to him cognitive development was a progressive reorganisation of mental processes due to biological maturation and environmental experience.

What is a child's motivation to learn according to Piaget?

We are motivated to learn when our existing schemas do not allow us to make sense of the world and the information around us. This leads to the unpleasant sensation of disequilibrium, which may cause distress in young children. This provides motivation to adapt to the new situation by exploring and learning what we must know, and a new schema forms that allows us to make sense of the world, so equilibration occurs and this is a pleasant sensation.

What are the main stages of equilibration?

• Children are first satisfied with their mode of thought and are in a state of equilibrium

• They then encounter a piece of information that does not fit with their mental framework of the world, so they experience disequilibrium and become distressed

• They then become motivated to learn and either form a new schema (accommodate) or assimilating info into an existing schema with a more sophisticated mode of thought, and reach equilibrium so the unpleasant state of disequilibrium is escaped from.

What is assimilation?

A form of learning taking place when we acquire new information or a more advanced understanding of an object or concept, which does not radically change our understanding of the the topic, so the information is incorporated into an existing schema.

What is accommodation?

A form of learning taking place when we acquire new information that radically changes our understanding of a topic, causing us to change an existing schema to fit the new information in, or by forming a new schema to deal with the understanding so a state of equilibrium can be reached.

What is equilibration?

Takes place when we have encountered new information and built it into our understanding of a topic, either through assimilation into an existing schema or accommodating to form a new schema, and everything is balanced.

How does learning actually occur according to Piaget?

He saw learning as adapting to the situation so we understand it, either by assimilation which takes place when we understand a new experience and add the information to an existing schema. Or by accommodation where drastically new experiences cause the schema to change or for a new one to form.

How does Piaget's theory of cognitive development have useful applications in education?

Piaget's idea that children learn by actively exploring the environment and creating new schemas or changing their old ones when encountering new information has had huge impacts on classroom teaching. In old fashioned classrooms, children sat silently in rows copying work from the board to learn which does not allow them to investigate and built schemas. Now, classrooms are much more interactive and children can engage in tasks allowing them to be more creative and construct their own understanding of the curriculum. For example in Early Years education children may investigate properties of sand and water, and later on teenagers may be encouraged to do independent learning. This strengthens Piaget's theory because it means that ideas about schemas can be used practically to help children reach their potential.

What study strengthens Piaget's theory that children learn by forming individual mental representations?

A study by Howe et al tests the hypothesis that children learn by forming their own individual experiences of the world even if learning experiences are similar. Children aged 9 to 12 were put in groups of 4 to study and discuss movement of objects down a slope. Understanding of the topic was assessed before and after. The results showed that children had increased level of knowledge and understanding, but the children did not come to the same conclusions or picked up the same ideas. This shows that each child forms their own individual representation of the world around them. This strengthens Piaget's theory as it shows the process of learning is unique to each individual due to the way schemas are changed and acquired.

What is a weakness of Piaget in terms of underplaying the role of social learning, and how does Vygotsky’s theory contradict Piaget’s?

Piaget may have been overly focused on the individual process of learning, and what happens in the mind of the individual which is a weakness of the theory because other theorists suggest other people are more central to learning processes. For example, Vygotsky proposed that learning is a social process, as having an expert other (either more expert peer or adult) can help children fully reach their potential and cross the ZPD. Vygotsky emphasised the role of social learning much more, which may have increased practical applications compared to Piaget because it allows adults to scaffold and help boost a child’s learning. Also, Vygotsky emphasised the importance of a child reaching their potential instead of Piaget having rigid stages, which may be a further weakness of Piaget because Vygotsky’s theory allows for each individual to learn at a pace correct for them. This shows how Piaget may not be putting a holistic explanation forward of cognitive development that takes other factors into account.

What is a weakness of Piaget’s theory in terms of the type of sample used in his studies?

The children used in Piaget's study were mainly from a nursery attached to his university, which was a biased sample because it was mainly clever middle class children. This is a weakness because children vary greatly with their motivation to learn and intellectual curiosity, meaning the process of equilibration may not be the same in all children. This was also a culturally biased sample, because it only included a small sample of children from one culture. This weakens the theory as it limits the generalisability of the theory.

What is a weakness of Piaget’s theory in terms of underplaying the importance of language?

Piaget dismissed language as just developing along with other cognitive abilities. However other theorists have placed more emphasis on language development because it impacts on cognitive development. This shows that Piaget may not have a fully holistic explanation.

