Learning from the actions of others is a fundamental mechanism of human culture that existed long before systematic science emerged.
By observing and learning from the practices of others, we can transcend the narrow horizons of our own individual lives. At the same time, it can also benefit from the experience accumulated by the ancestors of each generation.
Experimental intervention is an effective way to explore the causal structure of the world, much more effective than mere observation, but there is a tension between the two. It is true that we can draw more convincing conclusions from experiments than observations, but observation is easier than experimentation. Experimentation means putting it into action, and action requires energy, resources and determination.
However, if we assume that others act like us, then with little effort we can greatly expand our own personal experience. This means that someone else can do your experiment for you. And, if others already know more than you know, then, you can benefit more from observing their experimental interventions. Like demonstration experiments in science class, experimental interventions by "experts" will show you the causal relationship between things.
Children are especially good at learning from others. They already know that others intervene in the world around them in the same way as they do themselves. Babies as young as 7 months old already understand that different behaviors point to specific goals.
Thinking Lab
To test this, Amanda Woodward used the technique of "habituation-decomitation" in her experiments. He showed the baby two toys on the table, a teddy bear and a small leather ball, as shown in the image below.
The experimenter reached a hand to the side of the table, touched the teddy bear, and grabbed the teddy bear. At this time, change the position of the two toys, and put the teddy bear in the position of the original small leather ball, and the small leather ball in the position of the original teddy bear.
What predictions will babies have for what will happen next? Will this person's hand reach over to the other side of the table to get the teddy bear? Or will you grope on the same side?
Babies as young as 7 months seem to predict that this person will get a teddy bear because they stare longer when they see the person touching the small leather ball instead. What's even more surprising is that if they saw a stick reaching over the table and touching the toy, rather than a hand, the baby wouldn't have predicted at all.
It can be seen that the 7-month-old baby knows that the mother's hand is like her own hand, trying to make things happen.
"Teddy Bear and Little Leather Ball" experiment
In addition, many other experiments have demonstrated that infants are able to relate their actions to the actions of others. For example, very small babies can also imitate the movements of others, and when they see the movements of others, they will reproduce the movements.
Andrew Meerzov is an expert in such imitation experiments. In the 1970s, he pointed out that almost from the moment of birth, babies imitate the gestures and movements of other people. 9-month-old babies can use this imitation to recognize causality, not only imitating the movements, but also recognizing and reproducing the results of these actions.
For example, a 1-year-old child walks into a lab and sees the experimenter tap a box with his head, and the box glows. A week later, when the child returns to the lab again and sees the last box on the table, he will immediately touch the box with his own head and make it glow. By 18 months of age, children can perform even more complex imitations.
Take the experiment of Tergi Gergei, for example.
Scenario 1: Let the child see a normal experimenter touching the box with his head, and the box glows;
Scenario two: Let the child see that the experimenter is wrapped in a blanket, his hands cannot move, he touches the box with his head, and the box glows. It was found that if the child saw that the experimenter had free hands but still touched the box with his head, he would also touch the box with his head when imitating.
However, if the child sees that the experimenter cannot move his hands and can only touch the box with his head, they will touch the box with their own hands when imitating. They seem to understand that the experimenter can't touch the box with his head because he can't use his hands, but if he can use his hands, of course, there is no need to replace it with his head.
For example, in Merzov's experiment, the child saw an adult trying to take apart a two-part toy dumbbell, which he tried repeatedly but never succeeded. Then, when the child gets the toy, they will immediately dismantle it themselves.
Many parents mistakenly believe that children will only learn from the process of imitating the success of others, but this is not the case. Children also learn by avoiding the failures of others and understanding the limitations of others.
Not only are children able to simply imitate others, they can also identify causal connections between people's goals, actions, and outcomes. By the age of 4, children can use information about various interventions learned from others to carry out very complex new causal reasoning.
In the case of the cogwheel toy experiment, children do experiment on the toy until they get evidence of the correct pattern and figure out how the toy works. However, children can also manipulate toys simply by observing what others do, without having to test all the possibilities for themselves.
This suggests that children can solve problems not only by doing experiments on their own, but also by simply observing adults performing correct experimental demonstrations with toys.
So, other people, especially caregivers, can emerge as a kind of implicit causal mentor and can appear long before the child begins formal education.
When adults demonstrate and encourage children to imitate, they are also encouraging them to learn cause and effect.
Moreover, adults demonstrate the skills and tools that are different in their unique culture and point out the causal relationships inherent in these techniques and tools.
By observing the results of specific actions and various experiments, we can grasp the causality diagram. However, once we have mastered the diagram of causality, we can not only replicate the actions we see, but also consider new possibilities and make new plans.
Note: The above content is from "How Children Think"
In "How Children Think", the revolutionary discoveries of the international children's learning research giant Alison Gopnick in the field of child development research in the past 30 years are presented to everyone, not only revealing the uniqueness of children's consciousness and thinking, but also integrating their own insights as philosophers, deeply analyzing the life of childhood on a person's life and the major impact of childhood on the whole of mankind, providing us with a complete, emotional and intellectual perspective, and appreciating the richness and importance of childhood from a new perspective.