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Selective Imitation of In‐Group Over Out‐Group Members in 14‐Month‐Old Infants
Author(s) -
Buttelmann David,
Zmyj Norbert,
Daum Moritz,
Carpenter Malinda
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01860.x
Subject(s) - imitation , psychology , preference , group (periodic table) , cognitive imitation , developmental psychology , task (project management) , cultural learning , social psychology , pedagogy , chemistry , management , organic chemistry , economics , microeconomics
Recent research has shown that infants are more likely to engage with in‐group over out‐group members. However, it is not known whether infants' learning is influenced by a model's group membership. This study investigated whether 14‐month‐olds ( N = 66) selectively imitate and adopt the preferences of in‐group versus out‐group members. Infants watched an adult tell a story either in their native language (in‐group) or a foreign language (out‐group). The adult then demonstrated a novel action (imitation task) and chose 1 of 2 objects (preference task). Infants did not show selectivity in the preference task, but they imitated the in‐group model more faithfully than the out‐group model. This suggests that cultural learning is beginning to be truly cultural by 14 months of age.