What is the first stage of Piaget’s stages of intellectual development?

Sensorimotor stage (0-2). In this stage a baby’s early focus is on physical sensations and on developing some basic physical co-ordination. Children learn by trial and error so they can move their body in particular ways, and eventually move objects. They understand other people are separate objects and acquire some basic language. Object permanence develops around 8 months, and Piaget noted that before this, babies would switch attention away from an object when it was out of sight, but after 8 months they would continue to look for it.

What is object permanence?

The ability to realise that an object still exists when it passes out of the visual field, and Piaget believed this developed around 8 months old.

What is the pre-operational stage, and outline the 3 main behaviours that develop in this time:

The stage between the ages of 2 and 7 where a child is mobile and can use language but lacks reasoning ability, so there are some characteristic errors in reasoning. For example, conservation, egocentrism and class inclusion. Children tend to be able to categorise things simply in early pre-operational, but in late pre-operational children begin to understand that something can belong in more than one category.

What is conservation?

The basic mathematical ability that quantity remains constant even when the appearance of objects changes.

Outline the two main experiments Piaget did to demonstrate conservation:

• In his number conservation experiment, Piaget placed two identical rows of counters side by side, and children recognised they were equal, however when one was placed closer together pre-operational children said there were fewer counters.

• In the liquid conservation procedure Piaget found that when two containers are placed side by side with the contents at the same height, most children said they contained the same volume, but if the water is poured into a taller but thinner vessel younger children said it contained more water.

What is egocentrism?

Child’s tendency to only be able to see the world from their own point of view, which applies both to physical objects and arguments where the child can only appreciate their own point of view.

How did Piaget investigate egocentrism?

He did the three mountains task in 1956, where children were shown 3 model mountains, each with a different feature (cross, house, snow etc). A doll was placed at the side of the model so that it faced the scene at a different angle to the child. The child was asked to choose what the doll would see from that angle using a range of pictures. Pre-operational children tended to find this difficult and matched the scene from their own point of view.

What is class inclusion?

A classification skill when we recognise that classes of objects have subsets and are themselves part of multiple larger classes. Pre-operational children children usually struggle to place things in more than one class.

How did Piaget investigate class inclusion?

7/8 year olds were shown pictures of 5 dogs and 2 cats and were asked if there were more dogs or animals, and children tended to say there were more dogs, suggesting that younger children cannot see a dog as a member of both the dog class and the animal class.

What is the concrete operational stage?

Stage from 7-11 where children can conserve and perform much better on tasks of egocentrism and class inclusion, but although they have better reasoning abilities (operations) they are strictly concrete operations and can only be applied to physical objects in the child’s presence. They struggle to reason about abstract ideas or imagine objects/situations they cannot see.

What is the formal operational stage?

At around 11 children become capable of formal reasoning, so children become able to focus on the form of an argument and not its content. At this stage children are capable of formal reasoning, so can think scientifically and appreciate abstract ideas - for example when asking a question about a cat with two heads, young children would fixate on the fact that cats do not have two heads, whereas older children can answer the question as they appreciate the abstract reasoning.

Why might Piaget’s method of questioning during the conservation experiments be flawed?

Children may have been influenced by seeing the experimenter change the appearance of the counters or the liquid. Children may have been led to think the quantity had changed, because often children may think the experimenter has only asked them the question if the appearance has changed and not remained the same. This is a weakness because it means that Piaget may have underestimated the development of conservation in young children.

Why does the Naughty teddy study weaken Piaget’s conservation theory?

McGarrigle and Donaldson set up a number conservation task where the counters appeared to have been moved by accident. In a control, they repeated the standard Piaget task with 4-6 year olds and found that most answered incorrectly. However, when a ‘naughty teddy’ came and knocked the counters closer together 62% said there were the same number as before. This suggests that 4-6 year olds can conserve as long as the style of questioning doesn’t put them off. This is a weakness of Piaget’s theory as it suggests he may under-estimate the ability of children, which limits the generalisability of his study.

What study weakens Piaget’s theory of class inclusion?

A study conducted by Siegler and Svetina (2006) provided evidence for the fact that children were capable of class inclusion. This goes against Piaget’s theory that pre-operational children were simply unable to understand that an object can be a member of two classes. In the study 100 5 year olds from Slovenia were tested, who each undertook 3 sessions of 10 class inclusion tasks, receiving an explanation of the task after each session. One group received incorrect feedback, while the other group received correct feedback that there must be more animals than dogs because dogs are a subset of animals. The scores across the 3 sessions improved for the latter group, which suggests that with help from someone, children can gain an understanding of class inclusion. This contradicts Piaget’s theory as he believed children were not able to understand it in the first place.

