Selman’s Five Levels of Perspective Taking

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Selman’s Five Levels of Perspective Taking (1980)

Theory of mind allows us to understand other people's perspectives, behaviours and motivations, thoughts and emotions. Selman summarised the different abilities of perspective taking in five levels.

Method

Selman told a story to children about a girl, Holly, who could rescue a friend’s cat by climbing a tree.
Climbing trees was banned by her father and she had promised her father that she wouldn’t.
Selman then asked the children if Holly should be reprimanded and punished by her father if she climbed the tree.

Five stages

Based on the responses of the children, Selman determined five levels of perspective-taking:
- Undifferentiated and egocentric (up to age 6)
- Differentiated and subjective (ages 5 to 9)
- Second-person and reciprocal (ages 7 to 12)
- Third-person and mutual (ages 10 to 15)
- In-depth and societal-symbolic (ages 14 and above)
The age ranges overlap between the stages as children develop the perspective taking ability at different rates.

Undifferentiated and egocentric

(Up to age 6)
Children are able to distinguish themselves physically, and only physically.
They are not capable of recognising psychological differences between themselves and others.
They see other people the way they see an object.

Holly - Undifferentiated and egocentric

In the cat rescue story, children tended to answer that the father would not mind if Holly rescued the cat as the father and Holly both liked cats.
Basically, the children could not differentiate their fondness for cats from the people in the story.

Differentiated and subjective

(Ages 5 to 9)
Children begin to understand that people have perspectives that are different from their own.
However, they cannot take the perspective of the other person.
Children recognise that other people have access to different information, therefore will have different perspectives.

Holly - Differentiated and subjective

For Holly’s story, children might respond that the father might be angry if he did not know Holly’s reason for climbing the tree but wouldn’t be angry if he did know the reason.
They could not recognise that the father might be angry regardless of the reason why Holly climbed the tree.

Selman’s Five Levels of Perspective Taking (1980)

Second-person and reciprocal

(Ages 7 to 12)
Children are able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and be able to take another person’s perspective.

Holly - Second-person and reciprocal

Children would typically respond that Holly will climb the tree and her father would understand.
This shows that they are putting the father’s perspective in relation to Holly’ perspective.
When asked if the father would want Holly to climb the tree, they would say no as the father is concerned about her safety.

Third-person and mutual

(Ages 10 to 15)
They are able to take the perspective of a third impartial person.

Holly - third-person and mutual

When describing the scenario, the children could respond as a detached, impartial third-person.
They could say how Holly wanted to climb the tree to rescue the kitten but couldn’t because her father would not allow it.
Holly’s father would have been unaware of the cat and knew she wouldn’t climb trees as she had been told to not.

In-depth and societal-symbolic

(Ages 14 and above)
Building on the previous stage where children could take the perspective of a third-party, they now understand that the third-party perspective can be influenced by social or cultural factors.
They are now also able to take multiple perspectives:
- Legal, ethical, moral, religious, scientific, etc.

Holly - in-depth and societal-symbolic

Adolescents upon hearing the story and deciding whether or not Holly should be punished state no.
This is because they believe Holly’s father should understand that animals deserve humane treatment.
This is a broader, societal perspective.

Applications of Selman’s Five Levels of Perspective Taking (1980)

Applications

Selman’s theory has practical applications in education.
It is important for children to develop the ability to take perspectives.

Education

Activities involving perspective taking should be included in curricula.
Children can be encouraged to take perspectives by having class discussions and using stories and materials from a variety of cultures.