进化还是倒退:儿童过度模仿的文化共性与差异

过度模仿指模仿与完成目标无关的动作。本文通过比较不同文化下儿童过度模仿行为的共性和差异，探究了儿童过度模仿可能的产生机制。不同文化下的儿童均存在过度模仿行为，说明它很可能是人类累积文明发展的重要产物；而不同文化下儿童过度模仿的倾向又存在差异，生存环境、教导式学习和对社会规范的强调等因素均可能产生影响。未来研究可考虑进一步探究不同文化因素的具体作用，并比较不同文化下个体过度模仿行为的发展进程，帮助我们更好地理解过度模仿在人类文明发展中的意义。

Evolution or Degeneration: The Cultural Generality and Variation of Children's Over-imitation

Sometimes children imitate actions that are causally irrelevant to the goal, which is called over-imitation. This article reviewed evidence of the generality and variation of children's over-imitation under different cultures and discussed the possible underlying mechanism of over-imitation. Over-imitation was found on children from different cultures, which suggested that it might be the general product of human cumulative civilization. However, the tendency of children's over-imitation under different cultures varied a lot. These variation might be attributed to the living environment, pedagogical learning and stress on social norms of different cultures. Future studies can explore more about the specific role of cultural factors in over-imitation and compare the developmental process of over-imitation under different cultures. This can shed some light on the role of over-imitation in the development of human civilization.