Psychology Lacans mirror stage

[mummytait]

Can anyone please explain this to me in very simple language. I have to refer to it for an essay for my art degree and have no knowledge of psychology.

[meglet]

Try wikipedia. It's there but i to confess, the article didn't meach much to me.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_stage

[*Princess*]

In simple terms...

It's kind of a stage in child development. Up until a certain stage a child seeing themselves in a mirror did not realise it was them, possibly thinking it was another child. They think this until they are 1 and a half to 2 years old.

The way they generally test this is by putting some rouge or a dot on the childs cheek and see how it behaves. If it hasn't reached the stage it will attempt to touch the dot on their reflection, thinking it's another child. If it has reached the stage where it realises that the person in the mirror is in fact them, they will touch their own cheek, and ignore their reflection.

I hope this helps! I can dig out some studies if you need any further information! Also, a lot of the wiki advert it about psychology studies, so if it seems a bit higgledy piggledy then thats why!

[mummytait]

thank you princess. now I understand the practical application, I might be able to make sense of the psychological explaination

[*Princess*]

Psychological Explanation - It's basically when the infant, or in some cases primate, develops self awareness. When they realise they are a person, a 'thing', they sort of understand that they're there...if that makes sense. Until they learn that they are a person, in a body, which has actions and behaviours, they have no self awareness. It's to do with their relations between themselves and objects or other people. Their social skills, if this makes sense?

In your art project, is it anything about self portraits or how someone sees themselves socially? It would be interesting to hear about your essay :o) I've studied psychology at Uni so if you need any help, I'll try my best :o)

[mummytait]

Thanks for that again Princess. you should write Your own dictionary 'Princesspedia' maybe.

No I'm not writing about portraiture. I'm comparing two artists who deal with the subject of parenthood in thier work. One of them worked in the 1970s and was a woman dealing with the subject from a female point of view. She used Lacan as a model for her work.

Thanks again