When should children copy their mothers’ food choices? Social learning strategies about foods

Abstract

Social learning strategies guide individuals in deciding from whom to learn and when. Recent research on food learning has revealed that children adopt “who” strategies, but whether they used “when” strategies remained unclear. This study investigated 4- to 6-year-old children’s beliefs about “when” another child should copy their mother’s food choice. In Experiment 1, children (N = 24, 58% female) determined whether another child should adopt social or asocial learning when selecting food from among familiar or novel foods. In Experiment 2, children (N = 26, 57% female) determined whether another child should adopt social or asocial learning when selecting food in an environment with a low or high percentage of bad-tasting foods. Children responded that social learning should be adopted when selecting from among novel foods and in an environment with a high percentage of bad-tasting foods. These findings revealed that children employ two “when” strategies when making food choices.