The behavior of peers toward a child may have a powerful influence on that child's self-concept and academic achievement. For this reason, educators are particularly concerned with the social interactions of handicapped children, who often face rejection by their nonhandicapped peers. As a first step in increasing understanding of the social problems experienced by exceptional youngsters, this article reviews theoretical and empirical literature which links social behavior to role- or perspective-taking ability. Implications point to a need to investigate handicapped and nonhandicapped children's ability to take each other's role.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Affleck, G. G.Role-taking ability and the interpersonal competencies of retarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1975, 80(3), 312–316. (a)
2.
Affleck, G. G.Role-taking ability and interpersonal conflict resolution among retarded young adults. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1975, 80(2), 233–236. (b)
3.
Arbuthnot, J.Modification of moral judgment through role playing. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(3), 319–324.
4.
Borke, H.Interpersonal perception of young children: Egocentrism or empathy? Developmental Psychology, 1971, 5(2), 263–269.
5.
Borke, H.The development of empathy in Chinese and American children between three and six years of age: A cross-culture study. Developmental Psychology, 1973, 9(1), 102–108.
6.
Borke, H.Piaget's mountains revisited: Changes in the egocentric landscape. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(2), 240–243.
7.
Brim, O. G., Jr.Personality development as role-learning. In I. Iscoe & H. Stevenson (Eds.), Personality development in children. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960.
8.
Brim, O. G., Jr.Socialization through the life cycle. In O. Brim & S. Wheeler (Eds.), Socialization after childhoond. New York: John Wiley, 1966.
9.
Bryan, T.Peer popularity of learning disabled children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1974, 7, 261–268.
Chandler, M. J.Egocentrism and antisocial behavior: The assessment and training of social perspective-taking skills. Developmental Psychology, 1973, 9(3), 326–332.
12.
Chandler, M. J., & Greenspan, S.Ersatz egocentrism: A reply to H. Borke. Developmental Psychology, 1972, 7(2), 104–106.
13.
Chandler, M. J., Greenspan, S., & Barenboim, C.Assessment and training of role-taking and referential communication skills in institutionalized emotionally disturbed children. Developmental Psychology, 1974, 10(4), 546–553.
14.
Clore, G. L., & Jeffery, K. M.Emotional role playing, attitude change, and attraction toward a disabled person. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 23(1), 105–111.
15.
Cowan, P. A.Cognitive egocentrism and social interaction in children. American Psychologist, 1966, 21 (part 2), 623 (abstract).
16.
Deutsch, F.Female preschoolers' perceptions of affective responses and interpersonal behavior in videotaped episodes. Developmental Psychology, 1974, 10, 733–740.
17.
DeVries, R.The development of role-taking as reflected by behavior of bright, average, and retarded children in a social guessing game. Child Development, 1970, 41, 759–770.
18.
Feffer, M. H.The cognitive implications of role-taking behavior. Journal of Personality, 1959, 27(2), 152–168.
Feffer, M. H., & Gourevitch, V.Cognitive aspects of role-taking in children. Journal of Personality, 1960, 28(4), 383–396.
21.
Feffer, M., & Suchotliff, L.Decentering implications of social interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1966, 4(4), 415–422.
22.
Fishbein, H. D., Lewis, S., & Keiffer, K.Children's understanding of spatial relations. Developmental Psychology, 1972, 7, 21–33.
23.
Flavell, J. H.Role-taking and communication skills in children. Young Children, 1966, 21, 164–177.
24.
Flavell, J. H.The development of inferences about others. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Understanding other persons. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974.
25.
Flavell, J. H., Botkin, P. T., Fry, C. L., Jr., Wright, J. W., & Jarvis, P. E.The development of role-taking and communication skills in children. New York: John Wiley, 1968.
26.
Force, D. G., Jr.Social status of physically handicapped children. Exceptional Children, 1956, 23, 104–107, 132.
27.
Gampel, D. H., Gottlieb, J., & Harrison, R. H.Comparison of classroom behavior of special-class EMR, integrated EMR, low-IQ, and nonretarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1974, 79(1); 16–21.
28.
Glidewell, J. C., Kantor, M. B., Smith, L. M., & Stringer, L. A.Socialization and social structure in the classroom. In L. W. Hoffman & M. L. Hoffman (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 2). New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1966.
29.
Glucksberg, S., & Krauss, R. M.What do people say after they have learned how to talk? Studies of the development of referential communication. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1967, 13(4), 309–316.
30.
Glucksberg, S., Krauss, R. M., & Weisberg, R.Referential communication in nursery school children: Method and some preliminary findings. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1966, 3, 333–342.
31.
Gottlieb, J.Public, peer, and professional attitudes toward mentally retarded persons. Studies in Learning Potential, 1974, 4(78), 20–39.
32.
Gottlieb, J., & Budoff, M.Social acceptability of retarded children in nongraded schools differing in architecture. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1973, 78(1), 15–19.
33.
Hartup, W. W.Peer interaction and social organization. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology (Vol. 2, 3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley, 1970.
34.
Hoffman, M. L.Developmental synthesis of affect and cognition of its implications for altruistic motivation. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(5), 607–622.
35.
Houssiadas, L., & Brown, L. B.The coordination of perspectives by mentally defective children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1967, 110, 211–215.
