Emma Flynn | Durham University (original) (raw)
Papers by Emma Flynn
—In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to l... more —In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to learn. They can develop solutions through learning strategies involving social learning or asocial endeavors. While evidence is emerging that children may differ individually in their propensity to adopt different learning strategies, little is known about what underlies these differences. In this article, we reflect on recent research with children , adults, and nonhuman animals regarding individual differences in learning strategies. We suggest that characteristics of children's personalities and children's positions in their social networks are pertinent to individual differences in their learning strategies. These are likely pivotal factors in the learning strategies children adopt, and thus can help us understand who copies and who innovates, an important question for cultural evolution. We also discuss how methodological issues constrain developmental researchers in this field and provide suggestions for ongoing work.
Cognition
The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant ac... more The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant actions by using a controlled design to mirror naturalistic learning contexts in which children receive social information for tasks about which they have some degree of prior knowledge. Five-year-old children (N = 167) were presented with a reward retrieval task and either given a social demonstration of a solution or no information, thus potentially acquiring a solution through personal exploration. Fifty-three children who acquired a solution either socially or asocially were then presented with an alternative solution that included irrelevant actions. Rather than remaining polarised to their initial solution like non-human animals, these children attempted the newly presented solution, incorporating both solutions into their repertoire. Such an adaptive and flexible learning strategy could increase task knowledge, provide generalizable knowledge in our tool-abundant culture and facilitate cumulative culture. Furthermore, children who acquired a solution through personally acquired information omitted subsequently demonstrated irrelevant actions to a greater extent than did children with prior social information. However, as some children with successful personally acquired information did copy the demonstrated irrelevant actions, we suggest that copying irrelevant actions may be influenced by social and causal cognition, resulting in an effective strategy which may facilitate acquisition of cultural norms when used discerningly.
Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unpar... more Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unparalleled complexity and diversity, and is unambiguously cumulative in character. These similarities and differences have spawned a debate over whether animal traditions and human culture are reliant on homologous or analogous psychological processes. Human cumulative culture combines high-fidelity transmission of cultural knowledge with beneficial modifications to generate a 'ratcheting' in technological complexity, leading to the development of traits far more complex than one individual could invent alone. Claims have been made for cumulative culture in several species of animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans and New Caledonian crows, but these remain contentious. Whilst initial work on the topic of cumulative culture was largely theoretical, employing mathematical methods developed by population biologists, in recent years researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, biology, economics, biological anthropology, linguistics and archaeology, have turned their attention to the experimental investigation of cumulative culture. We review this literature, highlighting advances made in understanding the underlying processes of cumulative culture and emphasising areas of agreement and disagreement amongst investigators in separate fields.
Cognition, Jan 10, 2015
This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable informati... more This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions ('innovations'). Children aged 4-9years were presented with a novel puzzle box, the Multiple-Methods Box (MMB), which offered multiple innovation opportunities to extract a reward using different tools, access points and exits. 209 children were assigned to conditions in which eight social demonstrations of a reward retrieval method were provided; each condition differed incrementally in terms of the method's efficacy (0%, 25%, 75%, and 100% success at extracting the reward). An additional 47 children were assigned to a no-demonstration control condition. Innovative reward extractions from the MMB increased with decreasing efficacy of the demonstrated method. However, imitation remained a widely used strategy irrespective of the efficacy of the method being reproduced (90% o...
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2016
Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in enviro... more Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Cognition, 2013
The current study investigated children&a... more The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant actions by using a controlled design to mirror naturalistic learning contexts in which children receive social information for tasks about which they have some degree of prior knowledge. Five-year-old children (N=167) were presented with a reward retrieval task and either given a social demonstration of a solution or no information, thus potentially acquiring a solution through personal exploration. Fifty-three children who acquired a solution either socially or asocially were then presented with an alternative solution that included irrelevant actions. Rather than remaining polarised to their initial solution like non-human animals, these children attempted the newly presented solution, incorporating both solutions into their repertoire. Such an adaptive and flexible learning strategy could increase task knowledge, provide generalizable knowledge in our tool-abundant culture and facilitate cumulative culture. Furthermore, children who acquired a solution through personally acquired information omitted subsequently demonstrated irrelevant actions to a greater extent than did children with prior social information. However, as some children with successful personally acquired information did copy the demonstrated irrelevant actions, we suggest that copying irrelevant actions may be influenced by social and causal cognition, resulting in an effective strategy which may facilitate acquisition of cultural norms when used discerningly.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2012
Many animals, including humans, acquire information through social learning. Although such inform... more Many animals, including humans, acquire information through social learning. Although such information can be acquired easily, its potential unreliability means it should not be used indiscriminately. Cultural 'transmission biases' may allow individuals to weigh their reliance on social information according to a model's characteristics. In one of the first studies to juxtapose two model-based biases, we investigated whether the age and knowledge state of a model affected the fidelity of children's copying. Eighty-five 5-year-old children watched a video demonstration of either an adult or child, who had professed either knowledge or ignorance regarding a tool-use task, extracting a reward from that task using both causally relevant and irrelevant actions. Relevant actions were imitated faithfully by children regardless of the model's characteristics, but children who observed an adult reproduced more irrelevant actions than those who observed a child. The professed knowledge state of the model showed a weaker effect on imitation of irrelevant actions. Overall, children favored the use of a 'copy adults' bias over a 'copy task-knowledgeable individual' bias, even though the latter could potentially have provided more reliable information. The use of such social learning strategies has significant implications for understanding the phenomenon of imitation of irrelevant actions (overimitation), instances of maladaptive information cascades, and cumulative culture.
