A 幼儿的自我意识是一个逐步发展的过程。我们可借由两种逐步显现的特征来理解这个过程，这两种特征不尽相同：主体自我和客体自我。威廉·詹姆斯于1892年提出了两者的区别，他的同时代者如查尔斯·库利进一步发展了这个理论。后世的心理学家一直在不断地完善这个理论。

AA sense of self develops in young children by degrees. The process can usefully be thought of in terms of the gradual emergence of two somewhat separate features: the self as a subject, and the self as an object. William James introduced the distinction in 1892, and contemporaries of his, such as Charles Cooley, added to the developing debate. Ever since then psychologists have continued building on the theory.

B 詹姆斯认为儿童认识自我的第一步就是感知到自己的存在。詹姆斯将这一部分自我称作“主体自我”，并将其赋予了不同特征。包括孩子会意识到自己的行动力（如做动作的能力），意识到自己区别于他人的独特性。在婴儿探索自己的世界并和育婴者互动的过程中，这些特征会逐渐显现。库利（1902）认为主体自我的意识与婴儿运用力量的能力密切相关。库利提出婴儿最开始显现出这种能力时，他们会试图操控物质实体，如玩具或自己的四肢。在这之后，婴儿会开始尝试影响他人的行为。例如，婴儿发现在他们微笑或啼哭的时会得到别人的回应。

C 婴儿还可以通过别人对自己的模仿了解到自己对周围世界的影响。很多父母会用大量时间模仿婴儿的声音和表情，特别是在孩子刚出生的几个月里。幼儿还喜欢照镜子，他们在镜子里所看到的运动取决于他们自己的运动。这并不是说，婴儿能认出镜中的映像就是自己的影像（婴儿之后才具备这种识别能力）。但是，刘易斯和布鲁克斯-冈恩（1979）提出当婴儿逐渐明白他们在镜中所见的运动取决于自己时，他们会慢慢意识到自己是区别于他人的。这是因为婴儿发现他们能改变镜中的映像，并且只有他们能让镜中的映像改变。

BAccording to James, a child's first step on the road to self-understanding can be seen as the recognition that he or she exists. This is an aspect of the self that he labelled 'self-as-subject', and he gave it various elements. These included an awareness of one's own agency (i.e. one's power to act), and an awareness of one's distinctiveness from other people. These features gradually emerge as infants explore their world and interact with caregivers. Cooley (1902) suggested that a sense of the self-as-subject was primarily concerned with being able to exercise power. He proposed that the earliest examples of this are an infant's attempts to control physical objects, such as toys or his or her own limbs. This is followed by attempts to affect the behaviour of other people. For example, infants learn that when they cry or smile someone responds to them.

D 儿童对自己作为主动行为者的认知会通过孩子在游戏中与别人的合作中得到进一步发展。冈恩（1988）指出正是在这种日常接触和互动中，儿童开始理解自我。然而，对于幼儿的主体自我的实验研究相对较少。这是因为很难与婴儿进行沟通，即使婴儿能够思考自己的体验，他们显然也无法直接表达自我的这一个方面。

E 当儿童的自我意识达到一定高度后，他们便开始将自己归类，而正是许许多多不同的类别共同定义了每一个儿童独特的“自我”。这是孩子完整地认知自我的第二步，詹姆斯称之为“客体自我”。很多人都认为自我的这一个方面受到社会因素的影响极大，因为客体自我由社会角色（例如学生，兄弟，同事）和社会特征构成。社会特征即个体在与他人的对照和互动中显现的特征（例如信赖，羞涩，运动能力）。

CAnother powerful source of information for infants about the effects they can have on the world around them is provided when others mimic them. Many parents spend a lot of time, particularly in the early months, copying their infant's vocalizations and expressions. In addition, young children enjoy looking in mirrors, where the movements they can see are dependent upon their own movements.This is not to say that infants recognize the reflection as their own image (a later development). However, Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) suggest that infants' developing understanding that the movements they see in the mirror are contingent on their own, leads to a growing awareness that they are distinct from other people. This is because they, and only they, can change the reflection in the mirror.

