Copycat behavior in children is universal and may help promote human culture
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - 10:31
in Psychology & Sociology
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.