What is the theoretical self-concept at birth?

• A. Infants have no sense of self.
• B. Infants have a fully formed sense of self.
• C. Infants can identify social categories.
• D. Infants describe inner qualities.

Answer: (A)

At birth, there isn’t a sense of self as a separate, thinking “I.” Infants respond to the world through basic reflexes and sensorimotor experiences, but they don’t reflect on themselves as distinct individuals. Self-awareness—like recognizing oneself as a separate person and later attributing inner qualities or social categories to oneself—develops gradually and appears much later (for example, mirror recognition tends to emerge around 18 to 24 months). Because describing inner qualities or identifying social categories requires more advanced cognition and language, these abilities aren’t present at birth. So the theoretical self-concept at birth is that infants have no sense of self.