title: The Development of Selective Copying: Children's Learning From an Expert Versus Their Mother.
abstract: This study tested the prediction that, with age, children should rely less on familiarity and more on expertise in their selective social learning. Experiment 1 (N = 50) found that 5- to 6-year-olds copied the technique their mother used to extract a prize from a novel puzzle box, in preference to both a stranger and an established expert. This bias occurred despite children acknowledging the expert model's superior capability. Experiment 2 (N = 50) demonstrated a shift in 7- to 8-year-olds toward copying the expert. Children aged 9-10 years did not copy according to a model bias. The findings of a follow-up study (N = 30) confirmed that, instead, they prioritized their own-partially flawed-causal understanding of the puzzle box.
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews.|University of Exeter.
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews.
authors.forename: Emily R R
authors.initials: ERR
authors.lastname: Burdett
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews.
authors.forename: Lara A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Heriot-Watt University.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McGuigan
authors.affiliation: Harvard University.
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: University of St Andrews.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whiten
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D000067570:Social Learning