User:Finereach/Social-cognitive development

Social cognitive development is the psychological processes through which social cognition develops, that is to say, the way people come to understand other peoples thoughts, desires, motives and behaviour, and develop a sense of self (see Developmental Psychology).

History
Social cognitive development has long been of interest in relation to general cognitive development theories, for example, Piaget's Theory of cognitive development, and other more specific theories for example Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Piaget considered the infant's understanding of people, "person permanence", to be tied up with development of their understanding of objects (object permanence). Piaget considered children to be initially egocentric, unable to consider how others see things; over time their abilities improve in line with ability to perform increasingly complex cognitive operations.

Social perceptual development
Social perception develops in infancy and it has been suggested that some aspects of psychological processes that promote social behavior (such as face recognition) may be innate. Consistent with this very young babies recognize and selectively respond to social stimuli such as the voice, face and scent of their mother.

Theory of mind
Development of theory of mind has received considerable attention. Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand what other people think, feel, known and understand. At four years children are able to demonstrating that they know that someone else can hold a false belief. Theory of mind abilities become more sophisticated as children get older, for example, able to complete more complicated second-order theory of mind tasks at around seven years of age. Ability to understand theory of mind is disrupted in autism.

Selman's role-taking theory
Selman's role-taking theory is another approach to understanding social cognitive development. In this theory, social cognition refers to children's ability to understand other peoples thoughts, desires, motives and behaviour. This stage theory suggests that development of social cognition arises from children's ability to see things from other people's perspectives. Role-taking theory describes development from a simplistic egocentric perspect at 3-6 years, to a more sophisticated general model of how other people behave at 12-15 years. Role-taking theory has been used to develop a clinal intervention for children and adolescents who have have difficulties with social ability.

Stages
Stage 1 : Subjective or differential perspective-taking 5 years - 9 years - other people have a social perspective of their own. Stage 2 : Self-reflective or reciprocal perspective taking 7 - 9 years Other people have different perspectives and may be considering the child's point of view. Simiar to second order theory of mind. Stage 3 : Third person or mutual perspective taking : More complex social cognition - the adolescent is able to see all points of view from a third-party perspective 10-15 Stage 4 : In-depth societal perspective taking 15+ yet more complex, abstract perspective taking, incorporating perspective of society with individual and group.