Toddlers' understanding of ownership: Implications for self-concept development

Knowledge of self-continuity is proposed as essential to self understanding . However; little research has addressed the det,development of the extende d self in very young children. This study explored ownership understanding as evidence for knowledge of the interpersonal extended self Toddlers, age 18 months to 28 months, identified items as belonging to themselves or anot her; and participated in the classic mirror self-recognition task. Mothers completed the Self-Development Questionnaire Results show that the children have a basic understanding of ownership, and that this understanding diffe rentiated children who provided self-descriptions and evaluations from chil dren who did not. Mirror self-recognition was unrelated to ownership under standing or self-descriptions and evaluations. These results suggest that t he extended self emerges earlier in development than previously claimed. Im plications for integrated self-concept development are discussed.