Cultural Variation in Childhood Social Learning

Abstract

Abstract Research on childhood social learning points to interesting patterns of cultural variation and recurrence in how children learn by observation, instruction, or collaboration. In this chapter, the authors provide a contemporary summary of cultural patterns of variation within social learning processes, focusing on evidence from cultural groups regularly underrepresented in psychological research. The authors outline key cultural dimensions impacting social learning, including subsistence styles, learning environments, and socialization goals. The authors argue that while learned content is highly variable across human groups, the repertoire of social learning processes by which children learn from others is cross-culturally recurrent. However, the relative extent to which children in each society rely on each social learning process varies. Therefore, more systematic consideration of cultural moderators is required when theorizing about the developmental roots of social learning in childhood.