What study weakens Piaget’s theory of egocentrism?

Piaget believed that children were only able to see the world from their perspective, and ability to decentre increases gradually with age. Hughes (1975) tested the ability of children to see a situation from two people’s viewpoints using a model with two intersecting walls and 3 dolls, a boy and 2 police officers. Once familiarised children as young as 3.5 could position the doll so one police officer could not see him 90% of the time, and 4 year olds could do this 90% of the time when hiding from 2 police officers. This raises an issue with Piaget’s work because it suggests he may have underestimated the ability of children to decentre, and contradicting research reduces the external validity meaning it is not generalisable to wider populations.

What is a weakness of Piaget’s study in terms of cognition developing as a single process?

Piaget assumed that all aspects of cognition develop together (such as language, reasoning and egocentrism). However, research with autistic children suggests that these abilities develop separately. For example, it has been observed that children with Asperger syndrome are very egocentric but develop normal reasoning and language. Other types of autism may cause language not to develop in the same way, or reasoning. This limits the generalisability of Piaget’s theory of cognition because not all children will experience cognitive development in a linear format.

How does Piaget’s theory under-estimate child abilities?

Studies have suggested that with the right kind of adult help pre-operational children are able to develop a good understanding of class inclusion and conservation. They also seem to be less egocentric than first appeared in the 3 mountains task, suggesting that the findings from Piaget’s study cannot be fully generalised to all children.

What is similar and different between Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?

They both agreed that children’s reasoning abilities develop in a particular sequence, and that certain abilities are qualitatively different at certain ages, and a child is typically capable of certain logic at certain ages. However, Vygotsky saw development as a social process of learning from more experienced others, and the more knowledgeable expert passes their knowledge onto the less expert person. He also emphasised the role of language in his theory which Piaget did not.

How does Vygotsky’s theory explain cultural differences in cognitive abilities?

The role of the social environment around the child is emphasised, and the child is likely to adapt the reasoning abilities of the people around them if these abilities are acquired through the more experienced people. Therefore, the physical, social and work environment dictate what skills and tools a child is more likely to use, so cultural differences can be explained by how the environment influences what skills a child is likely to learn.

What is the zone of proximal development?

The gap between a child’s current level of development, which is defined by the cognitive tasks that they can do without help, and what they can potentially do with the help of an expert other, which may be an adult or a more expert child. This expert has a greater knowledge on the topic or skill so is able to help the child learn the skill.

How can the ZPD be used to help a child learn new skills, and why should the developmental stage of the child still be taken into account?

Expert assistance allows the child to cross the ZPD and understand as much of a situation or subject as they are capable. However, this knowledge must be appropriate for the child’s developmental stage, as they are still limited by this and anything that is far too complicated for the child to learn that isn’t in their ZPD is not learnt at all. Children learn a more advanced understanding of the world and therefore more advanced reasoning abilities via learning from others as opposed to individual learning.

How did Vygotsky belief higher mental functions like formal reasoning only be learned?

He believed that advanced reasoning abilities can only be only be learned in social interaction, as interaction with advanced and expert others provides these skills.

What is scaffolding?

The process by which a learner is helped to cross the zone of proximal development and advance as much as they can given their stage of development, and the level of help given usually declines as a child crosses their ZPD.

Who helped develop scaffolding along with Vygotsky?

Bruner and his colleagues Wood and Ross.

What are the 5 aspects to scaffolding identified by Bruner?

• Recruitment - engaging the child’s interest in the task

• Reduction of degrees of freedom - focusing the child on the task and where to start with solving it

• Direction maintenance - encouraging the child in order to help them stay motivated and continue trying to complete the task

• Marking critical features - highlighting most important parts of the task

• Demonstration - showing child how to do the task

What did Wood et al note about the level of help given to a child as they complete scaffolding?

In general, as the learner crosses the zone of proximal development the level of help given in scaffolding declines from level 5 (most help) to level 1 (least help), and an adult is more likely to use high levels of help strategies when first helping, and then gradually withdraw as the child grasps the task.

What research support is there for the zone of proximal development?

