% pubman genre = article
@article{item_3397568,
title = {{Explaining cross-cultural variation in mirror self-recognition: New insights into the ontogeny of objective self-awareness}},
author = {Cebio{\u{g}}lu, Senay and Broesch, Tanya},
language = {eng},
issn = {1939-0599; 0012-1649},
doi = {10.1037/dev0001171},
publisher = {American Psychological Association},
year = {2021},
abstract = {{Mirror self-recognition (MSR) is considered to be the benchmark of objective self-awareness{\textemdash}the ability to think about oneself. Cross-cultural research showed that there are systematic differences in toddlers{\textquoteright} MSR abilities between 18 and 24 months. Understanding whether these differences result from systematic variation in early social experiences will help us understand the processes through which objective self-awareness develops. In this study, we examined 57 18- to 22-month-old toddlers (31 girls) and their mothers from two distinct sociocultural contexts: urban Canada (58{\textpercent} of the subsample were Canadian-born native English-speakers) and rural Vanuatu, a small-scale island society located in the South Pacific. We had two main goals: (a) to identify the social-interactional correlates of MSR ability in this cross-cultural sample, and (b) to examine whether differences in passing rates could be attributed to confounding factors. Consistent with previous cross-cultural research, ni-Vanuatu toddlers passed the MSR test at significantly lower rates (7{\textpercent}) compared to their Canadian counterparts (68{\textpercent}). Among a suite of social interactive variables, only mothers{\textquoteright} imitation of their toddlers{\textquoteright} behavior during a free play session predicted MSR in the entire sample and maternal imitation partially mediated the effects of culture on MSR. In addition, low passing rates among ni-Vanuatu toddlers could not be attributed to reasons unrelated to self-development (i.e., motivation to show mark-directed behavior, understanding mirror-correspondence, representational thinking). This suggests that differences in MSR passing rates reflect true differences in self-recognition, and that parental imitation may have an important role in shaping the construction of visual self-knowledge in toddlers.}},
journal = {{Developmental Psychology}},
volume = {57},
number = {5},
pages = {625--638},
}