Recognising themselves in a mirror
In many Western studies, toddlers start recognising themselves in a mirror (for example touching a mark on their own nose) in their second year. But in some countries far fewer children pass this test, even at 4 or 5.
We haven't yet found studies that measured the age when most children start. The sections below say what is known.
How sure are we?
Researchers disagree. Studies in different countries found very different results, and researchers disagree about what the mirror test shows. How we know this
What it’s a sign of
Your child is developing a sense of themselves as a person others can see.
In Kenya only 2 of 82 children aged 1½ to 6 passed, and none of 8 in Fiji aged 3 to 4½, while most children that age passed in the United States and Canada. Most of the Kenyan children froze in front of the mirror, so the test may not mean the same thing everywhere.
We don't know what the mirror test means in cultures where children rarely see mirrors.
A classic study on this
Mirror self‐image reactions before age two
Beulah Amsterdam · 1972 · Developmental Psychobiology
- Children
- About 90 children
- Where
- Not given in the summary we read
- Ages
- 3 months to 2 years
- How
- Researchers watched children with a mirror
- What it found
- About 2 in 3 children aged 20 to 24 months recognised themselves in the mirror.
- Limits
- We have only read the summary.
A study that questioned earlier findings
Cultural Variations in Children’s Mirror Self-Recognition
Tanya Broesch, Tara C. Callaghan, Joseph Henrich, Christine V. Murphy, Philippe Rochat · 2010 · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Children
- About 80 children in Kenya and about 130 in six other places
- Where
- Kenya, the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Peru and Fiji
- Ages
- 1½ to 6 years
- How
- Researchers ran the mirror test
- What it found
- In Kenya, only 2 of 82 children aged 1½ to 6 passed the mirror test. Among 3- to 4½-year-olds, most passed in the United States and Canada, about half in Grenada and Peru, and none of 8 in Fiji.
- Limits
- Small groups in some places. The paper's text and table give the Grenada and Peru figures the other way round.
A study that questioned earlier findings
Parenting styles and the development of the categorical self: A longitudinal study on mirror self-recognition in Cameroonian Nso and German families
Heidi Keller, Joscha Kärtner, Joern Borke, Relindis Dzeaye Yovsi, Astrid Kleis · 2005 · International Journal of Behavioral Development
- Children
- Not given in the summary we read
- Where
- Germany and Nso families in Cameroon
- Ages
- 18 to 20 months
- How
- Researchers ran the mirror test
- What it found
- German toddlers passed the mirror test more often than Nso toddlers in Cameroon at 18 to 20 months.
- Limits
- We have only read the summary, which gives no figures.
If you’re worried about your child, talk to your child and family health nurse or GP.
Last checked 2 November 2026