Roazzi and Bryant (1998) gave 4/5 year old children the task of estimating the number of sweets in a box. In one condition, the children worked alone and in another they worked with the help of an older child. Most children working alone failed to give a good estimate, but in the expert condition the older children were observed to offer prompts, pointing the younger children in the right direction to work out how to arrive at their estimate. Most children in the help condition managed to master the task. This is a strength of Vygotsky’s theory because it shows how when children work with expert others to complete a task they are able to do it successfully, which in turn supports the idea that crossing the ZPD helps children reach their potential.

What is research support for the idea of scaffolding?

Studies such as Roazzi and Bryant does not show the actual process of scaffolding, so the practical use is limited because it does not show the process of support. However, studies like Conner and Cross show how the level of help declines during the process of learning. In a longitudinal study they followed up 45 children and observed them engaging in problem solving tasks with the help of mothers at 16, 26,44, and 54 months. Over time, distinctive changes in help levels were observed and mothers used less and less direct intervention and more hints and prompts as the child gained experience, and use less constant help. This strengthens the idea of scaffolding because it shows its effectiveness in gradually helping the child gain the skills without it overwhelming them. This has high practical validity because it can be implemented in parenting and teaching strategies.

How can Vygotsky's ideas be used practically in education?

A strength of Vygotsky is that his ideas havd been highly influential in education. The theory that children can learn more and faster using scaffolding has changed the way they can learn information and raised expectations of what they should be able to achieve. Social interaction through learning, group work and peer tutoring, and adult help through teaching assistants and teacher help means that kids are able to cross their ZPD through being supported by scaffolding. This is a strength because it increases the practical validity of the theory and allows children to learn more effectively.

What is evidence to support Vygotsky's theories being applied successfully in education?

Keer and Verhaeghe (2005) found that 7 year olds tutored by 10 year olds in addition to their whole class teaching progressed further in reading than controls who had standard whole class teaching. A review of the usefulness of teaching assistants (Alborz et al) concluded they are very effective at improving the rate of learning in children, provided they have received appropriate training. This is a strength of Vygotskys theory because it means that scaffolding and the ZPD has usefulness in providing children with a good learning environment.

What is a weakness of Vygotsky in terms of individual differences?

Vygotsky did not take into account the differences present in children when they learn through social interaction. Some children may learn best through interaction with other people, while other children with a different personality may not, as personality has a strong influence on what kind of activities and help works for different children. This is a weakness of the theory because it limits the generalisability of it to practical scenarios as not all children will benefit.

What is a weakness of Vygotsky's theory in terms of children not learning the same thing from social interactions?

Although there is evidence to support the idea that interaction helps learning, there is also evidence showing that what children learn varies considerably between individuals, even in group learning situations. This is a weakness of the theory as if Vygotsky's theory was entirely correct then it would be expected that children pick up very similar skills and a very similar mental representation of a material, so it may be that Vygotsky's theory ignores other major factors in learning.

What is knowledge of the physical world?

Refers to the extent to which we understand how the physical world works. An example of this knowledge is object permanence (an object still exists even when out of sight). The time infants develop these skills is debated in the field.

How did Baillargeon challenge Piaget's ideas?

Piaget believed that babies under the age of 8 months have a primitive understanding of the nature of the physical world, and this was based on his research where babies did not show interest in objects when out of sight. However Baillargeon felt there may have been other explanations such as not pursuing an object due to lack of motor skills, or selective attention causes them to be focused on something else. She proposed that babies may have better understanding of the physical world than was previously thought.

What is the general typical method for violation of expectation?

Infants see two test events: an expected event consistent with the expectation examined in the test, or an unexpected event which violates this. It is assumed that babies look for longer at the magical events than the possible events, which indicates surprise, so the infants had expectations about the behaviour of physical objects that the impossible event had violated.

What was the procedure of the tall and short rabbit study?

In an early VOE experiment Baillargeon and Graber showed 24 infants aged 5-6 months a tall and short rabbit pass behind a screen with a window, in the possible condition the tall rabbit can be seen passing through the window but the short one cannot. In the impossible condition the short rabbit cannot be seen and neither can the tall one.

What were the findings of the tall and short rabbit study?

The infants looked for an average of 33.07 seconds at the impossible event compared to 25.11 seconds at the possible event. The researchers inferred that this was due to the infants being surprised at the impossible condition, and for them to be surprised it suggests that they expected the tall rabbit to appear at the window. This suggests they have an understanding of object permanence.

What is an occlusion study, and what Baillargeon study was an example of it?

One where one object is in front of another - the tall rabbit experiment demonstrated this.

What is containment?

