The Ontogeny of Cultural Learning

Legare, Cristine H.; Harris, Paul L.

doi:10.1111/cdev.12542

Cited by 82 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Previous research has shown that whereas some cultural differences in social behaviour emerge early in development (Legare & Harris, 2016;Nielsen & Haun, 2016;Over & Uskul, 2016), certain aspects of intergroup cognition appear to show cultural invariance (Dunham, Baron, & Banaji, 2006;Dunham, Srinivasan, Dotsch, & Barner, 2014). Understanding the nature and extent of cultural variation must be a priority for developmental research, especially research centering on the construction and transmission of social information, such as that relating to groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children seek out biased information about social groups

Over

Eggleston

Bell

et al. 2017

Developmental Science

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children seek out biased information about social groups

Over

Eggleston

Bell

et al. 2017

Developmental Science

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show abstract

“…Cultural variability is one of our species' most distinctive features, and a causal account of human culture must explain its diversity. The psychological adaptations supporting cumulative cultural transmission are hypothesized to be universal features of human psychology, but they must be sufficiently flexible to support the acquisition of highly variable skill sets and behavioral repertoires (38).…”

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confidence: 99%

Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Legare

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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138

101

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The complexity and variability of human culture is unmatched by any other species. Humans live in culturally constructed niches filled with artifacts, skills, beliefs, and practices that have been inherited, accumulated, and modified over generations. A causal account of the complexity of human culture must explain its distinguishing characteristics: It is cumulative and highly variable within and across populations. I propose that the psychological adaptations supporting cumulative cultural transmission are universal but are sufficiently flexible to support the acquisition of highly variable behavioral repertoires. This paper describes variation in the transmission practices (teaching) and acquisition strategies (imitation) that support cumulative cultural learning in childhood. Examining flexibility and variation in caregiver socialization and children's learning extends our understanding of evolution in living systems by providing insight into the psychological foundations of cumulative cultural transmissionthe cornerstone of human cultural diversity.cumulative culture | cultural evolution | cross-cultural comparison | teaching | imitation

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“…Alongside this portrayal of the child as a young scientist who steadily builds up a coherent and objective conception of the natural world, recent developmental research has paid increasing attention to the ways in which infants and young children can also be viewed as anthropologists. They are cultural learners, receptive to information from other people, including caregivers, adult members of their group, and peers, especially regarding the distinctive languages, beliefs, and practices of the culture that they live in (5)(6)(7)(8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Young children communicate their ignorance and ask questions

Harris

Bartz

Rowe

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Children acquire information, especially about the culture in which they are being raised, by listening to other people. Recent evidence has shown that young children are selective learners who preferentially accept information, especially from informants who are likely to be representative of the surrounding culture. However, the extent to which children understand this process of information transmission and actively exploit it to fill gaps in their knowledge has not been systematically investigated. We review evidence that toddlers exhibit various expressive behaviors when faced with knowledge gaps. They look toward an available adult, convey ignorance via nonverbal gestures (flips/shrugs), and increasingly produce verbal acknowledgments of ignorance (“I don’t know”). They also produce comments and questions about what their interlocutors might know and adopt an interrogative stance toward them. Thus, in the second and third years, children actively seek information from interlocutors via nonverbal gestures or verbal questions and display a heightened tendency to encode and retain such sought-after information.

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The Ontogeny of Cultural Learning

Cited by 82 publications

References 72 publications

Young children seek out biased information about social groups

Young children seek out biased information about social groups

Cumulative cultural learning: Development and diversity

Young children communicate their ignorance and ask questions

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