The Development of Self-Consciousness
Agency and Self-Awareness August 27, 1992 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199245611.003.0013 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that agency implies an active, conscious organism that desires, plans, acts, and compares actions to desires, and that in adults such conscious processes exist. The authors propose that the developmental emergence of these processes can be studied through measures of self-awareness: self-recognition, personal pronoun usage ('me' and 'mine'), and pretend play. |
Abstract
Abstract The concept of agency implies an active organism, one who desires, one who makes plans, carries out actions, and compares their actions to their desires. Such a concept of agency requires consciousness. There is little question that in adults, such conscious processes exist. The question is, from a developmental perspective when do they arise? In our work on the development of self-awareness, we have developed measures which are related to this concept. They include self-recognition, personal pronoun usage (me and mine), and pretend play.