New study reveals why young children copy unnecessary actions

Anyone who has spent time with young children has probably seen it happen.

An adult demonstrates how to complete a simple task, adding a few unnecessary steps along the way. Instead of skipping the extra actions, the child faithfully copies every one of them — even when they clearly aren't needed to reach the goal.

A new Concordia study suggests that this behaviour, known as overimitation, may have less to do with following rules than with building social connections.

Published in the journal Cognitive Development, the research found that preschoolers who showed stronger preferences for members of their own social group were also more likely to imitate unnecessary actions. The findings suggest that, at around four-and-a-half years of age, children may faithfully copy others because they want to affiliate with them rather than because they believe that is what must be done.

“Most of what children learn is by imitating others,” says Marilyne Dragon, a PhD candidate in Concordia's Department of Psychology and lead author of the study.

“When a child copies an unnecessary action, they may be indicating that they want to connect with the person demonstrating the task. Copying can be a learning tool as well as a social tool.”

More than simple imitation

Developmental psychologists have studied overimitation for years because it offers a window into how children learn from the people around them and plays a role in humans’ unique capacity to build upon shared knowledge across generations. 

Imagine an adult tapping the side of a box with a stick before opening it. The tapping serves no purpose, but a young child will often repeat it anyway before opening the box themselves.

Researchers have proposed two main explanations for this behaviour. One suggests that children imitate unnecessary actions because they want to be like the person they're watching. The other argues that children interpret those actions as social rules that should be followed.

Dragon and her co-authors, professor Diane Poulin-Dubois and Honours student Brittany Montpetit wanted to determine which explanation better accounted for children's behaviour.

Rather than relying on the overimitation task alone, they designed independent activities to measure children's social preferences and their understanding of norms. They also asked parents about parenting values to explore whether children raised in environments emphasizing obedience were more likely to overimitate.

A desire to belong

The results pointed more strongly toward social affiliation.

Children who expressed stronger preferences for members of their own social group were also more likely to faithfully copy unnecessary actions. By contrast, the researchers found no relationship between overimitation and either authoritarian parenting values or children's understanding of social norms.

“We were expecting a link between overimitation and normative understanding,” Dragon says. “Instead, our findings suggest that social affiliation may be a better explanation at this age.”

The study also revealed an interesting developmental shift. The connection between overimitation and social affiliation appeared among four-and-a-half-year-olds but not younger four-year-olds, suggesting that children's growing awareness of social groups may influence how and why they learn from others.

Learning and culture

The findings offer new insight into one of the defining features of human learning.

Unlike most other animals, except dogs, humans often copy not only the actions that achieve a goal but also the surrounding behaviours and conventions. While this may sometimes seem inefficient, Dragon says it plays an important role in transmitting culture across generations.

“Overimitation can help children acquire cultural knowledge through the transmission of information, skills and traditions,” she says. “It has evolved as a social strategy for conveying affiliation and group identity.”

Learn more about Concordia’s Department of Psychology.