著者

河崎 道夫 黒太 綾乃

出版者

心理科学研究会

雑誌

心理科学 (ISSN:03883299)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.26, no.1, pp.41-55, 2006-02-28 (Released:2017-09-10)

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This study investigated the manner in which children refer to themselves and others during very early childhood. With this objective, a boy between 15 and 28 months of age was observed by his mother (Kurota, one of the authors) at their home. He first started naming people, at 15 months, when he addressed both to his father and mother as "paapa." Subsequently, he indiscriminately addressed his two grandfathers as "Jiiji" (grandpa), his two grandmothers as "Baaba" (grandma), and interstingly his aunt as "Neene." At 19 months he began to refer to himself by his own name. After he positioned himself in this "small society" by referring to himself and his familiar others, his flaming of people was rapidly expanded to include other people like his mother's friends, thek children, and even his grandmother's pet dog. Through the encounter with this "slightly larger society", the boy was able to differentiate and assign names to the members of this "small society." At 24 months he intentionally called himself by "mumm" and reversely called his mother by his name. In Japan, particularly in the presense of children, many adults refer to themselves and each others by the "role names to be called from the viewpoint of the children." For instance, fathers would refer to themselves as "dad", their wives as "mum" and their sisters "auntie." In Japan young children begin to identify others and themselves in the same manner as the members of the "small society" refer to each others and themselves. It is suggested that the way in which children refer to themselves, in other words, the way they stand up to themselves is largely affected by social and cultural factors.