Developmental Review, 2013
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2010
journal hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp human culture and the influence of task complexit... more journal hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp human culture and the influence of task complexity on social learning.
Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is es... more Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is essential to understand how individuals choose between social and asocial learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 3- and 5-year-olds (176), and adults (52) were presented individually with two novel artificial fruits,
and told of the apparatus’ relative difficulty (easy versus hard). Participants were asked if they wanted to attempt the task themselves or watch an experimenter attempt it first; and then had their preference either met or violated. A significant proportion of children and adults (74%) chose to learn socially.
For children, this request was efficient, as observing a demonstration made them significantly quicker at the task than learning asocially. However, for 5-year-olds, children who selected asocial learning were also found to be highly efficient at the task, showing that by 5 years children are selective in
choosing a learning strategy that is effective for them. Adults further evidenced this trend, and also showed selectivity based on task difficulty. This is the first study to examine the rates, performance outcomes and developmental trajectory of preferences in asocial and social learning, ultimately informing our understanding of innovation.
This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and the consequences of inno... more This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and
the consequences of innovation for individuals, groups and populations.
A vast literature on human innovation exists, from the development of
problem-solving in children, to the evolution of technology, to the cultural
systems supporting innovation. A more recent development is a growing literature
on animal innovation, which has demonstrated links between
innovation and personality traits, cognitive traits, neural measures, changing
conditions, and the current state of the social and physical environment.
Here, we introduce these fields, define key terms and discuss the potential
for fruitful exchange between the diverse fields researching innovation. Comparisons
of innovation between human and non-human animals provide
opportunities, but also pitfalls.We also summarize some key findings specifying
the circumstances in which innovation occurs, discussing factors such as
the intrinsic nature of innovative individuals and the environmental and
socio-ecological conditions that promote innovation, such as necessity, opportunity
and free resources. We also highlight key controversies, including the
relationship between innovation and intelligence, and the notion of innovativeness
as an individual-level trait. Finally, we discuss current research
methods and suggest some novel approaches that could fruitfully be
deployed.
Journal of experimental child psychology, 2015
The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children's task solution choice was i... more The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children's task solution choice was influenced by the past proficiency of familiar peer models and the children's personal prior task experience. Peer past proficiency was established through behavioral assessments of interactions with novel tasks alongside peer and teacher predictions of each child's proficiency. Based on these assessments, one peer model with high past proficiency and one age-, sex-, dominance-, and popularity-matched peer model with lower past proficiency were trained to remove a capsule using alternative solutions from a three-solution artificial fruit task. Video demonstrations of the models were shown to children after they had either a personal successful interaction or no interaction with the task. In general, there was not a strong bias toward the high past-proficiency model, perhaps due to a motivation to acquire multiple methods and the salience of other transmission biases. However, ther...
Self- and Social-Regulation, 2010
13 Underpinning Collaborative Learning EMMA FLYNN The benefits of young children's collabora... more 13 Underpinning Collaborative Learning EMMA FLYNN The benefits of young children's collaborative learning have been illus-trated across a range of expertise, including skill acquisition (Azmitia, 1988), conceptual change (Howe, Rodgers, & Tolmie, 1990), communi-cation ...
