Abstract
What are the roots of human normativity and when do children begin to behave according to standards and norms? Empirical observations demonstrate that we are born with built-in (implicit and automatic) orientation toward what is predictable and of the same - henceforth what deviates from it -, what is the norm or the standard in the generic sense of the word. However, what develop in humans is self-consciousness, transforming norms from “should” to “ought” and making human normativity profoundly different from any other forms expressed in infancy, other animals, or any smart machines. Self-consciousness is the ability to objectify oneself through the evaluative eyes of others. It sets us apart as a species and is at the roots of human normativity. A developmental blueprint capturing the progressive co-emergence of self-consciousness and normativity in the human child is proposed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agnetta, B., & Rochat, P. (2004). Imitative games by 9-, 14-, and 18-month-old infants. Infancy, 6(1), 1–36.
Bigelow, A., & Rochat, P. (2006). Two-month-old infants’ sensitivity to social sontingency in mother-infant and stanger-infant interaction. Infancy, 9(3), 313–325.
Broesch, T., Callaghan, T., Henrich, J., Murphy, C., & Rochat, P. (2011). Cultural variations in children’s mirror self-recognition. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 40(6), 1019–1031.
Bruner, J. S. (1972). Nature and uses of immaturity. American Psychologist, 27(8), 687–708.
Callaghan, T., Rochat, P., Lillard, A., Claux, M. L., Odden, H., Itakura, S., Tapanya, S., & Singh, S. (2005). Synchrony in the onset of mental-state reasoning: evidence from five cultures. Psychological Science, 16(5), 378–384.
Chevallier, C., Molesworth, C, & Happé, F. (2012). Diminished Social Motivation Negatively Impacts Reputation Management: Autism Spectrum Disorders as a Case in Point. PLOS One, January.
Darwin, C. (1872/1965). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Chicago: Chicago University.
Farroni, T., Massaccesi, S., Menon, E., & Johnson, M. H. (2007). Direct gaze modulates face recognition in young infants. Cognition, 102, 396–404.
Farroni, T., Menon, E., & Johnson, M. H. (2006). Factors influencing newborns preference for faces with eye contact. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95, 298–308.
Fehr, E., Bernhard, H., & Rockenbach, B. (2008). Egalitarianism in young children. Nature, 454, 1079–1084.
Haith, M. M., Hazan, C., & Goodman, G. S. (1988). Expectation and anticipation of dynamic visual events by 3.5 month-old babies. Child Development, 59, 467–479.
Hebb, D. O. (1949). The organization of behavior. New York: Wiley.
James, W. (1890/1950). The Principles of Psychology. N.Y.: Dover Publishers.
Lizardo, O. (2013). Habitus. In K. Byron (Ed.), Encyclopedia of philosophy and the social sciences. London: Sage Publications.
Lecanuet, J.-P., Granier-Deferre, C., & Busnel, M.-C. (1988). Fetal cardiac and motor responses to octave-band noises as a function of central frequency, intensity and heartrate variability. Early Human Development, 18, 81–93.
Marlier, L., Schaal, B., & Soussignan, R. (1998). Bottle-fed neonates prefer an odor experienced in utero to an odor experienced postnatally in the feeding context. Developmental Psychobiology, 33, 133–145.
Morton, J., & Johnson, M. H. (1991). CONSPEC and CONLERN: a two-process theory of infant face recognition. Psychological Review, 98(2), 164–181.
Olson, K. R., & Spelke, E. S. (2008). Foundations of cooperation in young children. Cognition, 108, 222–231.
Robbins, E., & Rochat, P. (2011). Emerging signs of strong reciprocity in human ontogeny. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(353), 1–14.
Rochat, P. (2009). Others in mind: Social origins of self-consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rochat, P. (2011). Possession and morality in early development. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development.
Rochat, P. (2001). The infant’s world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rochat, P. (2011b). What is it like to be a newborn? In S. Gallagher (Ed.), Oxford handbook of the self. Oxford/NewYork: Oxford University Press.
Rochat, P., Broesch, T., & Jayne, K. (2012). Social awareness and early mirror self-recognition. Consciousness and Cognition.
Rochat, P., & Zahavi, D. (2011). The uncanny mirror: a re-framing of mirror self-experience. Cognition and Consciousness, 20, 204–213.
Saffran, J., Aslin, R., & Newport, E. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294), 1926–1928.
Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L. B., Wise, S., & Brazelton, T. B. (1978a). The infant’s response to entrapment between contradictory messages in face to face interaction. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 17, 1–13.
Stipek D, Recchia S, McClintic S, Lewis M (1992) Self-Evaluation in Young Children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 57.
Striano, T., & Rochat, P. (1999). Developmental link between dyadic and triadic social competence in infancy. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17(4), 551–562.
Talwar, V., & Lee, K. (2002). Emergence of white-lie telling in children between 3 and 7 years of age. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 48, 160–181.
Talwar, V., Murphy, S., & Lee, K. (2007). White lie-telling in children for politeness purposes. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 1.
Xu, F., Bao, X., Fu, G., Talwar, V., & Lee, K. (2010). Lying and truth telling in children: from concept to action. Child Development, 81, 581–596.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self: The making of modern identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Tomasello, M. (1999). Cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L. B., Wise, S., & Brazelton, T. B. (1978b). The infant’s response to entrapment between contradictory messages in face to face interaction. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 17, 1–13.
Acknowledgments
The current work was prepared while the author was a resident fellow at the Intitute of Advanced Studies (IEA) in Paris, France
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rochat, P. Self-conscious roots of human normativity. Phenom Cogn Sci 14, 741–753 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-015-9427-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-015-9427-x