Infancy as a Mirror

In Lacan's "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function," the author identifies what he dubs the "mirror stage" in a human child's psychological development, which likens the interaction of a child confronting their image in a mirror to a literal mirroring of their primary caregivers through a lack of subjectivity. In infancy, Lacan argues that a child cannot tell the difference between themselves and their parents, feeling inherently connected to them. However, when confronted with a mirror repeatedly through development, they discover their separateness and individuality from their parents (thus developing an "I").

For Lacan, the mirror stage identifies the self as dependant upon other objects, or another individual (such as a caregiver). 

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