The idea that when an object is seen to enter a container it is still there when the container is opened.

What is support?

The idea that an object should fall when unsupported but not when it is on a horizontal surface.

Outline the procedure of the ramp study by Baillargeon:

Infants were shown a truck rolling down a track and behind a screen several times. The screen was removed and a box was introduced and placed either beside the track where the truck would roll past or on the track to block the truck, the screen was replaced and in both cases the truck rolled straight past. One of these conditions is impossible as if the box had really been placed it would have blocked the truck. It was found that infants stared a lot longer at the impossible event, suggesting 3 month old infants have a more advanced understanding of the physical world than was first thought.

What did Baillargeon propose about a physical reasoning system?

She suggested humans are born with a basic understanding of the physical world and the ability to learn more details easily, as well as an awareness of object permanence. There is the capacity to acquire object knowledge very easily due to an innate tendency to notice new events that give them a better understanding of the physical world. Initially we have a primitive awareness of the physical properties of the world, and this becomes more sophisticated as we learn from experience. In the first few weeks of life infants begin to identify event categories, which corresponds to the way objects interact. This means that by 3 months, they have a good understanding of how objects should appear. The magical event captures their attention as their PRS means they are predisposed to attend to new events allowing them to develop their understanding of the physical world.

Why is the VOE method more valid than other methods such as Piaget’s?

A strength of Baillargeon’s method is that it removes the confounding variable of children shifting attention away from the object due to losing interest. This was an issue in Piaget’s experiment, because he assumed that when a child shifted attention away from the object it meant they no longer knew it existed when it could have been a lack of attention. In Baillargeon’s study this issue was resolved because simply losing interest in an object would not explain the finding that children look longer at impossible events, so this supports the idea that children have some understanding of object permanence. This is a strength because it means that Baillargeon’s study has greater validity.

What is a weakness of Baillargeon’s study in terms of making inferences and judging infant understanding?

Although Baillargeon’s study clearly shows that infants look for longer at impossible scenes we are assume that infants behave as we would expect if they understood the physical world. However, this is an inference and we can never actually know how a baby behaves in response to a violation of expectations. They may not actually be looking at the impossible events for longer. Even if they are, there are many other reasons why they find one scene more interesting than the other and it can only be concluded that the babies see them as different, not why this is. This is a weakness because it shows how the study is reliant on inferences which might not be reliable.

How does the universality of physical understanding support Baillargeon’s work?

Hespos and Marle argue that without learning, and regardless of experience we all have a very good understanding of the basic properties of physical objects. According to them this requires a physical reasoning system, and the fact that this understanding is found universally suggests the system is innate. This is because without the system we would expect culturally differences for which there is a lack of evidence. This is a strength of Baillargeon as its universal nature suggests it is innate and present from birth.

What is a weakness of Baillargeon outlined by Bremner in terms of behavioural response and understanding?

A weakness is that just because someone may act in accordance with a principle does not mean they understand that principle. Bremner reminds us that Piaget distinguished between these, and even if we accept infant behaviour of maintaining attention for longer on an impossible scene is a response to impossibility , it is different from consciously understanding and reasoning with the physical world. This is a weakness because it suggests that Baillargeon may have over estimated the ability of infants, and just because they respond in a certain way does not mean they understand it.

What is a strength of Baillargeon in terms of development of other cognitive abilities?

Although the innate physical reasoning cannot be directly tested, the theory is consistent with other infant abilities that gradually develop. For example, research shows that infants can use crude patterns to judge distance from an early age but experience is needed to make use of more subtle texture differences. Therefore, like the physical reasoning system, distance perception appears to be innate and become more advanced with age. This is a strength of Baillargeon’s theory because it gives it face validity as other theories also back it up and develop in line with physical understanding.

What is social cognition?

Describes the mental processes we use when engaged in social interactions, and how we make decisions on how to behave based on understanding of a social situation. This is a cognitive process.

What is perspective taking?

Our ability to appreciate a social situation from the perspective of other people.

What is physical perspective taking?

Piagets theory of egocentrism, particularly the 3 mountains task, which refers to physically understanding what someone else can see.

What is the difference between the type of cognitive development Piaget and Selman believed in?

Piaget believed in domain-general cognitive development, so he believed physical and social perspective taking occur hand in hand, whereas Selman believed that the development of social perspective is a separate process (domain-specific).

What was the procedure of Selman's perspective taking research?

