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Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task
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dc.contributor.author | Zhao, Mingxuan | |
dc.contributor.author | Fong, Frankie T K | |
dc.contributor.author | Whiten, Andrew | |
dc.contributor.author | Nielsen, Mark | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-15T09:30:06Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-11-15T09:30:06Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-10-06 | |
dc.identifier | 296442472 | |
dc.identifier | ec0aa381-c392-499e-8a05-7e8b7492e878 | |
dc.identifier | 37800394 | |
dc.identifier | 85173545445 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Zhao , M , Fong , F T K , Whiten , A & Nielsen , M 2023 , ' Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task ' , British Journal of Developmental Psychology , vol. Early View . https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12463 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0261-510X | |
dc.identifier.other | Jisc: 1410001 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0003-2426-5890/work/146963535 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/28699 | |
dc.description | This study was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant to Mark Nielsen and Andrew Whiten (DP140101410). | en |
dc.description.abstract | Children have a proclivity to learn through faithful imitation, but the extent to which this applies under significant cost remains unclear. To address this, we investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 97) would stop imitating to forego a desirable food reward. We presented participants with a task involving arranging marshmallows and craft sticks, with the goal being either to collect marshmallows or build a tower. Children replicated the demonstrated actions with high fidelity regardless of the goal, but retrieved rewards differently. Children either copied the specific actions needed to build a tower, prioritizing tower completion over reward; or adopted a novel convention of stacking materials before collecting marshmallows, and developed their own method to achieve better outcomes. These results suggest children's social learning decisions are flexible and context-dependent, yet that when framed by an ostensive goal, children imitated in adherence to the goal despite incurring significant material costs. | |
dc.format.extent | 18 | |
dc.format.extent | 2561752 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | British Journal of Developmental Psychology | en |
dc.subject | Children | en |
dc.subject | Social learning | en |
dc.subject | High-fidelity imitation | en |
dc.subject | Flexible imitation | en |
dc.subject | Goals | en |
dc.subject | Cost | en |
dc.subject | BF Psychology | en |
dc.subject | DAS | en |
dc.subject.lcc | BF | en |
dc.title | Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. School of Psychology and Neuroscience | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences | en |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1111/bjdp.12463 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
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