Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T14:06:28.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Can bifocal stance theory explain children's selectivity in active information transmission?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2022

Marina Bazhydai
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Fylde College, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK m.bazhydai@lancaster.ac.ukd.karadag@lancaster.ac.uk
Didar Karadağ
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Fylde College, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK m.bazhydai@lancaster.ac.ukd.karadag@lancaster.ac.uk

Abstract

To shed light on the key premise of the bifocal stance theory (BST) that social learners flexibly take instrumental and ritual stances, we focus on developmental origins of child-led information transmission, or teaching, as a core social learning strategy. We highlight children's emerging selectivity in information transmission influenced by epistemic and social factors and call for systematic investigation of proposed stance-taking.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baer, C., & Friedman, O. (2018). Fitting the message to the listener: Children selectively mention general and specific facts. Child Development, 89(2), 461475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazhydai, M., & Harris, P. L. (2021). Infants actively seek and transmit knowledge via communication: Commentary on Phillips et al. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e142. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20001405CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazhydai, M., Silverstein, P., Parise, E., & Westermann, G. (2020). Two-year old children preferentially transmit simple actions but not pedagogically demonstrated actions. Developmental Science, 23(5), e12941. doi: 10.1111/desc.12941CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridgers, S., Jara-Ettinger, J., & Gweon, H. (2020). Young children consider the expected utility of others’ learning to decide what to teach. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(2), 144152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burdett, E. R., Dean, L. G., & Ronfard, S. (2017). A diverse and flexible teaching toolkit facilitates the human capacity for cumulative culture. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 9(4), 807818. doi: 10.1007/s13164-017-0345-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Danovitch, J. H. (2020). Children's selective information sharing based on the recipient's role. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 181(2–3), 6877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flynn, E. (2008). Investigating children as cultural magnets: Do young children transmit redundant information along diffusion chains? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1509), 35413551. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelman, S. A., Ware, E. A., Manczak, E. M., & Graham, S. A. (2013). Children's sensitivity to the knowledge expressed in pedagogical and nonpedagogical contexts. Developmental Psychology, 49(3), 491504. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027901CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gweon, H. (2022). Inferential social learning: Cognitive foundations of human social learning and teaching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(10), 896910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gweon, H., & Schulz, L. (2019). From exploration to instruction: Children learn from exploration and tailor their demonstrations to observers’ goals and competence. Child Development, 90(1), e148e164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karadağ, D., Bazhydai, M., & Westermann, G. (2022). Do toddlers preferentially transmit generalizable information? (Stage 1 In-Principle Acceptance Registered Report). Preprint. https://psyarxiv.com/3cu27/Google Scholar
Karadağ, D., & Soley, G. (2022). Children intend to teach conventional norms but not moral norms selectively to ingroup members. Developmental Psychology. In press. doi: 10.1037/dev0001455CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kline, M. A. (2015). How to learn about teaching: An evolutionary framework for the study of teaching behavior in humans and other animals. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 38, E31. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X14000090CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., Striano, T., & Tomasello, M. (2006). 12- and 18-month-olds point to provide information for others. Journal of Cognition and Development, 7(2), 173187. doi: 10.1207/s15327647jcd0702_2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, U., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2008). Twelve-month-olds communicate helpfully and appropriately for knowledgeable and ignorant partners. Cognition, 108(3), 732739. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2008.06.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Neill, D. K. (1996). Two-year-old children's sensitivity to a parent's knowledge state when making requests. Child Development, 67(2), 659677. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01758.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronfard, S., & Harris, P. L. (2018). Children's decision to transmit information is guided by their evaluation of the nature of that information. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 9(4), 849861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronfard, S., Was, A. M., & Harris, P. L. (2016). Children teach methods they could not discover for themselves. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 142, 107117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.032CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, M. F., Rakoczy, H., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Young children enforce social norms selectively depending on the violator's group affiliation. Cognition, 124(3), 325333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sobel, D. M., & Letourneau, S. M. (2016). Children's developing knowledge of and reflection about teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 143, 111122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sobel, D. M., & Letourneau, S. M. (2018). Preschoolers’ understanding of how others learn through action and instruction. Child Development, 89(3), 961970.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, S., & Ziv, M. (2012). Teaching is a natural cognitive ability for humans. Mind, Brain, and Education, 6(4), 186196. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-228X.2012.01156.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tong, Y., Wang, F., & Danovitch, J. (2020). The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children's selective trust: Three meta-analyses. Developmental Science, 23(2), e12895.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vredenburgh, C., Kushnir, T., & Casasola, M. (2015). Pedagogical cues encourage toddlers’ transmission of recently demonstrated functions to unfamiliar adults. Developmental Science, 18(4), 645654. doi: 10.1111/desc.12233CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ziv, M., & Frye, D. (2004). Children's understanding of teaching: The role of knowledge and belief. Cognitive Development, 19, 457477. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2004.09.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar