Publications [#351862] of Michael Tomasello

Journal Articles

1. Schwier, C; van Maanen, C; Carpenter, M; Tomasello, M (2006). Rational imitation in 12-month-old infants. Infancy, 10(3), 303-311. [doi]
   (last updated on 2024/04/19)

   Abstract:
   Gergely, Bekkering, and Király (2002) demonstrated that 14-month-old infants engage in "rational imitation." To investigate the development and flexibility of this skill, we tested 12-month-olds on a different but analogous task. Infants watched as an adult made a toy animal use a particular action to get to an endpoint. In 1 condition there was a barrier that prevented a more straightforward action and so gave the actor no choice but to use the demonstrated action. In the other condition there was no barrier, so the actor had a free choice to use the demonstrated action or not. Twelve-month-olds showed the same pattern of results as in Gergely and colleagues' study: They copied the particular action demonstrated more often when the adult freely chose to use the action than when she was forced to use it. Twelve-month-olds, too, thus show an understanding of others' intentions as rational choices and can use this understanding in cultural learning contexts. Copyright © 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.