THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE: ADAPTATIONS FOR ASSESSING THE NATURE OF SELF RELATIVE TO THAT OF CONSPECIFICS

What is self-knowledge? What forms does it take in great apes and humans? What forms does it take in other species? How does it develop? What cognitive mechanisms underlie its various forms and sequences? What is the evolutionary history of these forms? And, finally, what is their adaptive significance? In this chapter, I address these questions in terms of an integrated research program derived from developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and evolutionary biology.