The Development of Three Spatial Perspective-Taking Rules

Abstract

FLAVELL, JOHN H.; FLAVELL, ELEANOR R.; GREEN, FRANCES L.; and WILCOX, SHARON A. The Development of Three Spatial Perspective-taking Rules. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 356358. Children of 42, 5, and 5/' years of age were tested for their knowledge of 3 spatial perspective-taking rules: (1) any object will appear the same to the self and another person if both view it from the same position; (2) a heterogeneous-sided object (in this study, a tangle of wire) will appear different to the 2 observers if they view it from different sides; and (3) a homogeneous-sided object (a cylinder) will appear the same to the 2 if they view it from different sides. The data suggested that at least rules 1 and 2 undergo development during this age period and that 5%-year-olds have a good grasp of all 3 rules. There was no evidence that the 3 rules differed in difficulty or age of acquisition.