Limitations to the cultural ratchet effect in young children
Abstract
Although many animal species show at least some evidence of cultural transmission, broadly defined, only humans show clear evidence of cumulative culture. In the current study, we investigated whether young children show the “ratchet effect,” an important component of cumulative culture—the ability to accumulate efficient modifications across generations. We tested 16 diffusion chains—altogether consisting of 80 children—to see how they solved an instrumental task (i.e., carrying something from one location to another). We found that when the chain was seeded with an inefficient way of solving the task, 4-year-olds were able to innovate and transmit these innovations so as to reach a more efficient solution. However, when it started out with relatively efficient solutions already (i.e., the ones that children in a control condition discovered for themselves), there were no further techniques invented and/or transmitted beyond that. Thus, young children showed the ratchet effect to a limited extent, accumulating efficient modifications but not going beyond the inventive level of the individual.
Citation
Tennie , C , Walter , V , Gampe , A , Carpenter , M & Tomasello , M 2014 , ' Limitations to the cultural ratchet effect in young children ' , Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , vol. 126 , pp. 152-160 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.04.006
Publication
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0022-0965Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2014.04.006
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