Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?

Wood, L.; Kendal, R.; Flynn, E.

Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation? Thumbnail


Authors

L. Wood

E. Flynn



Abstract

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, there was some evidence of a model-based past-proficiency bias; when the high past-proficiency peer matched the participants’ original solution, there was increased use of that solution, whereas if the high past-proficiency peer demonstrated an alternative solution, there was increased use of the alternative social solution and novel solutions. Thus, model proficiency influenced innovation.

Citation

Wood, L., Kendal, R., & Flynn, E. (2015). Does a peer model’s task proficiency influence children’s solution choice and innovation?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 139, 190-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.003

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 4, 2015
Online Publication Date Jul 2, 2015
Publication Date Nov 1, 2015
Deposit Date Jun 8, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Print ISSN 0022-0965
Electronic ISSN 1096-0457
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 139
Pages 190-202
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.003
Keywords Trust, Social learning, Proficiency, Innovation, Transmission biases, Canalization.

Files

Accepted Journal Article (961 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 139, November 2015, 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.06.003.





You might also like



Downloadable Citations