The Mirror Test:

Rolf Degen:

When infants first pass the mirror test, they suddenly and embarrassingly realize that this is how others see them, and that they may not like what they see. Thus begins the lifelong human obsession with what others think of us. https://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article/36/8/1610/119425/Developmental-Roots-of-Human-Self-consciousness… As a species, we have evolved the uncanny ability to reflect upon ourselves as an object not only of reflection but also of evaluation. A trademark of being human is that we constantly compare, monitor, and evaluate ourselves in relation to others. In typical development, it appears that the first unambiguous signs of self-consciousness in human ontogeny can be safely posited as emerging by the middle of the second year. From 18 months of age, on average, infants will start selectively and systematically modifying their behavior to please an adult, displaying unambiguous audience effects. Likewise, it is also at around the same age that children start passing the mirror mark test, discovering and reaching directly toward a mark that was surreptitiously placed on their forehead. When children pass the mirror mark test, they do so not only by directly touching the mark they discover on their face but also typically with accompanying expressions of embarrassment. What they recognize is their public image, what they project to the outside world and may be sanctioned by, with the dreaded possibility of disapproval and social rejection. Why otherwise would they display embarrassment as they recognize themselves with an unexpected mark on their face? Why would not they express amusement and positive surprise? The child typically responds by immediately removing the mark, often stunned and hiding their face in shame following a swift mark removal. They may also engage in self-conscious clowning of themselves. It is also the first clear expression of what we see as the fateful human self-reflexive loop, the source of human shame, guilt, and the quest for approval and positive evaluation from others to avoid the fundamental dread of social rejection.