Society, Technology, Language, and Religion, 2013
British Journal of Psychology, 2014
This study uses urban legends to examine the effects of the social information bias and survival ... more This study uses urban legends to examine the effects of the social information bias and survival information bias on cultural transmission across three phases of transmission: the choose-to-receive phase, the encode-and-retrieve phase, and the choose-to-transmit phase. In line with previous research into content biases, a linear transmission chain design with 60 participants aged 18-52 was used to examine the encode-and-retrieve phase, while participants were asked to rank their interest in reading the story behind a headline and passing a story on for the other two phases. Legends which contained social information (Social Type), legends which contained survival information (Survival Type), and legends which contained both forms of information (Combined Type) were all recalled with significantly greater accuracy than control material, while Social and Combined Type legends were recalled with significantly greater accuracy than Survival Type legends. In another study with 30 participants aged 18-22, no significant differences were found between legend types in either the choose-to-receive phase or the choose-to-transmit phase.
MEASURING change is one of the most fundamental aspects of psychology. Yet most research provides... more MEASURING change is one of the most fundamental aspects of psychology. Yet most research provides a snapshot of the events surrounding change, without describing the process itself. Take the coverage of development in most introductory textbooks, where a diagram ...
Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2014
The Internet poses a new kind of threat, especially for those individuals already vulnerable in s... more The Internet poses a new kind of threat, especially for those individuals already vulnerable in society. The current paper draws on the social phenotypes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) to propose that individuals with some developmental disorders face an elevated level of risk whilst online. Many individuals with ASD struggle to maintain social relations and are frequent users of screen-based technology, using the Internet to seek out social connections. Similarly, individuals with WS harbour an extreme pro-social drive to interact with others, both familiar and unfamiliar, and experience difficulties understanding the subtle nuances of social behaviour. Specific risk factors such as these are used to illustrate the case for online vulnerability in developmental disorders.
Social Psychology, 2012
High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children's high-f... more High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children's high-fidelity imitation can result in overimitation, the copying of instrumentally irrelevant actions. We present a series of studies investigating whether adults too overimitate. Experiment 1 found that adults do overimitate, even when evaluation pressures were reduced (Experiment 2) and when participants were faced with a time pressure involving a monetary reward (Experiment 3). Only when participants were presented with a demonstration by someone they believed to be a fellow participant (Experiment 4) did less than half of them overimitate. Thus, overimitation appears to be a robust, adaptive process allowing the acquisition of new information in unfamiliar settings.
—In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to l... more —In our technologically complex world, children frequently have problems to solve and skills to learn. They can develop solutions through learning strategies involving social learning or asocial endeavors. While evidence is emerging that children may differ individually in their propensity to adopt different learning strategies, little is known about what underlies these differences. In this article, we reflect on recent research with children , adults, and nonhuman animals regarding individual differences in learning strategies. We suggest that characteristics of children's personalities and children's positions in their social networks are pertinent to individual differences in their learning strategies. These are likely pivotal factors in the learning strategies children adopt, and thus can help us understand who copies and who innovates, an important question for cultural evolution. We also discuss how methodological issues constrain developmental researchers in this field and provide suggestions for ongoing work.
Cognition
The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant ac... more The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant actions by using a controlled design to mirror naturalistic learning contexts in which children receive social information for tasks about which they have some degree of prior knowledge. Five-year-old children (N = 167) were presented with a reward retrieval task and either given a social demonstration of a solution or no information, thus potentially acquiring a solution through personal exploration. Fifty-three children who acquired a solution either socially or asocially were then presented with an alternative solution that included irrelevant actions. Rather than remaining polarised to their initial solution like non-human animals, these children attempted the newly presented solution, incorporating both solutions into their repertoire. Such an adaptive and flexible learning strategy could increase task knowledge, provide generalizable knowledge in our tool-abundant culture and facilitate cumulative culture. Furthermore, children who acquired a solution through personally acquired information omitted subsequently demonstrated irrelevant actions to a greater extent than did children with prior social information. However, as some children with successful personally acquired information did copy the demonstrated irrelevant actions, we suggest that copying irrelevant actions may be influenced by social and causal cognition, resulting in an effective strategy which may facilitate acquisition of cultural norms when used discerningly.
Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unpar... more Many animals exhibit social learning and behavioural traditions, but human culture exhibits unparalleled complexity and diversity, and is unambiguously cumulative in character. These similarities and differences have spawned a debate over whether animal traditions and human culture are reliant on homologous or analogous psychological processes. Human cumulative culture combines high-fidelity transmission of cultural knowledge with beneficial modifications to generate a 'ratcheting' in technological complexity, leading to the development of traits far more complex than one individual could invent alone. Claims have been made for cumulative culture in several species of animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans and New Caledonian crows, but these remain contentious. Whilst initial work on the topic of cumulative culture was largely theoretical, employing mathematical methods developed by population biologists, in recent years researchers from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, biology, economics, biological anthropology, linguistics and archaeology, have turned their attention to the experimental investigation of cumulative culture. We review this literature, highlighting advances made in understanding the underlying processes of cumulative culture and emphasising areas of agreement and disagreement amongst investigators in separate fields.
