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Free keywords:
Infants; In-group versus out-group; Social learning; Selective imitation; Preference
Abstract:
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. We investigated whether 14-month-olds imitate selectively and adopt preferences differentially from in-group versus out-group members. Infants watched an adult who told 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 one of two 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.
