Abstract
Perspective taking is an essential skill for social development during adolescence and understanding its development could provide important insights into adolescent well-being. We review recent longitudinal and cross-sectional work that demonstrates continued refinement of perspective-taking abilities during adolescence, based on both self-report measures and (advanced) perspective-taking tasks. We discuss factors that contribute to individual differences in perspective-taking abilities, such as gender, parent and peer interactions, and the school environment. The reviewed studies highlight the need for further longitudinal studies, which identify factors that promote or hinder the development of perspective taking during the adolescent period and use developmentally appropriate measures, which can assess advanced perspective-taking abilities.
Introduction
A critical skill for successful social interactions is the ability to take someone else's perspective [1]. This is especially important during adolescence, when a key developmental task is the formation of lasting positive relationships outside the primary family. In order to navigate their increasingly complex social environments, adolescents need to develop advanced social cognitive competencies [2]. Well-developed perspective-taking abilities have been found to improve social relationships [3,4], and are related to higher friendship quality and lower levels of loneliness [5]. Impaired perspective-taking abilities have been associated with various types of psychopathology such as internalising and externalising problems [6], adolescent-onset schizophrenia [7], as well as a wide range of mental disorders in adults [8]. A thorough understanding of the development of perspective taking may therefore elucidate ways to improve adolescents' social connectedness, which is vital to their mental well-being [9].
Perspective taking has been defined as the ability to understand and reason about or predict other people's thoughts, beliefs, mental states, or emotions, and is also referred to as cognitive empathy, cognitive theory of mind, or mentalising [10, 11, 12]. Perspective taking is often measured together with an affective component (known as affective empathy or affective theory of mind), which refers to one's own emotional response to other's feelings. These two components are separate processes with their own developmental trajectories [13], and the current review focuses solely on the development of perspective taking, that is, the cognitive process of understanding another's point of view. Most previous research on perspective taking has focused on childhood, despite important developmental changes during adolescence, which impact social interactions, such as hormonal changes during puberty and the resulting social re-orientation towards peers [4]. Ongoing development of perspective-taking abilities during adolescence is in line with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the brain areas involved in social cognitive processes, such as perspective taking, often referred to as the ‘social brain’, are undergoing substantial structural and functional change during this period [14]. For example, higher levels of perspective taking during adolescence are associated with relatively more mature cortical structures in these brain regions, compared to development in those with lower levels of perspective taking [15].
This review highlights recent advances in the study of the development of perspective taking during adolescence. We first review research describing the overall developmental trajectory of perspective-taking abilities, including gender differences. Next, we discuss work aiming to elucidate individual differences in the development of perspective taking, specifically the influence of parent-child and peer interactions, as well as socio-environmental factors. We conclude by providing recommendations for future research.
Developmental trajectory
The majority of research on the development of perspective-taking abilities has focused on the initial acquisition of this ability during childhood. Young children develop basic aspects of perspective taking, such as an awareness of mental states in themselves and others, followed by an understanding of other people's beliefs [16]. Early development of perspective taking is predicted by functions facilitating shared experiences, such as attention, inhibitory control, and language abilities (for a review on precursors of perspective taking in childhood see the study by Derksen et al. [4]). It has been proposed that differences in language abilities in particular may contribute to early individual differences in perspective-taking abilities [17,18]. This in line with twin studies showing that the same genetic factors that influence individual differences in perspective taking were also related to language abilities [19,20]. The modest heritability of perspective-taking abilities is presumed to further decrease as the social and environmental factors become more influential in later developmental stages [17].
In contrast to childhood, adolescence appears to be a period of refinement of perspective taking, where more advanced socio-cognitive skills are required to meet the demands of the increasingly complex social interactions that adolescents encounter [21]. Recent longitudinal studies provide strong evidence for continued advancement of perspective taking during adolescence, reporting an overall increase from age 13–18 [1]. One study from a non-western background provides initial evidence that this increase in perspective taking during adolescence can be observed across cultures [22]. While language abilities seem to become less important, executive functions, such as inhibitory control and set shifting, continue to be related to perspective-taking abilities during adolescence and adulthood [21,23, 24, 25].
The vast majority of studies in children have used false belief tasks to measure perspective taking [16], yet performance on such lower level perspective taking tasks show ceiling effects in late childhood [26,27]. Most studies investigating perspective-taking abilities in adolescents used self-report measures [28, 29, 30, 31], specifically the perspective taking subscale of the interpersonal reactivity index [10]. Some work has been done using tasks designed to measure advanced perspective taking, which tap into more complex mental state attribution using stories or films, or ask participants to perform a task while taking someone else's visual perspective into account. These tasks enable investigation of the nuances of more complex perspective taking, and as with self-report measures, generally show protracted development from early to late adolescence [27,32, ∗33, 34]. However, the psychometric properties of tasks trying to capture more advanced perspective taking skills have not yet been fully examined [35], and commonly used measures in children have shown poor coherence with measures used in adults [36]. More research is needed to clarify which aspects of perspective taking each task measures, and how these compare across tasks and questionnaires. An overview of the most commonly used measures (including a short description) is given in Table 1.