Cognition, Jan 10, 2015
This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable informati... more This study investigated the age at which children judge it futile to imitate unreliable information, in the form of a visibly ineffective demonstrated solution, and deviate to produce novel solutions ('innovations'). Children aged 4-9years were presented with a novel puzzle box, the Multiple-Methods Box (MMB), which offered multiple innovation opportunities to extract a reward using different tools, access points and exits. 209 children were assigned to conditions in which eight social demonstrations of a reward retrieval method were provided; each condition differed incrementally in terms of the method's efficacy (0%, 25%, 75%, and 100% success at extracting the reward). An additional 47 children were assigned to a no-demonstration control condition. Innovative reward extractions from the MMB increased with decreasing efficacy of the demonstrated method. However, imitation remained a widely used strategy irrespective of the efficacy of the method being reproduced (90% o...
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2016
Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in enviro... more Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Cognition, 2013
The current study investigated children&a... more The current study investigated children's solution choice and imitation of causally-irrelevant actions by using a controlled design to mirror naturalistic learning contexts in which children receive social information for tasks about which they have some degree of prior knowledge. Five-year-old children (N=167) were presented with a reward retrieval task and either given a social demonstration of a solution or no information, thus potentially acquiring a solution through personal exploration. Fifty-three children who acquired a solution either socially or asocially were then presented with an alternative solution that included irrelevant actions. Rather than remaining polarised to their initial solution like non-human animals, these children attempted the newly presented solution, incorporating both solutions into their repertoire. Such an adaptive and flexible learning strategy could increase task knowledge, provide generalizable knowledge in our tool-abundant culture and facilitate cumulative culture. Furthermore, children who acquired a solution through personally acquired information omitted subsequently demonstrated irrelevant actions to a greater extent than did children with prior social information. However, as some children with successful personally acquired information did copy the demonstrated irrelevant actions, we suggest that copying irrelevant actions may be influenced by social and causal cognition, resulting in an effective strategy which may facilitate acquisition of cultural norms when used discerningly.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2012
Many animals, including humans, acquire information through social learning. Although such inform... more Many animals, including humans, acquire information through social learning. Although such information can be acquired easily, its potential unreliability means it should not be used indiscriminately. Cultural 'transmission biases' may allow individuals to weigh their reliance on social information according to a model's characteristics. In one of the first studies to juxtapose two model-based biases, we investigated whether the age and knowledge state of a model affected the fidelity of children's copying. Eighty-five 5-year-old children watched a video demonstration of either an adult or child, who had professed either knowledge or ignorance regarding a tool-use task, extracting a reward from that task using both causally relevant and irrelevant actions. Relevant actions were imitated faithfully by children regardless of the model's characteristics, but children who observed an adult reproduced more irrelevant actions than those who observed a child. The professed knowledge state of the model showed a weaker effect on imitation of irrelevant actions. Overall, children favored the use of a 'copy adults' bias over a 'copy task-knowledgeable individual' bias, even though the latter could potentially have provided more reliable information. The use of such social learning strategies has significant implications for understanding the phenomenon of imitation of irrelevant actions (overimitation), instances of maladaptive information cascades, and cumulative culture.
Developmental Review, 2013
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2010
journal hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp human culture and the influence of task complexit... more journal hom epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp human culture and the influence of task complexity on social learning.
Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is es... more Culture evolution requires both modification and faithful replication of behaviour, thus it is essential to understand how individuals choose between social and asocial learning. In a quasi-experimental design, 3- and 5-year-olds (176), and adults (52) were presented individually with two novel artificial fruits,
and told of the apparatus’ relative difficulty (easy versus hard). Participants were asked if they wanted to attempt the task themselves or watch an experimenter attempt it first; and then had their preference either met or violated. A significant proportion of children and adults (74%) chose to learn socially.
For children, this request was efficient, as observing a demonstration made them significantly quicker at the task than learning asocially. However, for 5-year-olds, children who selected asocial learning were also found to be highly efficient at the task, showing that by 5 years children are selective in
choosing a learning strategy that is effective for them. Adults further evidenced this trend, and also showed selectivity based on task difficulty. This is the first study to examine the rates, performance outcomes and developmental trajectory of preferences in asocial and social learning, ultimately informing our understanding of innovation.
This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and the consequences of inno... more This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and
the consequences of innovation for individuals, groups and populations.
