What is Perspective Taking?
How many times have you said, or heard someone else say, “Try to put yourself in my shoes”? This is the basic essence of perspective taking skills. Perspective taking is the ability to consider how someone else may think or feel about something and to look beyond your own point of view. To do this successfully, you must have some understanding of others' thoughts, feelings, motivations, and intentions.
Here is an example of a perspective taking scenario we use with our TALK clients:
Maya was so excited about her birthday party. She invited all of the kids in her class but nobody showed up.
How do you think that made Maya feel?
What could you do to make Maya feel better?
In this perspective taking scenario, we need to think about how Maya feels. Maya probably feels sad and upset that nobody showed up to her birthday party. She may be thinking about how the other kids feel about her. Maya may think the other kids do not like her and that is why they did not show up to her birthday party. When thinking about what we can do to make Maya feel better, we could give her a present and express to Maya how we are sorry we were unable to attend.
Why is Perspective Taking important?
Perspective taking is important because it allows us to be empathetic and to consider others’ points of view. It fosters connections and is crucial in building relationships. Without perspective taking, we may develop biased views, struggle to make friends, and show a lack of empathy towards others feelings and thoughts. Individuals with social communication deficits who struggle with perspective taking are often viewed as “rude”, “unaware”, “blunt”, or “unfriendly”, when these attributes may be much more indicative of their challenges with perspective taking.
At TALK, we use the Four-Steps of Perspective Taking developed by the Social Thinking® Curriculum, to begin to teach our clients what perspective taking is, why it’s important, and how they can demonstrate perspective taking in their everyday lives. We use the Four-Steps of Perspective Taking in our social groups to help our clients increase their perspective taking skills with their same aged peers. It is important to note that this is just the tip of the iceberg with perspective taking, but is a helpful tool to introduce the concept and break it down to start to build awareness. This module helps our clients understand and recognize the thoughts we have about others and adjust our behavior, even when these perspective taking abilities are limited and lacking. The Four Steps of Perspective Taking are in motion any time we share space with others!
*The Four Steps of Perspective Taking is a Social Thinking® concept from the Social Thinking® curriculum developed by Michelle Garcia Winner