Building a bridge across the imitation-innovation divide: Children's weighing of cultural and instrumental competence.

We investigated how children weigh different forms of perceived competence (cultural and instrumental) in a potential model when deciding to imitate or innovate an alternative means to obtain a material reward. In Experiment 1, 120 children aged 3-6 years (M age = 4.99 years; 53% female) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions varying a model's demonstrated competence: (1) Culturally Aware, (2) Culturally Unaware, (3) Instrumentally Competent, or (4) Instrumentally Incompetent. Children observed their model perform a task incorporating both causally irrelevant (redundant) and causally relevant actions, before taking their turn. Each apparatus used contained a low-interest object (in an opaque compartment) and a desirable sticker (in a transparent compartment). The model demonstrated a redundant action sequence to retrieve the low-interest object, with children subsequently invited to interact freely with the apparatus. Imitation frequency was highest in the Culturally Aware and Instrumentally Incompetent conditions. Imitation in these two conditions was significantly higher than in the Instrumentally Competent Condition, although not significantly different from the Culturally Unaware condition. Experiment 2 (N = 50; M = 4.96 years; 46% female) examined domain-specific competence by varying whether the model demonstrated skill relevant to the task at hand (box opening). Children were randomly assigned to observe either a (1) Competent model or (2) Incompetent model. Results showed that children's imitation rates were significantly higher when the model possessed domain-specific competence. Combined, the results across these studies suggest that both cultural familiarity and task-relevant competence shape children's decision to imitate versus innovate.