A vast literature on human innovation exists, from the development of
problem-solving in children, to the evolution of technology, to the cultural
systems supporting innovation. A more recent development is a growing literature
on animal innovation, which has demonstrated links between
innovation and personality traits, cognitive traits, neural measures, changing
conditions, and the current state of the social and physical environment.
Here, we introduce these fields, define key terms and discuss the potential
for fruitful exchange between the diverse fields researching innovation. Comparisons
of innovation between human and non-human animals provide
opportunities, but also pitfalls.We also summarize some key findings specifying
the circumstances in which innovation occurs, discussing factors such as
the intrinsic nature of innovative individuals and the environmental and
socio-ecological conditions that promote innovation, such as necessity, opportunity
and free resources. We also highlight key controversies, including the
relationship between innovation and intelligence, and the notion of innovativeness
as an individual-level trait. Finally, we discuss current research
methods and suggest some novel approaches that could fruitfully be
deployed.
Journal of experimental child psychology, 2015
The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children's task solution choice was i... more The current study investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children's task solution choice was influenced by the past proficiency of familiar peer models and the children's personal prior task experience. Peer past proficiency was established through behavioral assessments of interactions with novel tasks alongside peer and teacher predictions of each child's proficiency. Based on these assessments, one peer model with high past proficiency and one age-, sex-, dominance-, and popularity-matched peer model with lower past proficiency were trained to remove a capsule using alternative solutions from a three-solution artificial fruit task. Video demonstrations of the models were shown to children after they had either a personal successful interaction or no interaction with the task. In general, there was not a strong bias toward the high past-proficiency model, perhaps due to a motivation to acquire multiple methods and the salience of other transmission biases. However, ther...
Self- and Social-Regulation, 2010
13 Underpinning Collaborative Learning EMMA FLYNN The benefits of young children's collabora... more 13 Underpinning Collaborative Learning EMMA FLYNN The benefits of young children's collaborative learning have been illus-trated across a range of expertise, including skill acquisition (Azmitia, 1988), conceptual change (Howe, Rodgers, & Tolmie, 1990), communi-cation ...
Society, Technology, Language, and Religion, 2013
British Journal of Psychology, 2014
This study uses urban legends to examine the effects of the social information bias and survival ... more This study uses urban legends to examine the effects of the social information bias and survival information bias on cultural transmission across three phases of transmission: the choose-to-receive phase, the encode-and-retrieve phase, and the choose-to-transmit phase. In line with previous research into content biases, a linear transmission chain design with 60 participants aged 18-52 was used to examine the encode-and-retrieve phase, while participants were asked to rank their interest in reading the story behind a headline and passing a story on for the other two phases. Legends which contained social information (Social Type), legends which contained survival information (Survival Type), and legends which contained both forms of information (Combined Type) were all recalled with significantly greater accuracy than control material, while Social and Combined Type legends were recalled with significantly greater accuracy than Survival Type legends. In another study with 30 participants aged 18-22, no significant differences were found between legend types in either the choose-to-receive phase or the choose-to-transmit phase.
MEASURING change is one of the most fundamental aspects of psychology. Yet most research provides... more MEASURING change is one of the most fundamental aspects of psychology. Yet most research provides a snapshot of the events surrounding change, without describing the process itself. Take the coverage of development in most introductory textbooks, where a diagram ...
Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2014
The Internet poses a new kind of threat, especially for those individuals already vulnerable in s... more The Internet poses a new kind of threat, especially for those individuals already vulnerable in society. The current paper draws on the social phenotypes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS) to propose that individuals with some developmental disorders face an elevated level of risk whilst online. Many individuals with ASD struggle to maintain social relations and are frequent users of screen-based technology, using the Internet to seek out social connections. Similarly, individuals with WS harbour an extreme pro-social drive to interact with others, both familiar and unfamiliar, and experience difficulties understanding the subtle nuances of social behaviour. Specific risk factors such as these are used to illustrate the case for online vulnerability in developmental disorders.
Social Psychology, 2012
High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children's high-f... more High-fidelity copying is critical to the acquisition of culture. However, young children's high-fidelity imitation can result in overimitation, the copying of instrumentally irrelevant actions. We present a series of studies investigating whether adults too overimitate. Experiment 1 found that adults do overimitate, even when evaluation pressures were reduced (Experiment 2) and when participants were faced with a time pressure involving a monetary reward (Experiment 3). Only when participants were presented with a demonstration by someone they believed to be a fellow participant (Experiment 4) did less than half of them overimitate. Thus, overimitation appears to be a robust, adaptive process allowing the acquisition of new information in unfamiliar settings.