McEwen, F. and Happé, F. and Bolton, P. and Ronald, Angelica and Rijsdijk, F. and Plomin, R. (2007) Origins of individual differences in imitation: links with language, pretend play, and rudimentary theory of mind in two-year-old twins. Child Development 78 (2), pp. 474-492. ISSN 0009-3920.
Abstract
Imitation, vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior were investigated in 5,206 same‐ and opposite‐sex 2‐year‐old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Individual differences in imitative ability were due to modest heritability (30%), while environmental factors shared between twins (42%) and unique to each twin (28%) also made significant contributions to the variance. Imitation correlated significantly, although modestly, with vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior, and the strongest relationship was with vocabulary. A model that represented the covariance between the variables as being due to correlated latent genetic and environmental factors fitted the data well, with shared environmental factors influencing most of the covariance. Parents who encourage imitation may also tend to foster the development of language, pretence, and socially insightful behavior.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Feb 2020 16:22 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:57 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/30806 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
