1. Behavioral phenomenon deconstruction
Around one year old, infants often exhibit extreme and contradictory behaviors when facing mirrors: one moment they smile and kiss the person in the mirror, and the next moment they suddenly hit the mirror forcefully, or even try to go around the mirror to search for something. This unstable behavioral reaction is often interpreted as simple play.
2. Core variables behind the behavior: Disconnection between the object self (Me-self) and the subject self
This phenomenon is underpinned by the well-known "theory of mind" and "Araluk cognitive integration" mechanisms in child psychology:
The dissociation between vision and proprioception: Around the age of one, infants are at the "threshold of the explosion of self-awareness" (not yet fully passing the red dot test). When they move their arms, the image in the mirror moves synchronously, which conforms to the control expectations of their subjective self (I-self); but when they attempt to touch the "apparently real object" in the mirror, they only touch the rigid barrier of the cold surface. This visual "existence" and tactile "emptiness" cause a short-term cognitive dissonance.
The causal paradox of physical location: The baby attempts to move behind the mirror, using its existing three-dimensional spatial logic to solve the "multi-dimensional space paradox" brought about by the mirror. When the search behind the mirror fails, the cognitive frustration turns into behaviors such as hitting and scratching the mirror surface.
3. Deep Cognitive Reconstruction
Mother's Perspective: The infant's aggression or obsession towards the mirror is an inevitable struggle for its brain when dealing with the conflict between "virtual vision" and "actual tactile sensation". This behavior indicates that the infant is moving from the physical exploration in a three-dimensional space to the higher-level cognitive stage of "self-representation".