Reading the mind in the eyes task (RME) | Participants need to recognise complex emotional and cognitive states just by looking at pictures of eyes. | Białecka-Pikul et al., 2020 |
Movie for the assessment of social cognition (MASC) | Participants watch short films and answer questions regarding the actors' mental states. | Boada et al., 2020 |
Edinburgh social cognition test (ESCoT) | Participants watch cartoon-style social interactions and answer questions about the cognitive and affective states of the characters, asl well as and inter- and intrapersonal understanding of social norms. | Baksh et al., 2018 |
Movie for assessment of empathy and ToM (EmpaToM-Y) | Participants watch short films and answer questions entailing mental perspective taking and give affect ratings of the depicted scenes. | Breil et al., 2021 |
Director task | Participants need to take another person's perspective to perform an action. | Humphrey and Dumontheil, 2016 |
Cartoon vignettes | Participants need to choose between endings to cartoon vignettes. | Gao et al., 2019 |
ToM stories for children and adolescents | Participants read stories and answer questions about basic and higher order false belief reasoning. | Gabriel et al., 2021 |
Self-report questionnaires | ||
Interpersonal reactivity index | Self-report measure assessing four subscales of empathy: Perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress, and fantasy. | Farrell and Vaillancourt, 2021 |
Adolescent measure of empathy and sympathy (AMES) | Self-report measure designed for adolescents assessing the subscales cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and sympathy. | Li et al., 2019 |
Basic empathy scale | Self-report measure assessing cognitive and affective empathy. | Zych et al., 2020 |
Table 1. Overview of commonly used measures to assess advanced perspective taking in adolescents
Gender differences1
Gender differences in perspective taking have been found using a multitude of measures [5,42], although most consistently reported in studies using self-reports [28,31,45,46]. These studies show that girls have higher levels of perspective-taking abilities than boys already at the age of 13, and this difference continues to grow until age 18 due to a steeper increase in this ability among girls. Boys on the other hand show a decrease in perspective taking from early to middle adolescence followed by an increase [31].
Most explanations of gender differences in perspective taking have focused on socialisation effects. While theoretical accounts also propose that puberty influences socio-cognitive abilities, to date there is still limited empirical evidence for pubertal effects on perspective taking [47]. Socialisation theories propose that due to gender specific societal demands, girls are often socialised to be more nurturing and expressive [31], which may both encourage the use of perspective taking abilities, as well as foster their development. In contrast, boys are often expected to behave in a more assertive and competitive manner [48]. Adherence to gender roles is particularly strong during mid adolescence [31], suggesting that the decrease in perspective taking in mid-adolescent boys may be a consequence of socially desirable behaviour. In line with this hypothesis, studies found that the decrease observed in boys in mid-adolescence was particularly prevalent among those with more stereotypical ideas about gender roles [49]. Moreover, observed gender differences in the cognitive process of perspective taking are often smaller than those reported for the more affective components, such as affective empathy [22,31,50], and some studies have only found significant gender differences in affective empathy, but not in perspective taking [41,51]. The finding of larger gender differences on self-reported affective empathy than cognitive components of perspective taking provide further support for socialisation theories, as it may be less socially desirable for boys to report high affect [49]. It may be that the ability to take another person's perspective is actually similar for boys and girls, but the propensity to apply this ability may decrease in boys, particularly during adolescence when social status and societal expectations are an important driver of behaviour [5].
Individual differences
As perspective taking is a vital skill for successful social relationships, numerous lines of work have focused on elucidating the factors (in addition to gender) which influence its development. This is of particular relevance during adolescence, when the ability to understand and sensitively respond to the needs and desires of others is a prerequisite for adolescents to form the friendships and romantic attachments, which are essential to their social development [52]. Recent work investigating individual differences in perspective taking has demonstrated heterogeneity in developmental trajectories [30], emphasising the need for research into the factors that may support or constrain improvements in these abilities. Among the most frequently investigated factors are parent and peer interactions, which we discuss below, as well as the contributions of the broader social environment.
