Chase, Rebecca (9/14) The effects of social skills and social role taking on problems of spatial perspective taking (Gary Kose, Ph.D.; Benjamin Saunders, Ph.D.; Elizabeth Kudadjie-Gyamfi, Ph.D.)
This study examines the relationship between spatial perspective-taking skills and social skills, as well as the relationship between perspective-taking skills and social role taking in a sample of pre-adolescents and adolescents. The interaction between spatial perspective-taking skills and social skills has not been widely researched, as these two domains have generally been considered as separate and independent. Shelton, Clements-Stephens, Lam, Pak & Murray (2012), however, found that perspective-taking and social skills do interact in a population of healthy adults. More specifically they found that individuals with better social skills were more accurate on a perspective-taking task than less skilled individuals when the perspective-taking target was a perceived agent. No such relationship, however, was found when the target was an object.
This study explores Shelton et al.'s (2012) findings from a developmental perspective. The Three Bldgs Task, a measure of perspective-taking skills, was administered to a sample of preadolescents and adolescents, and their caregivers filled out the Autism Spectrum Quotient, a measure of social skills. To even further expand on the research of Shelton et al. and to address the question of whether or not the type of agent impacts perspective-taking skills, two perspective-taking targets with perceived agency were included instead of one. The results suggest that the relationship between perspective-taking and social skills holds for a younger population and the agent itself matters. Differences regarding the role of perceived agency seem to exist between adults and this sample.
