Fun or Function:What motivates preschoolers to overimitate in playful vs. instrumental task settings?

幼儿通过观察和模仿他人获得许多文化技能。他们甚至会模仿那些显然与实现既定目标无关的行为，这种现象被称为过度模仿（OI）。引导儿童模仿行为的不同动机已经在文献中提出：如果儿童模仿动作来完成给定的任务，他们的行为是基于工具动机。如果他们试图与模型联系或遵循社会规范/惯例，他们这样做是基于社会动机。最近，Schleihauf（2018）提出了第三种可能性：如果儿童模仿是因为他们喜欢演示的动作，那么他们的行为可能是基于娱乐动机。然而，关于娱乐动机影响的研究仍然缺失。目前的项目将通过进行三个相关的研究来填补这一空白，这些研究遵循相同的一般范式：5岁的孩子将被要求从一个有透明盖子的盒子里取出一枚硬币。在展示有效的动作（比如打开盖子，伸手到盒子里面去拿硬币）之前，模型先展示了一系列低效的动作（比如敲盖子，拉把手）。然后就轮到孩子自己去拿硬币了。一项没有示范的基线研究（研究1；N = 32）评估儿童自发表现每个目标动作的频率。它有助于在进一步的研究中识别过度模仿。研究2 （N = 128）通过启动活动和示范模式来操纵儿童的动机。首先，实验者让孩子参与娱乐活动或工具性活动（想象游戏vs.整理东西）。在接下来的模仿任务中，关键动作将呈现在娱乐模式（如保护海盗宝藏）或工具模式（如解决任务）中。研究3 （N = 128）改变了模型的年龄（同伴或成人），并使用新开发的问卷探讨了儿童性格玩耍的作用。我们期望引导儿童模仿测试行为的动机受到情境框架的影响。与工具性的主要活动和呈现方式相比，娱乐性的主要活动和演示方式更有可能支持过度模仿。此外，我们预计儿童模型更有可能在娱乐环境中增加过度模仿，而成人模型更有可能在工具性环境中减少过度模仿。最后，将探讨性格可玩性在预测不同条件下的过度模仿中的作用。本项目将有助于首次阐明娱乐动机在解释学龄前儿童过度模仿中的作用，并明确引发儿童这种动机的与人相关和与情境相关的条件。

Young children acquire many cultural skills via observing and imitating others. They copy even actions that are clearly not relevant to attain a given goal, a phenomenon called overimitation (OI). Different motivations guiding children imitation behavior have been suggested in the literature: If children imitate actions to accomplish a given task they act based on an instrumental motivation. If they try to affiliate with the model or follow social norms/conventions, they do so based on a social motivation. Recently, Schleihauf (2018) suggested a third possibility: If children imitate because they enjoy the demonstrated actions, they actions may be based on an entertainment motivation. Studies on the impact of the entertainment motivation are still missing, however. The present project will fill this gap by conducting three related studies following the same general paradigm: 5-year-olds will be asked to retrieve a coin from a box with a transparent lid. A model demonstrates a range of inefficient actions (e.g. knocking on the lid, pulling on a knob) before showing the efficient actions (i.e. lifting the lid and reaching inside the box to grab the coin). Then it is the child’s turn to get a coin however she likes. A baseline study without demonstration (Study 1; N = 32) assesses how often children show each target action spontaneously. It serves to identify over-imitation in further studies. Study 2 (N = 128) manipulates children’s motivation via priming activities and the mode of demonstration. First, the experimenter engages the child in either an entertaining or an instrumental activity (imaginative play vs. sorting things). In the following imitation task the critical actions are demonstrated either in an entertaining mode (i.e. to safe a pirate treasure), or in an instrumental mode (i.e. to solve a task). Study 3 (N = 128) varies the age of the model (peer or adult) and explores the role of children’s dispositional playfulness using a newly developed questionnaire. We expect that the motivation guiding children’s behavior during the imitation-test are affected by the situational framing provided. An entertaining primary activity and mode of demonstration are more likely to support over-imitation than an instrumental primary activity and mode of presentation. Furthermore, we expect that a child-model is more likely to increase over-imitation in an entertaining context whereas an adult-model is more likely to reduce over-imitation in an instrumental context. Finally, the role of dispositional playfulness for predicting over-imitation in different conditions will be explored. The present project shall help to shed first light on the role of the entertainment motivation for explaining over-imitation in preschoolers and to specify person-related and situation-related conditions triggering this kind of motivation in children.