Conceptual Perspective Taking: Children's Ability to Distinguish What They Know from What They See

One part of understanding the difference between external reality and mental life involves the ability to differentiate what is seen from what is known. This research investigated the development of children's ability to make the seeing-knowing distinction in the context of conceptual perspective taking. In Experiment 1, 2 developmental levels were found to account for children's performance when asked about a naive observer's knowledge of the identity of objects. At Level 1 (from about 4-6 years of age), children tend to behave as if seeing part of an object is sufficient for someone to share the children's knowledge of the object's identity. Even at 4 years of age, however, children often realize that a small, nondescript part of an object does not provide sufficient information for an observer to know the object's present actions (e.g., that a rabbit is jumping) or nonperceptual information about the object (e.g., that the rabbit has a brother). At Level 2 (after about 6 years of age), children appreciate that someone who shares their visual perspective may not be able to identify the object in view. In Experiment 2, 4- and 6-year-old children were given training designed to make them aware that there may be many interpretations for the same information. 4-year-old children in the training condition performed significantly better on subsequent perspective-taking tasks.