Lecture 6

Question 1

self-awareness

Answer 1

understanding that we are distinct from the environment

Question 2

the development of self-awareness

Answer 2

emerges in early infancy though continues to develop into adulthood

Question 3

5 levels of self-awareness in early life

Answer 3

Rochat 2003
level 0: confusion
level 1: differentiation
level 2: situation
level 3: identification
level 4: permanence
level 5: self-consciousness or ‘meta’ self-awareness

Question 4

level 0

Answer 4

confusion
- oblivious to mirror or the reflections on the mirrors

• children have little understanding of what they look like

evidence: sing courtship songs / think its someone else / don’t recognize themselves - same as children

Question 5

level 1: differentiation

Answer 5

• early self-world differentiation: seen vs. felt
• at birth babies differentiate their body as a ‘different entity’ from others

Question 6

evidence for level 1

Answer 6

• 10 minute old babies imitate tongue protrusion (Meltzoff et al 1995)
• recent studies did not replicate this, no imitation
• 24-hour old babies differentiate when someone touches their cheek vs when they touch their own cheek (Rochat 1996)

Question 7

level 2

Answer 7

situation
- babies begin to recognize how their bodies are situated in relation to other object in the world

Question 8

evidence for level 2

Answer 8

• at 6 weeks imitation becomes more fine-tuned
• by 2 months they engage in protoconversations (making souonds)
• by 2-4 months infants are aware that they can control objects and cause changes in the physical environment

Question 9

level 3

Answer 9

identification
- referred to as the ‘birth’ of ‘me’
- around 18 months/second year of life
- recognize reflection in mirror

Question 10

evidence for level 3

Answer 10

‘mirror test’: Lewis et al 1979
- infants age 9-24 months
- infants had a red mark on face
- observed child’s behaviour for 90s
- around 18 mo some noticed mark, 21-24 months ~ 70% touched red mark
- recognize their reflection

Question 11

level 4

Answer 11

permanence
- understanding the temporal dimension of the self
- birth of ‘me’ extending over time after 18 months
- me-but-not-me dilemma: before age of 4 they refer to their image in the mirror as 3rd person, recognise them but confused
- age 4: refer to image as ‘me’… grasp temporal dimension

Question 12

level 5

Answer 12

meta-awareness
- children have others in mind/how they view them: evaluative and the meta-cognitive self-awareness at age 4-5
- hold multiple representations and perspectives on objects and people

e.g. become shy/embarrassed as self-conscious how others might see them

Question 13

what does level 5 correspond to

Answer 13

the developmental period of false belief understanding (theory of mind)

Question 14

is the mirror self recognition test universal ?

Answer 14

cross-cultural studies: Keller et al 2005
- 18-20 mo greece, costa rica, germany, cameroon
- cameroonian chldren passed the test less than 4% whereas rest were 50%
- maybe more appropriate for western cultures

• Broesch 2011, only 2/82 18mo-6 year old kenyan children responded to the mark, most freezing while looking at children

Question 15

why do cross-cultural differences occur in mirror test

Answer 15

• parenting styles(parents don’t point things out as much)
• less exposure to mirror
• general lack of expressiveness (may recognise mark but not say anything)
• confused about what is expected from them

Question 16

summary: self-recognition

Answer 16

• most children can recognize themselves in a mirror by around 18 months
• self-recognition and meta-representation are related to other developmental milestones e.g. language:
  understanding that one thing can represent something else e.g. mirror and child….. different people might represent the same thing differently

Question 17

why do children imitate

Answer 17

• important in social learning, recreating what models are doing and relating to them

Question 18

imitation paradox

Answer 18

• children imitate selectively
• children imitate faithfully -> over-imitation

Question 19

selective imitation

Answer 19

• 14 imitate selectively: understanding others’ goals and intentions
• copy intentional acts and not accidental acts (not accidental) (Tomasello 1995)
  (Copy rational acts)

Question 20

over-imitation

Answer 20

children copy slavishly: learn about objects whose causal properties are not immediately obvious

Question 21

over-imitation evidence

Answer 21

Lyons et al. 2007
- 3-5 year olds and chimpanzees observed an adult using an unfamiliar puzzle box with opaque walls.
- chimps imitated only necessary actions
- children imitated all actions, including unnecessary ones

Question 22

imitate to affiliate: social side

Answer 22

• people’s dependence on others and need for belonging to a group creates motivation and pressures to imitate

Question 23

imitate to affiliate: learning side

Answer 23

when we have a learning goals imitation is more selective

Question 24

imitate to affiliate: social goals

Answer 24

usually faithful and conveys social information such as ‘I am like you’ or at a group level ‘I am one of you’

result: over-imitation e.g. competition or empathetic responses

Question 25

norms of learning and social goals

Answer 25

copy actions of in-group members more faithfully than out-group members

Question 26

imitation and affiliation: social pressures

Answer 26

children might feel pressure to imitate e.g. making a wrong choice to fit in to a group

Question 27

the threat of social exclusion: adults

Answer 27

• as an adult, being excluded is painful
• adults sometimes respond to exclusion with affiliative behaviours e.g. imitation to fit in more

Question 28

the threat of social exclusion in children: response to ostracism

Answer 28

• 5 year olds
• control: video shows bee not interested in playing
• other: ostracism video: leaf tries to play but they are uninterested
• children who watched ostracism videos imitated more (and more faithfully) than children who watched control

Over et al. 2009

Question 29

what did the ostracism video experiment show

Answer 29

• children are sensitive to social exclusion and modify their social behaviour in response to ostracism
• ostracism elicits affiliative behaviour (imitation)
• they try to affiliate with others through over-imitation despite not being excluded

Question 30

ostracism and affiliation: further evidence

Answer 30

same 2 conditions (Over et al. 2015)

• children in ostracism condition drew themselves and their friend standing significantly closer together + more complex drawings
• adults rated drawings, ostracism condition as more affiliative (happ)

Question 31

reputation management

Answer 31

to avoid exclusion and ostracism

• our behaviour is modulated by our perception of what others think of us
• we adjust our behaviour so that others see us in a positive light
• we are more conformative e.g. generosity increases in the presence of others

Question 32

audience presence - study - Tomasello et al. 2012

Answer 32

(sticker tasks)
when observed: children stole less and helped more
when unobserved: children stole more and helped less

Question 33

Summary of imitation

Answer 33

Children imitate to affiliate
- imitation is selective when the goal is to learn (how an object works?)
- imitation is faithful, when the goal is to convey messages e.g. ‘I am one of you’

Children are sensitive to ostracism
- even if it is not them being ostracized/ even is inanimate object
- witnessing ostracism elicits more affiliative behaviour

Children act in conforming ways more often when they are observed

Question 34

Commitment to the group

Answer 34

children prefer members of their own group to members of other groups

Question 35

evidence for commitment to group

Answer 35

5-8 year olds predict that their team preferences would not change even if their team lost all games (James 2001)

Question 36

Reputation management 2 - groups

Answer 36

strategic management of reputation requires not only that we care whether people are watching but also who is watching

Question 37

reputation management 2 evidence - groups

Answer 37

children more generous when they are observed by an ingroup member to an outgroup member (Engelmann et al 2013)

Question 38

general summary

Answer 38