YSM Issue 90.1

CANINES ARE OVER
OVERIMITATION
BY ANNA WUJCIAK | ART BY OLIVIA THOMAS
When, as a child, we were learning
to tie our shoes, we painstakingly
followed the directions of our
parents or a nursery rhyme. When we were
picking up dining etiquette, we carefully
observed the way others use the utensils.
When we navigate our first day at school
or at the workplace, we are quick to do as
our colleagues do. Imitation is the foundation
of our socialization. But sometimes,
our tendency to replicate others extends
beyond necessary or efficient actions, a
phenomena scientists call overimitation.
Overimitation is a human-specific form
of social learning in which we faithfully
copy irrelevant actions. It is largely responsible
for the ability of our species to
have so many rich cultural traditions and
advanced technology because we are able
to handle more information by accepting
the way that other people behave.
The purpose of a recent Yale study was
to explore whether dogs and dingoes also
display overimitation. There are many
reasons to expect that dogs might follow
human cues. For one, they follow human
gaze and directions, and studies have repeatedly
shown that dogs are prone to look
for a human lead. Surprisingly, the results
revealed that canines do not display this
behavior, suggesting that humans are the
only species to demonstrate this behavior.
The merits of overimitation
One of the most obvious drawbacks of
overimitation is that it can cause a person
to be misled. However, the benefits are
much greater. Consider activities as mundane
as washing your hands or brushing
your teeth. It is important for health reasons
that young children replicate these
behaviors at a young age, regardless of
whether they understand the reasoning
behind the action.
Thinking even further back, consider the
Stone Age. Learning how to start a fire may
have been more likely to persist because
individuals had a tendency to overimitate
the demonstrator. A stick must be spun
quickly for a long time to create a spark. If
the learner did not have the inclination to
continue spinning the stick, despite its apparent
uselessness, then they may not have
been able to start a fire. Without the ability
to start fire, our species would not have
moved on to designing simple machines
and advancing technology.
Overimitation may also be particularly
responsible for the depth and longevity
of human culture. Other species do not
have traditions. Humans maintain rituals
by passing their knowledge on through
generations, although it might not be
necessary or relevant. Consider religious
practices or decorative dressing that have
survived for centuries; without overimitation,
these practices could have been discarded
as ornamental and extraneous.
A drawback of overimitation is that it
can sometimes constrain our exploration.
Overimitation may dampen human trial
18 Yale Scientific Magazine December 2016 www.yalescientific.org