Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Examined the possible parallelism between social role-taking and cognition in forty-four gifted adults. The men and women, aged twenty-one to fifty-five were white and middle class. They were administered measures of advanced role-taking levels formulated for this study and measures of formal operations and of post-formal operational development based on category theory. The three hypotheses were: (1) role-taking levels termed “interactive effect” and “interactive empathy” would form an invariant sequence; (2) measures of formal operations and of post-formal operational levels would form an invariant sequence; and (3) the formal operations and post-formal operational levels would provide the necessary cognitive prerequisites for role-taking levels of interactive effect and interactive empathy, respectively. The findings supported all three hypotheses. Age was correlated significantly with role-taking behavior. In the discussion, category theory was suggested as one way to define post-formal operational thinking.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Inhelder

and Piaget

, The Growth of Logical Thinking From Childhood to Adolescence, Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1958.

Piaget

, The Psychology of Intelligence, Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1950.

Feffer

M. H.

and Gourevitch

, Cognitive Aspects of Role-Taking in Children, Journal of Personality, 28, pp. 383–396, 1960.

Rubin

K. H.

, Egocentrism in Childhood: A Unitary Construct? Child Development, 44, pp. 102–110, 1973.

Powell

P. M.

, Cognitive and Role-Taking Development in Mental Retardates and Normals, unpublished master's paper, University of Chicago, 1970. (Available from author upon request.)

Looft

W. R.

, Egocentrism and Social Interaction Across the Life Span, Psychological Bulletin, 78, pp. 73–92, 1972.

Arlin

P. K.

, Cognitive Development in Adulthood: A Fifth Stage?, Developmental Psychology, 11, pp. 602–606, 1975.

Kangas

and Bradway

, Intelligence at Middle Age: A Thirty-Eight Year Follow-Up, Developmental Psychology, 5, pp. 333–337, 1971.

Turner

R. H.

, Role-Taking, Role Standpoint, and Reference-Group Behavior, American Journal of Sociology, 61, pp. 316–328, 1956.

10.

Mead

G. H.

, Mind, Self, and Society, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1934.

11.

Powell

P. M.

, “Towards An Integrated Model of Cognitive and Social Competence,” unpublished manuscript, Yale University, 1973. (Available from author upon request.)

12.

Herrlich

and Strecker

G. E.

, Category Theory, Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, 1973.

13.

MacLane

, Categories for the Working Mathematician, Springer, New York, 1971.

14.

Piaget

, The Principles of Genetic Epistemology, Basic Books, New York, 1972.

15.

Bart

W. M.

and Smith

M. B.

, An Interpretative Framework of Cognitive Structures, Human Development, 17, pp. 161–175, 1974.

16.

Kessen

, “Stage” and “Structure” in the Study of Children, Thought in the Young Child, Kessen

and Kuhlman

(eds.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962.

17.

Kohlberg

, Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach to Socialization, Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, Goslin

(ed.), Rand McNally, Chicago, 1969.

18.

Serebriakoff

, IQ: A Mensa Analysis and History, Hutchinson & Co., London, 1965.

19.

Wrenn

C. G.

, Potential Research Talent in the Sciences Based on Intelligent Quotients of Ph.D.'s, The Educational Record, 30, pp. 5–22, 1949.

20.

Warner

W. L.

Meeker

and Eells

, Social Class in America, Science Research Associates, Chicago, 1949.

21.

Cline

V. B.

, Ability to Judge Personality Assessed With a Stress Interview and Sound Film Technique, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 50, pp. 183–187, 1955.

22.

Cline

V. B.

and Richards

J. M.

Jr. , Accuracy of Interpersonal Perception—A General Trait?, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, pp. 1–7, 1960.

23.

Gamow

, One, Two, Three … Infinity, The Viking Press, New York, 1961.

Advanced Social Role-Taking and Cognitive Development in Gifted Adults

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References