For better or worse, children imitate adults. Almost inadvertently, his childhood gazes study and analyze us, integrating behaviors, copying gestures and internalizing words, expressions and even roles. Of course, children will never be exact copies of their parents; the impression we leave them, however, is often decisive.
This is something that has always been clear in the field of developmental psychology. Albert Bandura, for example, a renowned psychologist in the field of social learning, has written extensively about one of his main concepts, “modeling”. they learn by mimicking the behaviors they see in their environment, based on the social models with which they grow or interact.
- Therefore.
- Children don’t just imitate their parents.
- As we know.
- They do not live in isolated environments.
- These days.
- They have more social stimuli than ever before.
- And even “models”?They go beyond home and school.
- Forget television and new technologies.
- Through which they evolve from very young as true “indigenous”.
Everything they see, hear and happen around them influences and determines, adults are a vast theater of characters that they imitate and who end up influencing their behavior and even their way of understanding the world, let’s see more on the subject below.
“Learning is two-way: we learn from the environment and the environment learns and changes through our actions. “- Albert Bandura-
We know that children imitate adults, but why do they do it?The developmental psychologist Moritz Daum of the University of Zurich points out something interesting: this almost instinctive behavior in humans (and also in animals) serves more than just to learn. sense of belonging and helps humans identify with a particular group.
So children are really like sponges and tend to imitate everything they see?At what age do you begin to pay attention to your environment to start modeling?Let’s look at these and other problems.
We know that imitation begins right after birth, some newborns copy facial movements, such as taking out the tongue, but this process only matures when they are more than a year old.
Six-month-old babies already understand intentional behavior. What does that mean? This means, for example, that when they see their mom or dad come to pick them up they feel good, they already understand how nice and unpleasant their daily routine is, all of which allows them to recognize patterns and behaviors and understand that after some actions, others happen.
It is between 19 and 24 months that children begin to copy many things they see in others. They imitate their parents, their older siblings and also the people they can watch on TV. They do it to learn, but also to be equal to others and to feel part of a social group.
Before addressing whether children simply imitate or tend to choose what to copy, it’s interesting to know that there are some stimuli that attract them more than others.
It has been found that when a child is surrounded by other children of the same age and also adults, they tend to imitate the behavior of their peers, mirror neurons are activated much more when they are with someone with similar characteristics to them.
On the other hand, when a child needs to learn something in particular, he turns to adults, a principle that corresponds to Lev Vygotsky’s theory of the proximal development zone, that is, they know that with the right support they can move. at another level, at another stage of greater competition. But to do this, they need “specialized models”, that is, adults.
Another detail is sure to pique your interest, according to a study conducted at the University of London by Dr. Victoria South, 18-month-olds already tend to imitate what is familiar to them when repeated several times and accompanied by language. In fact, this is how communication processes mature.
Some of the findings from a Yale University study are impressive. Derek Lions, the author, points out that, during a specific period of their lives, children imitate adults excessively and mimicily. Superimitation ? occurs during the first five years of life, that is, they do not yet have a critical sense or a more sophisticated thought to infer whether what adults do or say is appropriate, useful or moral.
In this study an experiment was conducted, in this work, a group of adults showed three-year-olds how to open a box, the way they opened the box was so complex and with completely unnecessary and almost ridiculous steps that it took a long time to open it.
When the children tried it alone, they copied each of the steps taken by adults, including those that were unnecessary.
This same experience was applied to another group of children of the same age, who were invited to perform the same exercise but without any example, without any adult serve as role model, the children completed the activity without additional steps.
All this data supports our intuition. Children learn by looking around, but pay special attention to their mother and father. Being your best role model is a great responsibility, and perhaps the most important of all.
From us you will learn what is right and what is wrong, and every adult will be the mirror in which, for a while, we will see, therefore, take great care of every behavior, every gesture and every word to serve as a starting point for your happiness and well-being.