36.
Iano, R. P., Ayers, D., Heller, H. B., McGettigan, J. F., & Walker, V. S.Sociometric status of retarded children in an integrative program. Exceptional Children, 1974, 40, 267–271.
37.
Johnson, D. W.Affective perspective taking and cooperative predisposition. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(6), 869–870. (a)
38.
Johnson, D. W.Cooperativeness and social perspective taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975, 31, 241–244. (b)
39.
Johnson, G. O.A study of the social position of mentally handicapped children in the regular grades. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1950, 55, 60–89.
40.
Jones, R. L., Lavine, K., & Shell, J.Blind children integrated in classrooms with sighted children: A sociometric study. New Outlook for the Blind, 1972, 66(3), 75–80.
41.
Kohlberg, L.Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969.
42.
Kurdek, L. A., & Rodgon, M. M.Perceptual, cognitive, and affective perspective taking in kindergarten through sixth-grade children. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(5), 643–650.
43.
Maratsos, M. P.Nonegocentric communication abilities in preschool children. Child Development, 1973, 44, 697–700.
44.
Marvin, R. S., Greenberg, M. T., & Mossler, D. G.The early development of conceptual perspective taking: Distinguishing among multiple perspectives. Child Development, 1976, 47, 511–514.
45.
Miller, P. H., Kessel, F. S., & Flavell, J. H.Thinking about people thinking about people thinking about …: A study of social cognitive development. Child Development, 1970, 41, 613–623.
46.
Moir, D. J.Egocentrism and the emergence of conventional morality in preadolescent girls. Child Development, 1974, 45(2), 299–304.
47.
Mossler, D. G., Marvin, R. S., & Greenberg, M. T.Conceptual perspective taking in 2- to 6-year-old children. Developmental Psychology, 1976, 12(1), 85–86.
48.
Neale, J. M.Egocentrism in institutionalized and noninstitutionalized children. Child Development, 1966, 37, 97–101.
49.
Peterson, C. L., Danner, F. W., & Flavell, J. H.Developmental changes in children's response to three indications of communicative failure. Child Development, 1972, 43, 1463–1468.
50.
Piaget, J.[The moral judgment of the child] (M. Gabain, trans.). New York: The Free Press, 1965. (Originally published, 1932.)
51.
Piaget, J.[The psychology of intelligence] (M. Percy & D. E. Berlyne, trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1950.
Rothenberg, B. B.Children's social sensitivity and the relationship to interpersonal competence, intrapersonal comfort, and intellectual level. Developmental Psychology, 1970, 2(3), 335–350.
54.
Rubin, K. H.Egocentrism in childhood: A unitary construct? Child Development, 1975, 44, 102–110.
55.
Rubin, K. H., & Schneider, F. W.The relationship between moral judgment, egocentrism, and altruistic behavior. Child Development, 1973, 44, 661–665.
56.
Sarbin, T. R.Role theory. In G. Lindzey (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1). Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1954.
57.
Sarbin, T. R., & Allen, V. L.Role theory. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. 1, 2nd ed.). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1968.
58.
Schmuck, R. A., & Schmuck, P. A.Group processes in the classroom. Dubuque, Ia.: Wm. C. Brown, 1975.
59.
Selman, R. L.Taking another's perspective: Role-taking development in early childhood. Child Development, 1971, 42, 1721–1734.
60.
Selman, R. L., & Byrne, D. F.A structural-developmental analysis of levels of role taking in middle childhood. Child Development, 1974, 45(3), 803–806.
61.
Shantz, C. U.The development of social cognition. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 5). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.
62.
Stuart, R. B.Decentration in the development of children's concepts of moral and causal judgment. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1967, 111, 59–68.
63.
Sullivan, E. V., & Hunt, D. E.Interpersonal and objective decentering as a function of age and social class. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1967, 110, 199–210.
64.
Turnure, C.Cognitive development and role-taking ability in boys and girls from 7 to 12. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 11(2), 202–209.
65.
Wilson, W.Social psychology and mental retardation. In N. R. Ellis (Ed.), International review of research in mental retardation (Vol. 4). New York: Academic, 1970.
66.
Woods, F. J., & Carrow, M. A.The choice-rejection status of speech defective children. Exceptional Children, 1959, 25, 279–283.
67.
Hoffman, M. L. The development of altruistic motivation. Paper presented at the meeting of the. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.
68.
Chandler, M. J. Egocentrism and childhood psychology: The development and application of measurement techniques. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, April 1971.
69.
Kurdek, L. W. Perceptual, cognitive, and affective perspective-taking and empathy in kindergarten through third-grade children. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.
70.
Olejnik, A. B. Developmental changes and interrelationships among role-taking, moral judgments and children's sharing. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.
71.
Iannotti, R. J. The effect of role-taking experiences on role-taking, altruism, empathy, and aggression. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, April 1975.
72.
Shantz, C. U.Communication skills and social-cognitive development (Tech. Rep. #7). Detroit: Wayne State University, Center for the Study of Cognitive Processes, July 1975.
73.
Kitano, M. K.Children's ability to lake a retarded child's role: Effects of knowledge and experiential similarity. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1976.
74.
Stiehl, J.The effects of perceived similarity on children's attraction toward mentally retarded peers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1977.
