Copycat behaviour in children is universal and may help promote human culture
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 10:50
in Psychology & Sociology
Children learn a great deal by imitating adults. A new study of Australian preschoolers and Kalahari Bushman children finds that a particular kind of imitation - overimitation, in which a child copies everything an adult shows them, not just the steps that lead to some outcome - appears to be a universal human activity, rather than something the children of middle-class parents pick up. The work helps shed light on how humans develop and transmit culture...