F 库利和其他研究者提出一个人对自己身份的认知与其他人对他身份的认知紧密相连。库利认为一个人身份认知的形成取决于别人对他的反应，以及他所认为的别人对他的看法。库利将客体自我称为“镜像自我”，因为人们通过映射在别人身上的自我来认识自我。米德（1934）更进一步提出自我和社会是不可分离的。“自我本质上是一种社会结构，自我产生于社会经验...离开了社会经验，自我就不会产生。”

G 刘易斯和布鲁克斯-冈恩认为儿童自我认知发展的一个重要里程碑是他们看到自己的影像时，即使影像并不与自己联动，他们仍能认出自己。儿童大约在两岁左右能达到这种认知水平。刘易斯和布鲁克斯-冈恩（1979）在一次实验中给孩子的鼻子扑上红色粉末，这些孩子镜子前玩耍，而后实验者观察孩子摸自己鼻子的频率。心理学家分析认为如果孩子知道自己平常的样子，他们会对不寻常的红标记感到惊奇并且会开始摸自己的鼻子。另一方面，心理学家发现15到18个月的儿童大多不能认出自己，除非有运动等其他的提示。

DThis understanding that children gain of themselves as active agents continues to develop in their attempts to co-operate with others in play. Dunn (1988) points out that it is in such day-to-day relationships and interactions that the child's understanding of his- or herself emerges. Empirical investigations of the self-as- subject in young children are, however, rather scarce because of difficulties of communication: even if young infants can reflect on their experience, they certainly cannot express this aspect of the self directly.

H 最后，也许广义的自我意识最形象的表达就是儿童发怒的表现。儿童在18个月到3岁间最易发怒。布朗森（1975）对几组儿童进行了跟踪研究，每组三到四名儿童，研究表明儿童争执时表现出的沮丧和愤怒在1到2岁之间大大加剧。通常，儿童会为了争抢玩具而产生争执，他们所争抢的玩具在争夺发生的前后都没有任何人玩过。这似乎表明，儿童在争夺玩具的所有权而不是想玩这个玩具。尽管在其他社会中这样的现象并不显著，但在西方社会中，“自我”意识与“所有权”意识之间的联系是童年的一个显著特征。

EOnce children have acquired a certain level of self-awareness, they begin to place themselves in a whole series of categories, which together play such an important part in defining them uniquely as 'themselves'. This second step in the development of a full sense of self is what James called the 'self-as-object'. This has been seen by many to be the aspect of the self which is most influenced by social elements, since it is made up of social roles (such as student, brother, colleague) and characteristics which derive their meaning from comparison or interaction with other people (such as trustworthiness, shyness, sporting ability).

FCooley and other researchers suggested a close connection between a person's own understanding of their identity and other people's understanding of it. Cooley believed that people build up their sense of identity from the reactions of others to them, and from the view they believe others have of them. He called the self- as-object the 'looking-glass self', since people come to see themselves as they are reflected in others. Mead (1934) went even further, and saw the self and the social world as inextricably bound together: 'The self is essentially a social structure, and it arises in social experience ... it is impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience.

GLewis and Brooks-Gunn argued that an important developmental milestone is reached when children become able to recognize themselves visually without the support of seeing contingent movement. This recognition occurs around their second birthday. In one experiment, Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) dabbed some red powder on the noses of children who were playing in front of a mirror, and then observed how often they touched their noses. The psychologists reasoned that if the children knew what they usually looked like, they would be surprised by the unusual red mark and would start touching it. On the other hand, they found that children of 15 to 18 months are generally not able to recognize themselves unless other cues such as movement are present.

HFinally, perhaps the most graphic expressions of self-awareness in general can be seen in the displays of rage which are most common from 18 months to 3 years of age. In a longitudinal study of groups of three or four children, Bronson (1975) found that the intensity of the frustration and anger in their disagreements increased sharply between the ages of 1 and 2 years. Often, the children's disagreements involved a struggle over a toy that none of them had played with before or after the tug-of-war: the children seemed to be disputing ownership rather than wanting to play with it. Although it may be less marked in other societies, the link between the sense of 'self' and of 'ownership' is a notable feature of childhood in Western societies.