The digital social partner: Preschool children display stronger imitative tendency in screen‐based than live learning

Abstract

We report on a study in which 4-to 6-year-olds were presented with a stickerretrieval task and asked to choose between one of two tools they could use to complete it. One of the tools was efficient but verbally identified to be the one that "nobody" uses; the other option was less efficient, but children were told it was the tool that "everybody" uses. Children learned about the level of efficiency and normative-use of each tool option through one of three presentation mediums: (i) in a face-to-face, live demonstration; (ii) via a demonstration video presented on a laptop; or (iii) via a demonstration video presented onto a small whiteboard from a miniprojector. Intriguingly, children's normative tendency varied depending on the presentation medium. Specifically, children who viewed the demonstration video on a laptop displayed a stronger tendency to employ the inefficient option tool that "everybody" uses, whereas children who were presented the demonstration live or via a demonstration video using a mini-projector were more inclined toward the efficient option that "nobody" uses. We contend that children may now be perceiving digital screens using a social lens, where children's prior experience with screen devices alters the way they interpret and respond to information presented through this medium. This study affords novel insights into how children may treat digital screens as their modern social learning partner, and raises important questions about the credibility and social relevance of digital platforms in the current generation.

Revisiting the video deficit in technology saturated environments: Successful imitation from people, screens, and social robots

“…The null results reported in this study, coupled with the recent meta-analysis conducted by Strouse and Sampson (2021) suggests that the video deficit may be a historical phenomenon, specifically, one that changes with the rise in use of and exposure to technology in each society and culture (Fong, Imuta, et al, 2021;Nielsen et al, 2021). The research conducted here as well as most of the research conducted on the video deficit has been done in WEIRD societies.…”

Tradition and invention: The bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution

“…Many social learning paradigms (including some cited in sect. 2.4.1) do not include causally opaque actions, but examine how children process the interplay between conventional and instrumental factors by manipulating effectiveness/optimality of the modeled approach (e.g., Dickerson, Gerhardstein, Zack, & Barr, 2012;Fong, Imuta, Redshaw, & Nielsen, 2021a, 2021b, 2021cLiszkai-Peres, Kampis, & Király, 2021;Schillaci & Kelemen, 2014), prior experience (Williamson, Meltzoff, & Markman, 2008), agent (Fong, Sommer, Redshaw, Kang, & Nielsen, 2021c;Sommer, Redshaw, Slaughter, Wiles, & Nielsen, 2021), presentation medium (Fong et al, 2021a;Strouse & Troseth, 2008), or time pressure (Fong, Imuta, Redshaw, & Nielsen, 2021b). Children's performance in these studies can be interpreted using the BST, yet we cannot assume social and cognitive mechanisms discovered in overimitation studies to be generalizable to these contexts.…”

Raising the Child—Do Screen Media Help or Hinder? The Quality over Quantity Hypothesis

“…In fact, one study of preschool children found that they were keen to employ ineffective behaviors suggested via a demonstration video while remaining immune to such suggestions when demonstrated in face to face interactions. This may indicate that children transfer their previous experience with digital media as trustworthy and interpret information from digital devices as credible [ 95 ]. Fortunately, studies show that children display the ability to evaluate incoming information both from live and digital sources, based on previous inaccuracy.…”