DEVELOPING SELF/OTHER AWARENESS: A REPLY

Abstract

Reply by the current author to the comments made by Müller (see record [rid]2006-22406-009[/rid]) on the original Monograph Foundations for self-awareness: An exploration through autism (see records [rid]2006-22406-002[/rid]; [rid]2006-22406-003[/rid]; [rid]2006-22406-004[/rid]; [rid]2006-22406-005[/rid]; [rid]2006-22406-006[/rid]; [rid]2006-22406-007[/rid] and [rid]2006-22406-008[/rid]). In my view, an approach that delineates and characterizes babies' modes of relatedness to other people and the nonpersonal world is the right starting-point for explaining what become partially separable aspects of thinking, feeling and will. Unlike Müller and colleagues, I am skeptical that a focus upon infants' actions and responsiveness to others' actions will do the job, even when this perspective incorporates a broad notion of action. It is true that emotional life is expressed in gesture and action, yet this does not mean it is fully encompassed by action; and there is much in the organization of action that is tangential to the experience of emotional connectedness with other people. Yet these are matters of detail within a bigger picture in which an embodied person's engagements with the social and nonsocial environment provide the foundations for development. Therefore in this reply to the Commentary, I shall restrict myself to picking up on points that need clarification, especially as these pertain to the concept of identifying with others, early self/other experience, and how young children come to understand what it means to have a personal, subjective perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)