title: Infants' and young children's imitation of linguistic in-group and out-group informants.
abstract: Although children can use social categories to intelligently select informants, children's preference for in-group informants has not been consistently demonstrated across age and context. This research clarifies the extent to which children use social categories to guide learning by presenting participants with a live or video-recorded action demonstration by a linguistic in-group and/or out-group model. Participants' (N = 104) propensity to imitate these actions was assessed. Nineteen-month-olds did not selectively imitate the actions of the in-group model in live contexts, though in-group preferences were found after watching the demonstration on video. Three-year-olds selectively imitated the actions demonstrated by the in-group member regardless of context. These results indicate that in-group preferences have a more nuanced effect on social learning than previous research has indicated.
authors.affiliation: University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Lauren H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Annette M E
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrazza
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Woodward
mesh_terms: D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*