Study On The Occurrence And Developmental Trend Of Infants’ Verbal Self-Recognition

Self-recognition is the cognitive component of self-consciousness which refers that the individual thinks he is different from other people and objects.It is meaningful that children can recognize themselves correctly.Former research usually explores verbal self-recognition through horizontal design without systematic development.The purpose of this study is to explore the verbal self-recognition occurrence,the order of “I” and “me” and the developmental trend of the verbal self-recognition.Adopting micro genetic design,combined with interviews and situational experiments,this study observes 30 infants aged from18 to 27 months in Dalian once a week to explore the occurrence and developmental process of the verbal self-recognition.The results showed that:(1)The process of verbal self-recognition was usually from using name with actions to the use of first-person pronouns "I" which referred to himself.(2)The age of using “self” for the first time was 24.5 months old.(3)“I” occurred earlier than “me”.(4)As time goes by,the development of verbal self-recognition increases gradually.(5)As time goes by,the gender difference emerges.