Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people's thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person's perspective than other children of the same age. That's what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development. "Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else's shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same," said lead author Brad Farrant. Researchers of the UWA's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another's perspective. The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition . The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others' beliefs and use these to predict others' behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives. Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people's thoughts and feelings -- commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic -- had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills. Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another's perspective. "Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people," said Brad Farrant. Which have an effect on the development of children's perspective-taking skills?
The surrounding environments. Mother's perspectives. Personal characters. Language skills.