| Age | A Youngster's Experience | Developmental Concepts Identifying Youngsters' Understandings of Self or Others | Implications Promoting Development in Sense of Self and Social Cognition |
| Infancy (Birth-2) | When 18-month-old Marvin sees his reflection in the mirror, he rubs his cheek to wipe off the lipstick his mother left when kissing him good-bye earlier in the day. | Marvin understands that he is a physical entity separate from the objects and people around him. Furthermore, he recognizes his image in the mirror, indicating that he has some awareness of his own appearance. | Help infants and toddlers learn about their physical selves not only by holding them in front of mirrors but also by showing them photographs of themselves and talking with them about various body parts ("Show me your nose!", "Did you fall and hurt your knee?"). |
| Early Childhood (2-6) | Arriving early at preschool one morning, 3-year-old Kesia helps her teacher reorganize the art supplies. At the teacher's instruction, she moves the colored markers from a bookshelf to the bottom drawer of a cabinet. Later she is quite surprised when her friend Darla looks for the markers on the shelf. "They're in the drawer, silly!" she exclaims. | Like Kesia, young preschoolers often mistakenly assume that other people know what they themselves know. Not until age 4 or 5 do children appreciate that others may have false beliefs based on prior learning experiences. | |
| Middle Childhood (6-10) | When asked to describe himself, Douglas replies that he is smart in math, dumb in reading, popular among his friends, mean to his younger brother, and helpful to his parents. He smiles and then sums it up, "Overall, I'm a pretty good guy!" | Douglas is aware that he has both strengths and weaknesses. He describes himself using psychological terms and has a generally positive sense of self. | Help children to be successful on a range of tasks and in numerous domains. When children struggle in particular areas, offer assistance and communicate your confidence that they will succeed if they change their tactics and persist when they begin to falter. Acknowledge their progress, particularly in areas of difficulty. Use psychological terms that are upbeat and affirming (e.g., being "persistent," "courageous," and "considerate"). |
| Early Adolescence (10-14) | Soon after beginning junior high school, 13-year-old Robert begins dressing as he sees some of his peers do–for instance, by wearing oversized pants that hang low on his hips and balloon around his legs. When he sees a few older boys secretly smoking cigarettes in a far corner of the schoolyard, he asks if he can "take a drag." | | Expose youngsters to a wide variety of models of "acceptable" behavior, with particular emphasis on peers who maintain a "cool" image while engaging in healthful and productive activities. |
| Late Adolescence (14-18) | As a 15-year-old, Rita is quite proud of her Puerto Rican heritage. She belittles certain extracurricular activities at her school, especially athletics and the National Honor Society, saying that they are "entirely too White" for her. Two years later, Rita is excelling in her science and math courses and plans to become a biologist. She learns about Puerto Rican women who have become skilled scientists and talks about following in their footsteps. | On the road to forming an ethnic identity, some adolescents may, like Rita, initially adopt a rigid, inflexible one that rejects the perceived values of other ethnic groups. Eventually, however, she becomes more open-minded about behaviors that are acceptable for her. In general, youngsters with a strong ethnic identity have high self-esteem. | |