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Cited by 120Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentPhilosophy and Theoretical ScienceEmbodied and Extended Cognition

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Origins of Self-Perception in Infancy

Butterworth, George·1992·Psychological Inquiry
DOI 10.1207/s15327965pli0302_1
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Abstract

Most accounts of the origins of the self-concept in humans rely on the mirror self-recognition (rouge removal) task whereby the infant is credited with self-awareness at about 15 months, once it is able to use the mirror reflection to locate a dab of rouge on the nose. But mirror self- recognition may require relatively advanced cognitive abilities and may reveal relatively little about the ontogenetic origins of self-knowledge. The aim of this article is to consider the antecedents of self-knowledge in processes of sensory perception during infancy. J. J. Gibson' s ecological approach to sensory perception asserts that there is information for the distinction between self and nonself inherent in perception. Evidence from human infants who are too young to recognize themselves in mirrors is reviewed for a sensory perceptual basis for the existential self (the I) and for the categorical self (the me) in William James' s terminology. Studies of the visual proprioceptive control of posture in babies may be interpreted to support an inherent distinction between self and nonself in infantperception, rather than the traditional account of an "adualistic confusion." Similarly, various aspects of bodily self-awareness manifested even by fetuses demonstrate some basis for a categorical self as an original aspect of experience. Self-specification in perception is also indicated in recent research on imitation in very young infants, a possible mechanism for the essentially social component of self-concept development. Although a case for early self-specification in perception can readily be made, it is much more difficult to explain how self-perception gives rise to self-conception. One possibility briefly discussed is that a process of representation and re-representation of information originally obtained through interaction with physical and social objects gives rise to reflective self- awareness and the particularly autobiographical knowledge of self which we take to be species- typical of humans.

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Cites

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Metadata

Authors
Butterworth, G.
Affiliations
University of Sussex (GB)
Corresponding author
Butterworth, George
Venue
Psychological Inquiry
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
1992-04
Volume
3
Issue
2
Pages
103-111
ISSN
  • 1047-840X (ISSN-L)
  • 1532-7965
DOI
10.1207/s15327965pli0302_1
OpenAlex
W2066774506
Cited by
120
References
3
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
FWCI
11.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Psychological Inquiry (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
Keywords
self-perception, self-concept development, infancy, mirror self-recognition, ecological perception, postural control, imitation, William James

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