Visual Perspective Taking Ability And Influencing Factors Of Preschool And Early Elementary School Children

Perspective taking is an important part of individuals’ social cognitive process,and the development of children’s good perspective taking ability is also important for their social development.Visual perspective taking,as a type of perspective taking,is an early stage in the development of children’s correct understanding of false beliefs,theory of mind,and social perspective taking.The development of children’s ability to perceive,understand,infer,and reconcile different visual perspectives of self and others marks a gradual shift away from egocentric thinking patterns and a reconfiguration of children’s own social cognitive styles in the process of socialization.Visual perspective taking is an individual’s ability to shift from an egocentric perspective to the perspective of others,and can be divided into level-1 and level-2visual perspective taking.Previous researches have focused on examining children’s social perspective taking and understanding false beliefs,but less researches have been conducted on the early ability of visual perspective taking,and there is no consensus on the characteristics of visual perspective taking.Therefore,this study investigated the visual perspective taking characteristics of preschool and early elementary school children using eye-tracking technology to clarify the overall development of visual perspective taking,the presence of interference effects in the perspective taking process,the social attributes of the perspective taking object,and the influence of children’s peer relationships on visual perspective taking.In study 1,a four-factor mixed experimental design of 3(age group: 3-year-old group,4-year-old group,5-year-old group)× 2(perspective: self,other)× 2(consistency: consistent,inconsistent)× 3(types of perspective taking objects: avatar,arrow,two-color bar)was used to examine the characteristics of level-1 visual perspective taking of preschool children aged 3-5 years using the dot-probe paradigm.The results showed that:(1)3-year-olds had a certain degree of level-1 visual perspective taking ability,and when they reach the age of 4-5,children have a better ability of level-1 visual perspective taking;(2)There were both egocentric and altercentric interference effects in the level-1 visual perspective taking of 3-5 years old,but the mutual centered interference effects were relatively more pronounced in3-4 years old and diminished in 5 years old;(3)Interference effects existed in the case of virtual character,arrow,and two-color bar,so the level-2 visual perspective taking was not just the selection of mental states specific to social stimuli,but might also be an attentional cue pointing effect,and arrows,as a strong attentional cue,could facilitate children’s correct completion of the level-1 visual perspective taking task.In study 2,a four-factor mixed experimental design of 2(age group: 6-7 years old group,8-9 years old group)× 2(perspective: self,other)× 2(consistency:consistent,inconsistent)× 2(peer relationship: good peer relationship,poor peer relationship)to examine the characteristics of level-2 visual perspective taking of early elementary school children aged 6-9 years old using the ambiguous number paradigm.The results showed that(1)6-9-year-old early elementary school children were able to perform the level-2 visual perspective taking task well and had the ability of evel-2 visual perspective taking;(2)Both egocentric and altercentric interference effects existed in the level-2 visual perspective taking of 6-9-year-old early elementary school children;(3)6-9-year-old early elementary school children paid more attention to the social figure area in the level-2 visual perspective taking process,and the peer relationships of the early elementary school children were generally moderate to high and had a significant effect on their level-2 visual perspective taking.In summary,this study shows that: preschool and early elementary school children are basically have the ability of visual perspective taking and continuously improved with age;There are mutual centered interference effect and spontaneous perspective taking during the process of visual perspective taking in preschool and early elementary school children;Non social stimuli,as attention directed cues,can optimize the completion of level-1 visual perspective taking in preschool children;Children in early elementary school pay more attention to social figures during level-2visual perspective taking,and peer relationship affects level-2 visual perspective taking.This study is a further extension of previous studies on children’s perspective taking and theory of mind in terms of age range,research paradigm,and research content,and it has important theoretical significance for a more objective,comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the development characteristics of children’s perspective taking.At the same time,in practice,this study reveals that educators can enhance children’s social interaction and perspective taking skills through relevant teaching methods,and promote children’s social development at different stages of preschool and early elementary school.