Titel
More than Imitation: A replication study on Overimitation in adults
AutorInnen
Werner, R., Schwarz, R., Thomas, F., Weiser, V., Grebe, G.
Abstract
This study conceptually replicates Flynn and Smith (2012) and investigates overimitation in adults. Overimitation can be defined as high-fidelity copying of causally irrelevant actions that reduce task efficiency, a phenomenon previ- ously shown to be highly robust in children. It is considered to play a crucial role in the transmission of cultural knowledge, as overimitation facilitates the faithful reproduction of behaviors across individuals and generations. In our control group only relevant actions to extract a ball from a transparent puzzle box were demonstrated by a model and participants were asked to retrieve the ball. Only one participant executed an irrelevant action, while the rest limited their imitation to the modeled steps, which were all relevant. In contrast, in the experimental group, participants observed a model performing both relevant and irrelevant actions. In this condition 43 out of 65 participants (66%) showed overimitation, reaching significance in a chi-squared test, and a rate signifi- cantly lower than the 95% reported in the original study using the same type of transparent box. These findings suggest that although overimitation remains prevalent in adults, its effect size may be modulated by contextual or methodo- logical factors.
Schlagworte
Overimitation, glass-ceiling-box