8. A Structural-Developmental Analysis of Levels of Role-taking in Middle Childhood

Abstract

SELMAN, ROBERT L., and BYRNE, DIANE F. A Structural-Developmental Analysis of Levels of Role Taking in Middle Childhood. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 803-806. 40 childrenages 4, 6, 8, and 10-were interviewed by standard and Piagetian clinical method on 2 sociomoral dilemmas. Each child's discussion of the perspectives of different characters in the dilemma was analyzed according to a previously defined sequence of role-taking levels. The high correlation of these levels with increasing age indicates that role taking as a concept is amenable to a structural-developmental analysis.