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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Foundations of cultural learning Zhao, Wanying
Abstract
To acquire their local culture, infants must identify good cultural models to learn from. Doing so successfully requires learners to evaluate others’ qualities as potential knowledge sources. The following body of research examines how the youngest humans identify good sources of conventional behaviours—a domain of cultural knowledge that lacks inherent properties for evaluation. Chapter 2 examines infants’ preferences for individuals who performed a consensus action vs. an oft-‐repeated action. Results revealed that preverbal infants are capable of making complex, context-‐dependent evaluations, favouring conformists when the targets’ prior knowledge cannot be assumed, and preferring mavericks when it can. Chapter 3 extends these results by showing that preschool aged children use some of these same cues to identify who may be good to learn from. Chapter 4 investigates infants’ use of observed emotional communications to choose between social and asocial targets. Cultural and domain differences were found for 12 month old infants: target preferences were influenced by emotional reactions directed at social targets, but not by emotional reactions directed at asocial targets. A differential response to positive and negative emotional reaction only reliably affected European Canadian infants’ choices, but not East Asian infants, nor European and East Asian mixed infants. Chapter 5 investigated how parents convey evaluative messages about objects during interactions with infants, and explored cultural differences in these pedagogical interactions. Results hint at cultural differences in the amount of valence congruent utterances caregivers make, resulting in differential experience with emotional communications as a means of learning about the world.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Foundations of cultural learning
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
| Date Issued |
2015
|
| Description |
To
acquire
their
local
culture,
infants
must
identify
good
cultural
models
to
learn
from.
Doing
so
successfully
requires
learners
to
evaluate
others’
qualities
as
potential
knowledge
sources.
The
following
body
of
research
examines
how
the
youngest
humans
identify
good
sources
of
conventional
behaviours—a
domain
of
cultural
knowledge
that
lacks
inherent
properties
for
evaluation.
Chapter
2
examines
infants’
preferences
for
individuals
who
performed
a
consensus
action
vs.
an
oft-‐repeated
action.
Results
revealed
that
preverbal
infants
are
capable
of
making
complex,
context-‐dependent
evaluations,
favouring
conformists
when
the
targets’
prior
knowledge
cannot
be
assumed,
and
preferring
mavericks
when
it
can.
Chapter
3
extends
these
results
by
showing
that
preschool
aged
children
use
some
of
these
same
cues
to
identify
who
may
be
good
to
learn
from.
Chapter
4
investigates
infants’
use
of
observed
emotional
communications
to
choose
between
social
and
asocial
targets.
Cultural
and
domain
differences
were
found
for
12
month
old
infants:
target
preferences
were
influenced
by
emotional
reactions
directed
at
social
targets,
but
not
by
emotional
reactions
directed
at
asocial
targets.
A
differential
response
to
positive
and
negative
emotional
reaction
only
reliably
affected
European
Canadian
infants’
choices,
but
not
East
Asian
infants,
nor
European
and
East
Asian
mixed
infants.
Chapter
5
investigated
how
parents
convey
evaluative
messages
about
objects
during
interactions
with
infants,
and
explored
cultural
differences
in
these
pedagogical
interactions.
Results
hint
at
cultural
differences
in
the
amount
of
valence
congruent utterances
caregivers
make,
resulting
in
differential
experience
with
emotional
communications
as
a
means
of
learning
about
the
world.
|
| Genre | |
| Type | |
| Language |
eng
|
| Date Available |
2015-12-18
|
| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
| Rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada
|
| DOI |
10.14288/1.0221438
|
| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
|
| Graduation Date |
2016-02
|
| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
| Rights URI | |
| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
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Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada