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The Pedagogue, the Engineer, and the Friend : From Whom Do We Learn?
François Osiurak1,2, Caroline Cretel3, Naomi Duhau-Marmon3
1Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, 5, avenue Pierre Mendès-France, 69676, Bron Cedex, France. francois.osiurak@univ-lyon2.fr.
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
|January 9, 2021
Summary
People preferentially copy engineers in technological contexts because of their high technical skills and success. This social learning strategy focuses on demonstrated competence over other psychological traits like friendliness or teaching ability.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Social Psychology
- Human Behavior
Background:
- Humans employ various social learning strategies, including 'who-strategies' that focus on model characteristics.
- Understanding which characteristics drive social learning is crucial for technological advancement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate which 'who-strategy' is preferred in a technological task based on model psychological traits.
- To determine if individuals copy the pedagogue (high theory-of-mind), engineer (high technical-reasoning), or friend (high prosocialness).
Main Methods:
- A micro-society paradigm was used where participants built towers individually and collaboratively.
- Participants' theory-of-mind, technical-reasoning, and prosocialness were assessed.
- An 'attraction score' was calculated based on how often individuals were copied.
Main Results:
- Individuals with high technical-reasoning skills (engineers) were most frequently copied.
- Success, driven by technical skills, was the primary factor for being copied, not immediate pedagogy or prosocialness.
- Attraction to successful models and subsequent copying of their techniques occurred after an initial observation period.
Conclusions:
- Technological learning is strongly influenced by the perceived competence and success of models.
- Social learning in technical domains prioritizes demonstrable skill over social attributes.
- Findings contribute to understanding the cognitive underpinnings of technological culture and skill transmission.
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