Imitative flexibility and the development of cultural learning

Legare, Cristine H.; Wen, Nicole J.; Herrmann, Patricia A.; Whitehouse, Harvey

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.020

Cited by 157 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Cumulative culture requires the high-fidelity transmission of two qualitatively different behaviors: instrumental knowledge and skills (e.g., how to keep warm during winter) and social conventional knowledge and skills (e.g., how to perform a ceremonial dance) (127). Acquiring the behavior of other group members may be the function of an individual-level adaptation for imitation in our species.…”

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The objective of imitating instrumental behavior is reproducing the end goal by discerning which actions are causally relevant to producing the desired outcome (127). Attending to the causal relationship between the actions and the end goal allows for innovation and variability in the reproduction of the behavior and, as a result, lower-fidelity imitation.…”

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The adaptive benefits of group membership have favored individuals who engage in affiliative behaviors, such as high-fidelity imitation (132,133). Children imitate social conventions as a means of affiliation with group members (127). High-fidelity imitation also may function as a reinclusion behavior in reaction to the threat of social exclusion from an ingroup in childhood in ways that parallel the increase in motor mimicry following social exclusion by in-group members observed in adults (134).…”

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A third is synchrony (i.e., multiple actors performing the same actions at the same time) (56). Children are also highly sensitive to verbal cues to conventionality and to the presence of a social norm (65,127,139). Even infants are sensitive to language cues to conventionality (140).…”

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Legare

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

133

101

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The complexity and variability of human culture is unmatched by any other species. Humans live in culturally constructed niches filled with artifacts, skills, beliefs, and practices that have been inherited, accumulated, and modified over generations. A causal account of the complexity of human culture must explain its distinguishing characteristics: It is cumulative and highly variable within and across populations. I propose that the psychological adaptations supporting cumulative cultural transmission are universal but are sufficiently flexible to support the acquisition of highly variable behavioral repertoires. This paper describes variation in the transmission practices (teaching) and acquisition strategies (imitation) that support cumulative cultural learning in childhood. Examining flexibility and variation in caregiver socialization and children's learning extends our understanding of evolution in living systems by providing insight into the psychological foundations of cumulative cultural transmissionthe cornerstone of human cultural diversity.cumulative culture | cultural evolution | cross-cultural comparison | teaching | imitation

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Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Variation In Cultural Acquisition Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Legare

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

133

101

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show abstract

“…In contrast to non-human culture, human culture is: (i) cumulative, i.e. innovations are progressively incorporated into a population's stock of skills and knowledge, generating ever more sophisticated repertoires; (ii) more distinctly variable across communities; and (iii) to a larger extent shaped through social learning [14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why developmental psychology is incomplete without comparative and cross-cultural perspectives

Nielsen

Haun

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

100

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One contribution of 16 to a theme issue 'Understanding self and other: from origins to disorders'. As a discipline, developmental psychology has a long history of relying on animal models and data collected among distinct cultural groups to enrich and inform theories of the ways social and cognitive processes unfold through the lifespan. However, approaches that draw together developmental, cross-cultural and comparative perspectives remain rare. The need for such an approach is reflected in the papers by Heyes (2015 Phil.

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The Evolution and Ontogeny of Ritual

Legare

Watson‐Jones

2015

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

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Convergent developments across social scientific disciplines provide evidence that ritual is a psychologically prepared, culturally inherited, behavioral trademark of our species. We draw on evidence from the anthropological and evolutionary science literatures to provide a psychological account of the social functions of ritual in group behavior. Solving the adaptive problems associated with group living requires psychological mechanisms for identifying group members, ensuring their commitment to the group, facilitating cooperation with their coalition, and maintaining group cohesion. We also examine evidence that the threat of social exclusion and loss of status motivates engagement in ritual throughout development and provides an account of the ontogeny of ritual cognition. The intersection of these lines of inquiry promises to provide new avenues for theory and research on the evolution and ontogeny of social group cognition.

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Imitative flexibility and the development of cultural learning

Cited by 157 publications

References 81 publications

Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Why developmental psychology is incomplete without comparative and cross-cultural perspectives

The Evolution and Ontogeny of Ritual

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