Investigating the Mechanisms of Cultural Acquisition How Pervasive is Overimitation in Adults?
Investigating the Mechanisms of Cultural Acquisition How Pervasive is Overimitation in Adults?
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DOI：
10.1027/1864-9335/a000119
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Smith, Kenny
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Flynn, Emma;Smith, Kenny
高保真的复制对于获得文化至关重要。然而，幼儿的高保真模仿可能会导致过度模仿，即对与乐器无关的动作的复制。我们提出了一系列调查成年人是否过度模仿的研究。实验一发现，成年人确实会过度模仿，即使评估压力减轻了(实验二)，参与者面临着涉及金钱奖励的时间压力(实验三)。只有当参与者看到他们认为是其他参与者的人的演示时(实验4)，只有不到一半的人重复模仿。因此，过度模仿似乎是一个强大的、适应性的过程，允许在不熟悉的环境中获取新信息。
High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children's high-fidelity imitation can result in overimitation, the copying of instrumentally irrelevant actions. We present a series of studies investigating whether adults too overimitate. Experiment I found that adults do overimitate, even when evaluation pressures were reduced (Experiment 2) and when participants were faced with a time pressure involving a monetary reward (Experiment 3). Only when participants were presented with a demonstration by someone they believed to be a fellow participant (Experiment 4) did less than half of them overimitate. Thus, overimitation appears to be a robust, adaptive process allowing the acquisition of new information in unfamiliar settings.