title: Exploring tool innovation: a comparison of Western and Bushman children.
abstract: A capacity for constructing new tools, or using old tools in new ways, to solve novel problems is a core feature of what it means to be human. Yet current evidence suggests that young children are surprisingly poor at innovating tools. However, all studies of tool innovation to date have been conducted with children from comparatively privileged Western backgrounds. This raises questions as to whether or not previously documented tool innovation failure is culturally and economically specific. In the current study, thus, we explored the innovation capacities of children from Westernized urban backgrounds and from remote communities of South African Bushmen. Consistent with past research, we found tool innovation to occur at extremely low rates and that cultural background had no bearing on this. The current study is the first to empirically test tool innovation in children from non-Western backgrounds, with our data being consistent with the view that despite its key role in human evolution, a capacity for innovation in tool making remains remarkably undeveloped during early childhood.
authors.affiliation: Early Cognitive Development Centre, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia; School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa. Electronic address: nielsen@psy.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.
authors.forename: Keyan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomaselli
authors.affiliation: School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Ilana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mushin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: aw2@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whiten
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044382:Population Groups; D011340:Problem Solving; D013019:South Africa; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Cognitive development; Cross-cultural; Cumulative culture; Innovation; Social learning; Tool use