This example of children's ability to take the perspective of others shows some of the ways in which our research is carried out and our ideas about child development
Perspective Taking when Hiding from a Policeman
In the 1970s, a group of researchers working in Edinburgh were worried that the tasks Piaget used were abstract in nature and were difficult because they did not relate to the children’s everyday experiences. The researchers decided to see what happened when they used a task which involved perspective taking, but involved a much more familiar ‘game’ of hiding from someone. Look at this task and see what happens
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Adult: Where can the little boy hide so the policeman can’t see him?
Child: Here.
Adult: Brilliant. Okay. The policeman’s got a friend, okay, his friend stands there. Where can the little boy go now?
Child: There.
Adult: Ah, yes.
Summary
Hopefully you noticed with the three mountains task that Lewis said both he and the doll could see the same view, even when this was incorrect because the doll was placed to the side of the model mountains. This task seems to show, as Piaget claimed, that young children have difficulty taking the perspective of another person.
Hopefully, you also noticed that the child was able to hide the ‘robber’ from the policeman, even though the policemen had a different viewpoint to that of the child. In some circumstances children can take the perspective of others. All this emphasises that great care is needed when designing tasks to assess children’s abilities and that important ideas can be challenged by innovative and new methods.
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Content last updated: 24/01/2007
