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Social learning and trends
Social learning and trends
Trends
Christakis
obesity as a trend: the socially closer a person is to an obese person, the more likely they are to become obese in the future
Wider social network influences us more than we might realise
Social closeness increases influence
Factors/ mechanisms which influence: type of relationship, tolerance, lifestyle imitation or physiological imitation. Geography
does not
have an influence
Emotional clustering
Fowler
happiness is contagious!
Evolution of Social Learning
Humans imitate more so than non-human primates and the two differ in the things that they imitate
Van Leeuwen
apes imitate the action of placing a straw behind their ear despite the action having no apparent function or purpose other than as a fashion statement
Haun
Children, chimps & orang-utans taught to put balls in a specific coloured box
3 confederates use a different coloured box nearby
Test:
give the ppts 3 balls and watch what they do
Results:
Children switched to the different box (imitated), whilst chimps and orang-utans did not
Especially when tested in public: being watched increases conformity effects... so not entirely imitating due to informational learning processes
i.e.
some learnt that their previous belief was actually wrong, whilst some just conformed
Is it beneficial though? We tend to regard uniqueness more highly than imitation
From whom do we learn?
Prestige
Children
and
adults learn more from models who others pay attention to
Evaluating how often others imitate a person is a shortcut for evaluating success of role models
Extend prestige to domains where role model has no expertise
e.g.
Celebrities in advertisement
Labov
Upper middle class women copy the speech style of those of a higher status, particularly in formal contexts - this drives language change at a wider level
Socioeconomic status
Covert Prestige
Trudgill
Non-standard forms, outside of awareness and associated with in-group loyalty
Women overestimate how 'standard' their speech is (overt prestige) whilst men under-report the standard-ness of their speech (covert prestige)
Scale-free networks:
"hubs" preferential attachment - these people have lots of connections
Number of connections follows power law (lots have a few, a few have many)
Homophily:
we associate with people similar to ourselves
e.g.
only 8% USA report discussing important issues with someone of another race
e.g.
only 10% men and 32% women list opposite sex member as close friend
Why?
McPherson
Cognitive bias (prejudice etc)
Structural bias: opportunities, institutes, misperceptions (attitudes overestimate homophily)
Centrality
Granovetter
Hubs adopt behaviour which spreads across entire network
'Weak ties' links between groups which otherwise would not be connected...
e.g.
useful when finding a new job - share information
'Strong ties' homophilous - action and behaviour
Advantages of Imitation
Shaw
"Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery - it is the sincerest form of learning
Boyd
Beneficial Evolutionarily
SL lowers invention cost
i.e.
don't have to think of everything oneself!
But... more imitators means fewer inventors to imitate
as the 'imitation chain' increases = lower fidelity (Chinese whispers effect) and adaptivity (context specific learning not useful in new contexts)
Inventors are needed for progress of society!
But... Partial connectivity is good for progress
i.e.
inventions which would not be possible without inventions that pre-ceeded them
When we adapt, re-create and build upon previous knowledge we can progress otherwise we are only copying and not exploring
Incremental steps allow for community-wide intervention
So... why did social learning evolve?
Accumulation of adaptations, combination of several models, adaptable to different circumstances
Evidence!
More interventions/ progress occurs in larger communities
Knowledge loss occurs when a community gets smaller
(size and density/structure related to progress)
What is learned via SL?
Imitation is not only for goal-oriented purposes - humans often over-imitate
Apes imitate outcome-oriented actions whilst children and adults also imitate outcome-irrelevant actions
Straw behind ear study?!
Problematic Learning?
Prosocial
Gentile
Causation implications: noticeable
increase
over time in prosocial behaviour "positive escalation"
Singapore 2nd school kids
Pro-social video games influence behaviour
Causation? Self-selection
i.e.
nice kids pick nice games
College students: prosocial/ violent/ neutral game
Assign puzzles to a partner: easy = prosocial/ helpful, hard = aggressive/ hurtful
Prosocial video games related to helping, and violent related to anti-social behaviour even after just 20 minutes of priming playing
Aggression
Anderson
General Aggression Model . . . 59% girls and 73% boys say most video games are violent... leads to addiction, crime and violence
Violent game playing: learning and rehearsal of aggression
Beliefs, Schema: Perceptions and Expectations, Behaviour scripts, Desensitization
Aggressive Personality
Personological variables
Situational variables
e.g.
chosen peer group
Bandura BoBo doll
Over-imitation
Why?
Hypothesis: we over-imitate because we assume that a seemingly pointless action has a hidden purpose
Lyons
Introducing a competitive element and time constraint should test whether belief of purpose exists or not - situation demands that only necessary actions with specific outcomes be carried out
Higher age related to higher over-imitation
Suggesting that imitation is
not
to do with beliefs but rather social
conformity and affiliation
Support
Autistic children (poorer social development) over-imitate
less
than typically developed children - showing that it likely is the difference in social awareness which causes imitation
Even true when children matched for mental age
High social ostracism priming increases over-imitation behaviours (trying to fit in)
Conventions and traditions
Legare
when prompted with convention cues
e.g.
"This is just how we do it" over-imitation increased
Benefits include: dietary, hygienic - basic survival! These conventions have survived ritualistically without necessarily having an understanding of the mechanisms behind them
e.g.
eating fish whilst pregnant