He looked at changes that occurred with age in children's responses to scenarios where they were asked to take the role of different people in a social situation. 30 boys and 30 girls took in the study, 20 aged 4, 20 aged 5 and 20 aged 6. They were given a story of how a girl (Holly) climbed trees but was told not to by the Dad because she could fall, but then finds her friend with a kitten stuck up a tree, and she is the only one who can save it. The children had to describe how each person would feel if Holly did or did not climb the tree to save the kitten.

What were the findings of Selman’s work on perspective taking in children?

He identified several distinct stages of cognitive development as a result of the research.

Outline Selman’s 5 stages of development:

Stage 0 - 3-6 yrs - socially egocentric, children cannot reliably 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,

Stage 1 - 6-8 yrs - social information role taking. Child can tell difference between their own perspective and another, but can only focus on one at a time

Stage 2 - 8-10 yrs - self-reflective role taking. At this stage the child can put themselves in the position of another person and fully appreciate their perspective, but can only take on board one point of view at a time

Stage 3 - 10-12 yrs - mutual role taking - children can look at a situation from their own and another’s point of view at the same time

Stage 4 - 12+ years - social and conventional system role taking - young people are able to see that sometimes understanding another viewpoint is not enough to allow people to reach an agreement, which is why social conventions are needed to keep order

Who identified 3 aspects to social development in addition to Selman’s stages?

Schultz, Selman and La Russo

What 3 aspects to social development did Schultz, Selman and La Russo identify?

• Interpersonal understanding - how we take different role to understand social situations

• Interpersonal negotiation strategies - developing skills to respond to other people in social settings, such as asserting position and managing conflict

• Awareness of personal meaning of relationships - ability to reflect on social behaviour in the context of life history and the full range of relationships, eg a gang member having advanced social skills but choosing to respond using violence because of their role in the gang

What evidence is there to support Selman’s perspective taking in terms of it improving with age?

Significant positive correlations were found in Selman’s work between the age and ability to take on different perspectives in scenarios such as Holly and the kitten. Also, longitudinal follow up studies like Gurucharri and Selman have shown that perspective taking develops with age in each individual child. This is a strength because it shows that cross-sectional results from Selman’s work were not simply due to individual differences from children in different groups. This shows that Selman’s work has strong internal validity, which means research is accurate and his theory can be applied in practical settings.

Why is evidence for the importance of perspective taking mixed?

A weakness of Selman’s work is that although there is strong evidence for how children take on the perspective of others, the evidence for how important the understanding of the cognitive ability to take alternative perspectives is in social development. For example, Buijzen and Valkenburg found a negative correlation between age, perspective- taking and coercive behaviour where the kid tries to force parents to buy them things. This suggests that perspective taking is important in developing prosocial behaviour, which supports Selman’s theory because it shows that as different perspectives are taken on more effective ways of communication are developed. However, other studies like one done by Gasser and Keller found bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective taking. This suggests that depending on context and scenarios, Selman’s theory may not be able to be applied to all development of socially desirable behaviour, limiting practical validity.

What are the practical applications of Selman’s work on perspective taking?

Understanding how children gain a range of perspectives has useful applications in understanding the development of neurodiversities such as autism and ADHD, as research has shown that perspective-taking appears to develop atypically in children on the autistic spectrum. For example in a study done by Marton et al 50 8-12 yr old children with ADHD were compared to a control group on performance on perspective taking tasks like those used by Selman. Those with ADHD did worse on understanding scenarios, identifying each person’s feelings and evaluating consequences. This is a strength because by understanding how perspective taking is acquired normally, it can be practically applied to help other children where it may develop abnormally.

What is a weakness of Selman’s work in terms of it being overly cognitive?

His approach is based entirely on an understanding of cognition, however this ignores the many other factors that interact to make children develop socially. For example, internal factors such as developing empathy and learning to self-regulate, and external factors such as family dynamics and peer interaction both play large roles in how a child learns social skills. This weakens Selman’s theory because it does not explain many ways in which children develop socially, limiting the external validity.

What is a strength of Selman’s theory in terms of cultural differences?

On the one hand, Selman’s theory allows us to make comparisons between different groups of people on perspective-taking ability. However, when these comparisons are done cultural differences are found, showing that other factors other than cognition affect social development. For example, Wu and Keysar found that young adult Chinese participants did significantly better in perspective taking tasks than matched Americans. This shows that culture could affect social development because of interactions with peers, weakening Piaget’s theory because it suggests it is too simplistic to holistically explain development of social cognition.

What is theory of mind?

Our personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling.

y