Describe the beginnings of self-awareness in infancy, citing examples of this development

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

At birth, infants sense that they are physically distinct from their surroundings. For example, newborns display a stronger rooting reflex in response to external stimulation (an adult's finger touching their cheek) than to self-stimulation (their own hand contacting their cheek). Newborns' remarkable capacity for intermodal perception supports the beginnings of self-awareness. As they feel their own touch, feel and watch their limbs move, and feel and hear themselves cry, babies experience intermodal matches that differentiate their own body from surrounding bodies and objects.
Over the first few months, infants distinguish their own visual image from other stimuli, but self-awareness is still limited—expressed only in perception and action. When shown two side-by-side video images of their kicking legs—one from their own perspective (camera behind the baby) and one from an observer's perspective (camera in front of the baby)—3-month-olds looked longer at the observer's view. In another video-image comparison, they looked longer at a reversal of their leg positions than at a normal view. By 4 months, infants look and smile more at video images of others than at video images of themselves, indicating that they view another person (as opposed to the self) as a potential social partner.