You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Every mother recognizes the behavioral change which occurs in their infant's second year which has led to the descriptive term “terrible twos.” This change from a docile adorable one-year-old to a negative difficult two-year-old has been explained in various ways. An infant usually learns to say “no” before it learns “yes.” The two-year-old is asserting its independence by this negative behavior. Kagan studies this age span and describes important cognitive functions which emerge and result in the “terrible two's.”
This book examines the behavior of children between the ages of 18 and 24 months. Their behavior is interpreted as showing how the child shows positive affect (smiling), which is appropriate to successful mastery of a task, or negative affect (distress) when it is unsuccessful. This new and different childhood behavior marks the emergence of self-awareness during the last half of the second year. It also shows the child's early appreciation of adult standards. The word standard is defined as “a cognitive representation of an external event, action or internal state which the child regards as proper, or ethically good.”
During this period between 18 and 24 months the child is becoming aware of “the self's actions, intentions, states, and competencies.” Kagan defines self-awareness as “a set of psychological functions which evaluate the child's states, thoughts, and behaviors, and his ability to meet standards, “Self-awareness is not an explanatory term but a summary term denoting certain behaviors. These behaviors include mastery smiles, directives to adults, anxiety shown to the model, and certain self-descriptive utterances.
Kagan distinguishes between normative standards and mastery standards. The former refers to how a child reacts to a physical attribute or event which is different from what is normally expected. For example, a dirty shirt or a broken toy evokes from the child an expression of distress or displeasure. The normative adult standard is a cl