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Stages of development of self-awareness, self-concept and self-esteem

Our aim as caregivers is to foster high self-esteem in the children we care for. The journey towards high self-esteem begins with infants becoming self-aware.

Infants gradually become self-aware in the first 6–7 months of life. An experiment by researchers has shown that full self-awareness occurs by 15 months. The researchers placed a red spot onto the infant’s nose and put the infant in front of a mirror. If the child took the red spot off their own nose, they were thought to be self-aware. If they tried to take the spot off the child in the mirror’s nose, they were not fully self-aware. (Vialle et al, 2000)

From self-awareness, self-concept grows. During the toddler years, children begin to form understandings about themselves and their characteristics. They will form understanding about gender, their abilities and other characteristics that make up who they are. Self-concept statements generally are a statement of fact such as ‘I am a boy’, ‘I have brown hair’ and so on.

Self-awareness

Self-esteem is the value we place on our attributes. This will begin to occur during the toddler and preschool years. We will begin to hear preschoolers say such things as ‘I’m a good runner’ and ‘I’m very clever’. Statements like this indicate that a child has a positive self-esteem in these areas.

Emotional development terminology

As with the study of any developmental area, there are a number of words that are significant to the topic that you must be familiar with. Try the exercise below dealing with emotional development terminology.

Activity 1

Developing a sense of self

What do we mean by the development of a ‘sense of self’? Can you remember a time when you did not think of yourself as ‘you’, an individual? Somewhere in our lifetime, we developed an understanding of who we are and what constitutes ‘me’ as a separate person from those around us. We understand that each of us is a separate, individual person. This understanding of our separateness is called self-awareness. Before we can gain any self-concept of ourselves or develop self-esteem, we must first develop self-awareness.

When babies are born, they do not have self-awareness. Initially, their actions are merely reflexes to given stimuli. There is no recognition of themselves in a mirror, nor do they recognise that their limbs are part of themselves.

Have you ever seen babies exploring their toes with their mouth and then screaming when they suck too hard or bend their toe? We laugh, of course, but, at this point, the infant has no perception of what is self and what is not.

If you place a red dot on a 14-month-old baby’s forehead and then place her in front of a mirror, you will know if she has developed self-awareness by her reaction. If she tries to remove the red dot from the mirror, you will know she has not yet developed self-awareness. If she tries to remove it from her own forehead, you know that self-awareness is developing. She now knows that it is herself in the mirror—not just another interesting baby to watch.

Emotional development in infancy

During infancy, there are major developments in the social and emotional domain. Remember that the social emotional domain involves the growth and change of our feelings and interactions with others.

During this stage, infants will develop social and emotional skills that allow them to express affection and annoyance when appropriate and to establish relationships with others.

Feelings and emotions

The neonate basically has two emotional states: content (not crying) and discontent (different types of cries). Emotions become more complex with maturation, experience and cognitive development.

By the time an infant is 18 months old, he or she is able to express a much greater range of specific emotions or feelings in response to different situations.

Infants learn emotional responses from those around them. Read this scenario and you’ll see what I mean.

Harry, aged nine months, is squealing with laughter every time his three-year-old sister Jane pops her head around the couch and says ‘boo’.

His mother also starts to laugh and says to Harry, ‘Jane is being a funny girl, isn’t she, Harry?’

Harry’s mother is reinforcing the happiness he is experiencing with his sister Jane. He is learning that happiness is an important emotion. He is getting feedback from his mother about this feeling.

By ten months of age, many infants are able to interpret the emotions of others. For instance, if their carer seems happy and relaxed, it is more likely that the infant will be happy and relaxed. On the other hand, if the carer seems stressed and anxious, the infant will pick this up and respond by being irritable and hard to settle.

The increasing complexity of the developing emotional responses of infants

Age	Emotional behaviour
5–6 weeks	Around this age, baby’s first social smile appears (a social smile is in response to social interaction). (It’s a smile eagerly awaited by parents.)
3–4 months	Babies will laugh in response to such stimulation as tickling.
About 6 months	Babies will laugh when someone makes a funny face.
8–12 months	Strong emotional tie with primary caregiver develops (ie feelings of trust and security).
By 8–12 months	Babies will express distress and sadness when they are separated from the carer(s) to whom they attached. The sadness may be expressed through heartfelt sobbing or withdrawal or listless behaviour (depending on the temperament of the child).
About 12 months	You can get a laugh from a baby by doing silly things like putting on a silly hat.
By 13–15 months	The young child will express anger as a result of being frustrated or prevented from doing something or having something.

Does culture influence the expression of early emotions?

Research has suggested that basic human emotions are universal. Feelings such as fear, happiness and anger are part of human interactions with all cultural groups and are expressed through similar facial expressions. However, what may vary from culture to culture are the times and places when certain emotions are expressed. For example, there are differences about when it is appropriate to laugh or cry.

Children of Japanese and Chinese families are often taught to avoid outward expressions of anger. African and African-American children are encouraged to express feelings openly. Think about the expression to show ‘a stiff upper lip’ in relation to the British upper class. Compare this to the outpouring of emotions by Italians and Greeks.

As caregivers, we need to be mindful of the cultural backgrounds of children in our care. We need to be sensitive to the appropriate cultural behaviours in relation to supporting infants’ emotional development.

How can we support the development of self-awareness in infancy?

During the first 18 months of a child’s life, there are lots of things we can do to support the development of self-awareness. However, the most important thing we can do is encourage babies to explore their environment and ensure that we respond to their signals consistently and sensitively.

As infants act on the environment, they will notice different effects. This may help them identify themselves as separate from other people and objects. For example, if they have the opportunity to bat a mobile, they will see it swing in a pattern different from their own actions. This will tell the baby about the relationship between the self and the physical world.

When they smile and vocalise at a carer and that carer smiles and vocalises back, this will help give them information about the relationship between their self and the social world.

Have you ever seen young babies looking at and playing with their hands? Watching the movements of one’s own hands provides another kind of feedbackone that they are controlling. They learn that they can know and control their own body more than other people