{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T01:43:46Z","timestamp":1768527826409,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,16]],"date-time":"2021-09-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631750400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007766","name":"max-planck-institut f\u00fcr kognitions- und neurowissenschaften","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Fellowship from IMPRS NeuroCom"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Fellowship from IMPRS NeuroCom"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007766","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["HO 4342\/8-1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HO 4342\/8-1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004350","name":"Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Individual Scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Individual Scholarship"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004350","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Children imitate actions that are perceivably unnecessary to achieve the instrumental goal of an action sequence, a behavior termed over-imitation. It is debated whether this behavior is based on the motivation to follow behavioral norms and affiliate with the model or whether it can be interpreted in terms of a behavioral heuristic to copy observed intentional actions without questioning the purpose of each action step. To resolve this question, we tested whether preschool-aged children (N = 89) over-imitate a prosocial model, a helper in a prior third-party moral transgression, but refuse to over-imitate an antisocial model, the perpetrator of the moral transgression. After first observing an inefficient way to extract a reward from a puzzle box from either a perpetrator or a helper, children over-imitated the perpetrator to the same degree as they over-imitated the helper. In a second phase, children were then presented the efficient solution by the respective other model, i.e. the helper or the perpetrator. Over-imitation rates then dropped in both conditions, but remained significantly higher than in a baseline condition only when children had observed the prosocial model demonstrate the inefficient action sequence and the perpetrator performed the efficient solution. In contrast, over-imitation dropped to baseline level when the perpetrator had modelled the inefficient actions and the prosocial model subsequently showed children the efficient solution. In line with a dual-process account of over-imitation, results speak to a strong initial tendency to imitate perceivably irrelevant actions regardless of the model. Imitation behavior is then adjusted according to social motivations after deliberate consideration of different options to attain the goal.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0256614","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,16]],"date-time":"2021-09-16T17:33:17Z","timestamp":1631813597000},"page":"e0256614","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Evidence for a dual-process account of over-imitation: Children imitate anti- and prosocial models equally, but prefer prosocial models once they become aware of multiple solutions to a task"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4344-9070","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hanna","family":"Schleihauf","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0472-0374","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Stefanie","family":"Hoehl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0256614.ref001","volume-title":"Social learning theory","author":"AK Bandura","year":"1971"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.1007\/s10071-004-0239-6","article-title":"Causal knowledge and imitation\/emulation switching in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens)","volume":"8","author":"V Horner","year":"2005","journal-title":"Animal Cognition"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1027\/1864-9335\/a000119","article-title":"Investigating the mechanisms of cultural acquisition\u2014How pervasive is overimitation in adults?","volume":"43","author":"E Flynn","year":"2012","journal-title":"Social Psychology"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0159920","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0159920","article-title":"Social learning in the real-world: \u2018over-imitation\u2019 occurs in both children and adults unaware of participation in an experiment and independently of social interaction","volume":"11","author":"A Whiten","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19751","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0704452104","article-title":"The hidden structure of overimitation","volume":"104","author":"DE Lyons","year":"2007","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"90","DOI":"10.1016\/j.dr.2018.12.002","article-title":"\u2018Over-imitation\u2019: A review and appraisal of a decade of research","volume":"51","author":"S Hoehl","year":"2019","journal-title":"Dev Rev"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"384","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2014.05.008","article-title":"Exploring tool innovation: A comparison of Western and Bushman children","volume":"126","author":"M Nielsen","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Exp Child Psychol"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"729","DOI":"10.1177\/0956797610368808","article-title":"Overimitation in Kalahari Bushman Children and the Origins of Human Cultural Cognition","volume":"21","author":"M Nielsen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Psychological Science"},{"key":"pone.0256614.ref009","first-page":"62","article-title":"Is overimitation a uniquely human phenomenon? 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