Parents
One line of work has focused on how the dynamics of parent–child interactions influence the development of perspective taking. A recent meta-analysis found that adolescents with higher quality relationships with their parents showed higher levels of perspective taking [53]. This is in line with socialisation theories, which suggest that within supportive relationships parents’ model caring behaviours such as considering the thoughts and intentions of others, thereby fostering these abilities in their children [48]. Parents may also be able to actively encourage perspective taking among their children, for example by rewarding considerate behaviour, with recent work showing that social rewards, such as praise are more effective in achieving this than material rewards [54]. Others have found increases in perspective taking as a result of parents directly encouraging social responsibility [55].
Interactions with parents also provide a safe space to learn conflict resolution skills, as relationships with parents can be used as a model for later relationships with peers [56]. Adolescents who are unable to have these learning experiences, for example, due to parental maltreatment, show slower development of perspective-taking abilities [57]. Multiple studies reveal the importance of perspective taking in successfully navigating parent–child conflict, as adolescents with higher levels of perspective taking show more interest in their mother's thoughts during a conflict discussion [58] as well increased sensitivity in adapting their behaviour to their mother's responses [59]. Since many past studies have only included mothers, further research is needed to discern the role of fathers and other primary caregivers on adolescents' perspective taking. In a promising finding for future interventions, a manipulation that primed perspective taking led to less escalation during conflicts between adolescents and their mothers and increased their attention to their mother's point of view [60].
Peers
Others have focused on the influence of friends and peers. As they develop into independent adults, adolescents spend increasing amounts of time with their friends and less with their parents, and the focus of their emotional support shifts from parents to peers [52]. As with parents, perspective taking is positively associated with the quality of adolescent peer relationships, and the association with peer relationships is in fact stronger than that with parents [48]. Similar effects were found for related constructs, including peer attachment and closeness, supporting the proposition that higher quality peer relationships are characterised by higher levels of perspective taking [61]. Peer relationships may not only provide socialisation of perspective taking though modelling of behaviours, but increased perspective taking is also thought to facilitate the development of these relationships [48]. While relationships with parents are relatively stable and involuntary, those with peers develop voluntarily and consequently an adolescent's ability to understand and consider the thoughts of others may determine how well they are able to form friendships. Interestingly, these effects may be strongest at the level of individual relationships, as a meta-analysis was unable to demonstrate an effect of perspective taking on social status variables such as popularity or likeability [61].
Socio-environmental factors
Social influences have also been observed outside parent and peer relationships. These lines of work show a bidirectional relationship between the social environment and perspective taking. While social factors (such as the classroom environment or norms within a friendship group) can shape the development of perspective taking abilities, an individual adolescent's attained level of perspective taking can also impact their behaviour during interactions with others. Studies focussing on the former have shown that pupils who are encouraged by teachers to express their opinions show improved levels of perspective taking [55] and that perspective taking is positively associated with social competence in the classroom [62]. Recent work during the COVID-19 pandemic found that perspective taking increased during the first weeks of lockdown, with the authors suggesting that this extreme situation encouraged adolescents to use their perspective-taking abilities to reflect on the circumstances others found themselves in the study by Portt et al [63]. Other work has focused on how perspective-taking skills impact adolescents' social behaviour, with multiple lines of research suggesting that perspective taking affects how adolescents relate to and behave towards others. Recent work has shown that higher levels of perspective taking predict lower levels of prejudice [64], more restorative opinions about punishment [65] and led adolescents to make larger donations when sharing with others, particularly strangers [63]. These findings align with the extensive evidence for perspective taking as an important determinant of prosocial behaviour [53]. An increased awareness of the other's feelings and intentions is thought to promote prosocial actions, such as finding ways to help others.
Future directions and conclusions
In summary, recent findings have shown that perspective-taking abilities continue to be refined during the adolescent period, and individual differences in these trajectories are shaped by a number of factors including gender and social interactions with parents, peers, and the broader social environment. However, there are a number of challenges that future research should address. Firstly, it is pivotal to find and validate suitable measures of advanced perspective-taking abilities. Ideally such measures should be able to capture subtle changes in perspective taking during the adolescent period and should be suitable for repeated administration and neuroimaging studies. Moreover, to decrease susceptibility to social desirability and to increase ecological validity, longitudinal research needs to expand from using (sub-scales of) self-report measures towards assessing realistic social scenarios or real life interactions. Secondly, while a number of longitudinal studies have adequately addressed changes in perspective taking during adolescence, not enough is currently known about longitudinal effects of precursors and outcomes of perspective-taking abilities, as well as their potential interplay over time [4]. Studies employing appropriate measures longitudinally over the period of adolescence will help to elucidate the factors which affect individual differences in the developmental trajectory of perspective-taking abilities. By better identifying these factors that promote or hinder the development of perspective taking, we may be able to prevent adverse developmental outcomes and foster adolescents’ social functioning and mental well-being.