Topics
Selman's Levels of Perspective Taking
Robert Selman gave children scenarios along with questions that required them to take the perspective of others. Based on their answers, he developed a stage theory to explain the way in which children develop their ability to take different perspectives. He proposed five stages or levels: undifferentiated perspective-taking; social-informational perspective-taking; self-reflective perspective-taking; mutual perspective-taking; and societal perspective-taking.