Do cats understand "themselves"? Differences in self-recognition between humans and cats from a developmental psychology perspective

I'm 36 years old and a university student, delving deep into psychology. Balancing work and study is tough, but the deeper I go into psychology, the more fascinated I am by the intricate workings of the mind.

Lately, I've been focusing especially on developmental psychology. As I study human development, I'm often surprised by the differences between the development of cats and humans.

For example, a cat's self-recognition is a mystery. Studying developmental psychology makes me wonder if there's a difference in how humans and cats form the self-recognition that "I am different from others." 

The "Mark Test" method for understanding human self-recognition

After around one year of age, human infants are able to recognize that a person reflected in a mirror is not real. It's said that by around two years of age, more than 60% of infants can recognize the reflection in a mirror as "themselves reflected in the mirror."

This developmental stage seems to be proven by an experiment called the "Mark Test." The "Mark Test" involves putting a mark with lipstick on an infant's nose and then taking them to a mirror to see if they recognize their reflection as "themselves" and try to remove the lipstick.

This experiment revealed that infants up to about one year old cannot recognize their reflection in a mirror as "themselves." Infants were observed to go behind the mirror or hit it.

When I learned about such interesting experimental results, the simple question that came to my mind was, "Wait, what about cats' self-recognition?" 

Do cats not have self-recognition?

Of course, there are individual differences, but it seems many cats don't recognize their reflection in a mirror as "me!" On YouTube, you can see videos of cats showing unique behaviors, like threatening their own reflection.

If we apply human developmental psychology to such behavior, the conclusion would be "unable to recognize oneself in the mirror = no self-recognition." However, this isn't necessarily true for cats. That's because, in their daily lives, many behaviors suggest they "know who they are." 

For example, their reaction to their name. A study by a research team at Sophia University revealed that cats can distinguish their own name from other words with the same intonation.

Furthermore, according to a paper published by Kyoto University in 2022, it was found that cats seem to recognize the names of their cohabiting cats and their owners. Based on these research findings, it is highly likely that cats live their lives distinguishing themselves from others to some extent. 

By the way, for human infants, it is said that they become able to distinguish their own name from others' names around 1 year and 5 months old. Around 1 year old, their own name starts to have meaning, but at this stage, they still respond to other children's names.

It is said that infants become able to refer to themselves by the name they are called by family and others (e.g., "Yuka-chan") from around 1 year and 8 months old.

Cats understand their own names even though it's difficult for them to understand their reflection in a mirror as themselves. When we look at cats through the lens of human development, we are surprised by their biological depth. 

Is the verification of self-recognition through mirror images based on human standards?

For humans, "the ability to identify oneself in a mirror image" is an important indicator for understanding the acquisition of self-recognition. However, for cats, it may be different, and they may acquire self-recognition through a different process.

I believe such differences arise because humans and cats are different species. For example, humans rely heavily on visual information among their five senses, but cats have poor eyesight and some colors are difficult for them to distinguish.

Because of these differences, humans, who prioritize vision, can understand the acquisition of self-recognition through "mirror images." However, for cats, "whether they can identify themselves in a mirror" may not be an indicator of acquiring self-recognition.

While cats don't prioritize visual information as much as humans, they gather a lot of information using their keen sense of smell. Perhaps cats form their self-recognition by fully utilizing their sense of smell, which is crucial to them.

"Self-recognition" I feel while living with my beloved cat

In fact, when living with a cat, there are many moments when I feel "this cat has self-recognition." Of course, they respond when their name is called, they sulk when they're angry, and they have the determination to accomplish what they want to do at that moment.

It's also a common cat trait that they come close to you when they want affection, but become surprisingly aloof when they don't want to be bothered.

I believe such behaviors wouldn't be observed unless they understood "I am different from others."

Because humans have self-recognition, we sometimes struggle with how to interact with others who are different from us. How should we interact with others who have different thoughts and values than us? Sometimes we get so caught up in reading the atmosphere and trying to adapt that we lose sight of our true feelings.

On the other hand, cats are skilled at interacting with others while having self-recognition. They are always true to their feelings. They seem to draw clear boundaries between themselves and others and live their lives fulfilling their own needs.

There is much to learn from such a cat's way of life. In a society where highly cooperative behavior is considered a virtue, we tend to choose to conform to those around us. However, sometimes it's important to be honest with ourselves, like a cat, and live our own lives.

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