Humans have always been recognized as inherently social beings, a trait that distinguishes us remarkably from other primates. Our profound desire to integrate and be accepted within social collectives — our “in-groups” — is encoded early and deeply in our development. From earliest childhood, imitation serves as a critical channel for acquiring knowledge, skills, and cultural norms, fostering not only learning but also social bonding and identity formation. Among these imitative behaviors, a phenomenon known as overimitation stands out for its unique role in human cultural transmission and social cognition.
Overimitation refers to the tendency of individuals, especially children, to faithfully replicate actions demonstrated by others even when some of those actions are clearly irrelevant or unnecessary for achieving a practical goal. This peculiar behavior, which has been documented predominantly in children aged three to five years, signals more than mere mimicry: it hints at complex underlying social motives. However, until recently, scant research has explored whether this trait emerges in much younger children, particularly infants under two years of age, and how it might tie into fundamental social drives such as affiliation and group preference.
A groundbreaking observational study led by researchers at Concordia University, and published in the journal Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, delves into this very question. The research, spearheaded by doctoral candidate Marilyne Dragon and her team, probes the emergence of overimitation in infants aged 16 to 21 months. It seeks to unravel whether this early social behavior is linked with in-group affiliation or stands independent, thus shedding light on critical developmental trajectories in human social cognition.
The study is meticulous in its design, involving 73 toddlers with an average age hovering just over 18 months. Each child underwent four structured tasks tailored to elicit specific types of imitation and gauge social preferences. The tasks encompassed an overimitation challenge involving a three-step process to open a box, deliberately incorporating an unnecessary step to test if infants would copy redundant actions. Another task focused on elicited imitation, where children were asked to replicate a sequence of actions such as putting a teddy bear to bed, designed primarily to assess memory and learning.
Additionally, the researchers introduced the unfulfilled intentions task, which prompted children to complete an action that an experimenter attempted but failed to accomplish, such as placing a strand of beads into a cup. This task probes children’s ability to infer goals and intentions behind observed behaviors, a cornerstone of social cognition. The fourth task—the in-group preference test—offered infants a choice between a plush toy presented by a woman or a robot on a screen, intended to measure infants’ spontaneous social preferences for human-like agents versus mechanical ones.
Notably, the research team observed that young infants demonstrated only low levels of overimitation, suggesting that the tendency to replicate unnecessary actions is nascent or not fully operative within this early developmental window. More critically, the study found no evidence that overimitation behaviors in infants were driven by in-group preference. Unlike older children who more actively emulate those they perceive as socially similar or belonging to their own group, these infants did not selectively imitate based on social identity cues. This insight implies that the link between overimitation and social affiliation evolves later in the developmental timeline.
Conversely, a compelling correlation emerged between the elicited imitation and unfulfilled intentions tasks. This relationship underscores how imitation entwined with memory processes and social cognitive understanding appears robust even in infancy. The infants’ capacity not only to recall demonstrated actions but also to interpret the intended goals of others, even when unachieved, highlights sophisticated early social-cognitive skills. These findings illuminate the foundational mechanisms that ultimately scaffold more complex forms of social learning and group-oriented behaviors in later childhood.
The absence of a clear association between overimitation and in-group preference in infants opens fresh avenues for understanding the developmental dynamics of imitation. Marilyne Dragon contemplates that the social motivations underlying overimitation, such as bonding through behavioral congruence and demonstrating group loyalty, likely crystallize after infancy. Preliminary results from forthcoming research in Dragon’s lab, focusing on older preschool children, further support this hypothesis. By around four-and-a-half years, children who exhibit heightened overimitation also tend to express stronger preferences for peers who share similar gender or ethnic backgrounds—hallmarks of group identity awareness.
This developmental pattern points to a sophisticated emerging understanding of social categories and the role imitation plays in reinforcing group memberships. Such insights not only enhance theoretical comprehension of social learning but also carry practical implications. As Diana Poulin-Dubois, a psychology professor and co-author of the study, notes, these findings underscore the nuanced layering of cognitive, social, and cultural factors that intersect throughout early development. Overimitation, therefore, should not be dismissed as simple copying but regarded as a window into how humans nurture social bonds through shared practices and aligned behaviors.
Importantly, the study’s revelations also carry a cautionary note for adults interacting with young children. Since imitation—even of irrelevant or unnecessary actions—begins early, caregivers and educators serve as powerful models. Their behaviors, deliberate or unconscious, are observed and potentially replicated by children, impacting the formation of critical thinking and discernment skills. Understanding when and why overimitation occurs can guide adults in fostering environments that balance imitation with encouragement of independent reasoning.
Taken together, the research sheds illuminating light on the ontogeny of imitation behaviors and their social substrates. Investigating the infancy period not only expands our knowledge of when overimitation arises but also sets the stage for deeper inquiry into the cognitive and emotional processes at play. As more studies integrate longitudinal designs and neural measures, we might soon unlock how imitation intertwines with group dynamics, identity formation, and cultural learning across the lifespan.
The Concordia-led study “I wanna be like you”: testing the link between social affiliation and overimitation in infancy enriches developmental psychology by bridging gaps in emergent social cognition research. It challenges assumptions about the social motivations fueling overimitation in the youngest learners and reframes how we view early imitation not merely as mechanical reproduction but as a complex social tool evolving alongside children’s awareness of others. This pioneering work sets the course for future explorations into how humans become not only social imitators but founders of shared cultural worlds through imitation.
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Subject of Research: People
Article Title: “I wanna be like you”: testing the link between social affiliation and overimitation in infancy
News Publication Date: 13-Apr-2025
Web References: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/developmental-psychology/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2025.1559513/full
References: DOI 10.3389/fdpys.2025.1559513
Image Credits: Concordia University
Keywords: Psychological science, Cognitive development, Emotional development, Personality development, Cognitive psychology
