Journal
EVOLUTION AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Volume 35, Issue 3, Pages 204-210Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.01.004
Keywords
Imitation; Social convention; Affiliation; Ostracism; Ritual; Cultural learning
Funding
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/I005455/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- ESRC [ES/I005455/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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This study examined task specific effects of third-party ostracism on imitative fidelity in early childhood (N = 96, 3-6-year-olds). Start- and end-states of action sequences were manipulated to examine the effects of priming third-party ostracism versus affiliation on children's imitation of instrumental (i.e., action sequence with a different start- and end-state) versus social convention (i.e., action sequence with an identical start- and end-state) tasks. Children's performance was coded for imitative fidelity and children's explanations for their behavior. As predicted, imitative fidelity was highest and social convention explanations were most common when primed with ostracism in the social convention task. The data are consistent with our proposal that imitation serves an affiliative function in response to the threat of ostracism, a response amplified for social conventions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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