Work

Preschool children's learning proclivities: When the ritual stance trumps the instrumental stance

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated an efficiency bias in social learning whereby young children preferentially imitate the functional actions of a successful individual over an unsuccessful group member. Our aim in the current research was to examine whether this bias remains when actions are presented as conventional rather than instrumental. Preschool children watched videos of an individual and a group member. The individual always demonstrated a successful instrumental action and the group member an unsuccessful action that was either causally transparent or opaque. Highlighting the selective nature of social learning, children copied the group at higher rates when the demonstrated actions were causally opaque than when they were causally transparent. This research draws attention to the influence of conventional/ritual-like actions on young children's learning choices and emphasizes the role of this orientation in the development of human-specific cumulative culture.

Source: British Journal of Developmental Psychology

DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12139

Authors: Matti Wilks, Rohan Kapitány, Mark Nielsen

Institutions: The University of Queensland, University of Johannesburg

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: green

Funder: Australian Research Council