Poster #64 - Examining Between- and Within-Population Variation in Adults’ Beliefs About How Children Learn

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Children inhabit cultural ecologies that contain knowledge systems, beliefs, practices, artifacts, and technologies that are transmitted and modified over generations (Legare, 2017). The learning processes that enable cultural acquisition and transmission are universal but are sufficiently flexible to accommodate highly diverse cultural toolkits. Children learn culture in several complementary ways, including through exploration, observation, participation, imitation, and instruction (Legare, 2019). These methods of learning vary in frequency and kind within- and between-populations due to variation in socialization values and practices associated with specific educational institutions, skill sets, and knowledge systems. The processes by which children acquire and transmit the cumulative culture of their communities provide unique insight into the cognitive foundations of cumulative cultural transmission—the cornerstone of human cultural diversity (Legare 2019; Boyd & Richerson 1985, Tomasello et al., 1993).

The objective of the current study was to examine between and within cultural variation in beliefs about how children learn. We collected data online (N = 1295) from five WEIRD, English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America). We created a 6-item measure to assess adults’ beliefs about different ways children learn using a 6-point Likert type scale. The six items were based on cumulative cultural learning strategies (including learning through exploration, observation, participation, imitation, and instruction) as well as a neutral comparison item (Legare, 2019).

The results showed no between-country variation in adults’ preference for learning strategies across the five countries (figure 1). There were notable within-country differences, however. We conducted a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to investigate the distinct response patterns underlying the learning strategies by entering our six-item measure as a predictor of class membership. Results suggested that a three-class solution provided the most parsimonious solution. Class 1 strongly supported learning through exploration and teamwork, therefore we labeled it “free learning”. Class 2 displayed no difference in preference across all items, thus we labelled Class 2 “No preference”. Class 3 showed strong support for learning through instructions, modeling and focusing on the outcome, thus we labelled it “rote” learning. For naming the emerging classes, we relied on a rote vs. free learning dichotomy, where rote learning refers to memorization of preexisting knowledge or information, while free learning is described by exploring and understanding the world first-hand. We recognize that these two types of learning are both necessary for cultural transmission, however preference for the ratio between the two varied within populations.

Our data reveal that reference for rote vs. free learning style is more predictive of the endorsement of different learning strategies than nationality is. As a result, this work highlights the importance of within-population comparisons in examining adult’s ideas of children’s learning.

Authors

• Ajna F. Kertesz, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Frankie T. K. Fong, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

• ALEJANDRO ERUT, University of Texas at Austin

• Nicole Wen, Brunel University London

• Jennifer Marie Clegg, Texas State University

• Mark Gregory Nielsen, University of Queensland

• Cristine H. Legare, University of Texas at Austin