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Dragon M, Poulin-Dubois D. To copy or not to copy: A comparison of selective trust and overimitation in young children. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
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Subiaul F. Varieties of social learning in children: Characterizing the development of imitation, goal emulation and affordance learning within subjects and tasks. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2023.101326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023]
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Davis S, Rawlings B, Clegg JM, Ikejimba D, Watson-Jones RE, Whiten A, Legare CH. Cognitive flexibility supports the development of cumulative cultural learning in children. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14073. [PMID: 35982124 PMCID: PMC9388526 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18231-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The scale of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is a defining characteristic of humans. Despite marked scientific interest in CCE, the cognitive underpinnings supporting its development remain understudied. We examined the role cognitive flexibility plays in CCE by studying U.S. children's (N = 167, 3-5-year-olds) propensity to relinquish an inefficient solution to a problem in favor of a more efficient alternative, and whether they would resist reverting to earlier versions. In contrast to previous work with chimpanzees, most children who first learned to solve a puzzlebox in an inefficient way switched to an observed, more efficient alternative. However, over multiple task interactions, 85% of children who switched reverted to the inefficient method. Moreover, almost all children in a control condition (who first learned the efficient method) switched to the inefficient method. Thus, children were keen to explore an alternative solution but, like chimpanzees, are overall conservative in reverting to their first-learned one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Davis
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, UK
| | - Bruce Rawlings
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Jennifer M Clegg
- Department of Psychology, Texas State University, San Marcos, USA
| | - Daniel Ikejimba
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
| | | | - Andrew Whiten
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, UK
| | - Cristine H Legare
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
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Specific cultural factors are associated with the incidence and burden of bipolar disorder: An ecological analysis of data from 115 countries. JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS REPORTS 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
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Rawlings BS, Flynn EG, Kendal RL. Personality predicts innovation and social learning in children: Implications for cultural evolution. Dev Sci 2021; 25:e13153. [PMID: 34251078 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Innovation and social learning are the pillars of cultural evolution, allowing cultural behaviours to cumulatively advance over generations. Yet, little is known about individual differences in the use of social and asocial information. We examined whether personality influenced 7-11-year-old children's (N = 282) propensity to elect to observe others first or independently generate solutions to novel problems. Conscientiousness was associated with electing for no demonstrations, while agreeableness was associated with opting for demonstrations. For children receiving demonstrations, openness to experience consistently predicted deviation from observed methods. Children who opted for no demonstrations were also more likely than those opting for demonstrations to exhibit tool manufacture on an innovation challenge and displayed higher creativity, as measured by an alternate uses task. These results highlight how new cultural traditions emerge, establish and advance by identifying which individuals generate new cultural variants in populations and which are influential in the diffusion of these variants, and help reduce the apparent tension within the 'ratchet' of cumulative culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruce S Rawlings
- Department of Anthropology, Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Durham University, UK.,Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Emma G Flynn
- School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Department of Anthropology, Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Durham University, UK
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Abstract
Imitation is a deeply social process. Here, I review evidence that children use imitation as a means by which to affiliate with others. For example, children imitate the actions of others more closely when they seek a positive social relationship with them and respond positively to being imitated. Furthermore, children infer something of the relationships between third parties by observing their imitative exchanges. Understanding the social nature of imitation requires exploring the nature of the social relationships between children and the individuals they imitate. Thus, in addition to discussing children's own goals in imitative situations, I review the social pressures children experience to imitate in particular ways, learning to conform to the conventions and rituals of their group. In the latter part of this article, I discuss the extent to which this perspective on imitation can help us to understand broader topics within social development, including the origins of human cultural differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harriet Over
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
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Priming third-party ostracism does not lead to increased affiliation in three Serbian communities. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 203:105019. [PMID: 33181337 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Young children rely on establishing and maintaining social relationships. As a consequence, social exclusion poses a significant threat that should be avoided actively. Previous research reports that children react to ostracism with an increased tendency to affiliate. For example, they draw more affiliative pictures and engage in more faithful (over)imitation following primes depicting social exclusion. However, all prior studies to date tested this effect in children from strongly socially independent societies, emphasizing individual freedom and psychological autonomy. The current study tested whether these effects also occur among children growing up in a society where social interdependence is emphasized more strongly. We assessed affiliative reactions to video primes depicting either third-party ostracism or control stimuli among 128 preschoolers (Mage = 4.73 years) from an urban community (Belgrade), a semi-urban community (Pozarevac), and a rural community (Kostolac) in Serbia. Across communities, children detected ostracism when it was depicted in the priming stimuli. However, children neither drew more affiliative pictures nor engaged in more faithful overimitation following primes depicting ostracism as compared with control stimuli. The two measures for affiliation (i.e., affiliative drawings and increased overimitation) were not linked on an individual level. Although these results suggest that young children from diverse societies are capable of recognizing third-party social exclusion, their response to such information is strongly shaped by cultural values on social interdependence.
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Wang Z, Meltzoff AN. Imitation in Chinese Preschool Children: Influence of Prior Self-Experience and Pedagogical Cues on the Imitation of Novel Acts in a Non-Western Culture. Front Psychol 2020; 11:662. [PMID: 32351426 PMCID: PMC7174596 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Both prior experience and pedagogical cues modulate Western children’s imitation. However, these factors have not been systematically explored together within a single study. This paper explored how these factors individually and together influence imitation using 4-year-old children born and reared in mainland China (N = 210)—a country that contains almost one-fifth of the world’s population, and in which childhood imitation is under-studied using experimental methodology. The behavior of children in this culture is of special interest to theory because traditional East Asian culture places high value on conformity and fitting in with the group. Thus, high-fidelity imitation is emphasized in the local culture. This value, practice, or norm may be recognized by children at a young age and influence their imitative performance. In this study, we crossed prior self-experience and pedagogical cues, yielding four demonstration groups in addition to a control group. This design allowed us to investigate the degree to which Chinese preschoolers’ imitation was modulated by the two experimental factors. High-fidelity imitation was significantly modulated by prior self-experience but not by pedagogical cues, as measured by the number of novel acts imitated and also the serial order of these acts. This study (i) expands our understanding of factors that modulate imitation of novel behaviors in preschoolers and (ii) contributes to efforts to broaden research beyond Western societies to enrich our theories, particularly regarding social learning and imitation. Imitation is a key mechanism in the acquisition of culturally appropriate behaviors, mannerisms, and norms but who, what, and when children imitate is malleable. This study points to both cross-cultural invariants and variations to provide a fuller picture of the scope and functions of childhood imitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhidan Wang
- School of Education Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
| | - Andrew N Meltzoff
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
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Stengelin R, Hepach R, Haun DBM. Cross-cultural variation in how much, but not whether, children overimitate. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 193:104796. [PMID: 31987592 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Revised: 12/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Children from Western industrialized populations tend to copy actions modeled by an adult with high fidelity even if these actions are functionally irrelevant. This so-called overimitation has been argued to be an important driver of cumulative cultural learning. However, cross-cultural and developmental evidence on overimitation is controversial, likely due to diverging task demands regarding children's attention and memory capabilities. Here, children from a recent hunter-gatherer population (Hai||om in Namibia) were compared with urban Western children (Germany) using an overimitation procedure with minimal cognitive task demands. Although the proportion of children engaging in any overimitation was similar across the two populations, German overimitators copied irrelevant actions more persistently across tasks. These results suggest that the influence of culture on children's overimitation may be one of degree, not kind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Stengelin
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Early Child Development and Culture, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Robert Hepach
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel B M Haun
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Early Child Development and Culture, Leipzig University, 04109 Leipzig, Germany; Department for Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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