PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Mirror Test, Autism Spectrum, Temporoparietal Junction

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Analyze the nature and development of our sense of self. The sense of self emerges in the early years of childhood, and continues to develop as they become cognitively and emotionally more sophisticated. An emerging sense of self is a necessary precursor to theory of mind and moral development. When infants are born, evidence suggests that their ability to reason about themselves as separate from those around them is extremely limited, compared to what it will eventually become. At the age of 2 years old, children can refer to themselves verbally by name or pronoun. At the age of 8, children become more likely to use knowledge about themselves to evaluate and modify behaviour. At this age, children are also able to make social comparisons between their own abilities and those of others, as well as use broad terminology and begin to become more concerned with how others perceive them.