Self-conscious behavior of infants: a videotape study

The reactions of 4 infants each at ages 10, 15, and 20 months were recorded on videotape as they responded to their own simultaneous video image, their own previously taped video image, the image of a control infant, and that of a female stranger. The subjects' responses were coded by 2 research assistants, ignorant of the original stimuli and the purpose of the study. The following behavioral categories were used: attends, sociable behavior, curiosity, unhappiness-withdrawal, and self-consciousness. The 1st-step discriminant according to a matrix algebra analysis between age groups was self-conscious behavior in response to the simultaneous video image. Twenty month-old infants were significantly different in their display of self-consciousness from the 10 and 15 month-old groups; the latter did not differ from each other.