Define the following aspects of the self: existential, categorical and self - awareness.
The existential self is what Lewis (1990) argued was the first step in the development of the self. It is when a baby realises that he or she is separate from other people and something that hurts another person won't also hurt them. The categorical self Lewis said was the second step in the development of the self; it is when a child learns to define him/herself as a boy or a girl, their name and so on, they also learn to define the characteristics of their personality, whether they are shy or confident etcetera. .
Self - awareness is recognising your self in either a picture or in the mirror. It is being aware of yourself and that you are there. .
Explain how a child's self - awareness changes with age.
Lewis and Brooks carried out a studied called the rouge test, where by they placed a baby in front of a mirror and allowed them to sit there for a few minutes, they found that most babies between the ages of nine and twelve months tried to interact with their reflections by making faces at it and so on. After a few minutes the researcher puts a spot of rouge on the baby's nose and the test is whether they realise that the rouge is on their own face or whether they try and wipe it off their reflection. They found that the babies aged nine to twelve months touched the baby in the mirror and by twenty-one months three quarters of the babies used in the experiment touched there own nose, this shows that they realise that it is there reflection, therefore showing self awareness.
Another way of assessing self - awareness is asking a child who they are. At about twenty - one months a child defines them self by there name, at about two years the child begins to show a new kind of self awareness involving feelings and emotions such as embarrassment and empathy. At this age the child can also start to define themselves by gender and age.
