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Studying children’s social learning experimentally “in the wild”

Flynn, E.G.; Whiten, A.

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Authors

E.G. Flynn

A. Whiten



Abstract

Diffusion studies are taking us a step closer to understanding social learning and cultural transmission in young children. The first half of this article presents a review that focuses on four main cultural issues addressed by diffusion studies: (1) horizontal transmission, including child-to-child learning; (2) learning in children’s everyday environments (“in the wild”); (3) the experience of multiple demonstrations and attempts at mastering new tasks; and (4) the iterative process of learning across multiple cultural “generations.” The second half of the article introduces an open-diffusion experiment. After an initial asocial-learning phase in which children had the chance to discover two possible solutions to a puzzle box, the box was brought into the children’s playgroup, thus allowing observational learning. Although variation of method use occurred in the asocial-learning phase, by the end of the second day of the open diffusion, the group had converged on a single method. The open-diffusion approach allowed the documentation of social interactions not seen in the dyadic studies typical of the field, including both coaction and scrounging, the significance of which for cultural transmission is discussed.

Citation

Flynn, E., & Whiten, A. (2010). Studying children’s social learning experimentally “in the wild”. Learning & Behavior, 38(3), 284-296. https://doi.org/10.3758/lb.38.3.284

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 1, 2010
Deposit Date Jul 19, 2010
Publicly Available Date Aug 17, 2010
Journal Learning and Behavior
Print ISSN 1543-4494
Electronic ISSN 1543-4508
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 38
Issue 3
Pages 284-296
DOI https://doi.org/10.3758/lb.38.3.284
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1543258

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Copyright Statement
The copyright is held by Psychonomic Society Publications.






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