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Is Overimitation a Uniquely Human Phenomenon? Insights From Human Children as Compared to Bonobos

Clay, Z.; Tennie, C.

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Authors

C. Tennie



Abstract

Imitation is a key mechanism of human culture and underlies many of the intricacies of human social life, including rituals and social norms. Compared to other animals, humans appear to be special in their readiness to copy novel actions as well as those that are visibly causally irrelevant. This study directly compared the imitative behavior of human children to that of bonobos, our understudied great ape relatives. During an action-copying task involving visibly causally irrelevant actions, only 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 77) readily copied, whereas no bonobo from a large sample did (N = 46). These results highlight the distinctive nature of the human cultural capacity and contribute important insights into the development and evolution of human cultural behaviors.

Citation

Clay, Z., & Tennie, C. (2018). Is Overimitation a Uniquely Human Phenomenon? Insights From Human Children as Compared to Bonobos. Child Development, 89(5), 1535-1544. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12857

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 17, 2017
Online Publication Date Jul 24, 2017
Publication Date Sep 7, 2018
Deposit Date Sep 6, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Child Development
Print ISSN 0009-3920
Electronic ISSN 1467-8624
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 89
Issue 5
Pages 1535-1544
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12857

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Clay, Z. and Tennie, C. (2018), Is Overimitation a Uniquely Human Phenomenon? Insights From Human Children as Compared to Bonobos. Child Development 89(5): 1535-1544, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12857. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.





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