Blog Post #2

     In class today, we learned about cultural learning, and the variation between human and animal learning. I was particularly interested in the section in which we discussed human cultural learning. We learned that the human cultural learning ability is not necessarily unique to our species, however we do have specific unique abilities that allow us to have more advanced cultural learning capabilities. These abilities include imitation biases, the speed at which we are able to learn, and other cognitive foundations. I found the concept of learning biases to be very relevant to my life experiences, and I was able to make real world connections as well as connections based on material I had learned in other psychology classes as well.

    As we learned, humans, like animals, rely on imitation to learn most things. However, humans are more advanced than animals through their ability to understand intentions behind behaviours, and our ability to imitate is much faster and more advanced. We can attribute these advanced skills partially to imitation biases we have. Prestige Bias is our tendency to imitate the behaviour of people who we see as very skilled and respected by others. Similarity Bias is the human tendency to copy or imitate people like us, specifically in regards to gender, ethnicity and language. Conformist Transmission is our tendency to imitate the actions of people around us to fit in, to copy "popular" behaviours. 

    In my own personal life, I can think of a variety of times in which I engaged in each type of imitation bias. In class, I observe that everyone else is quiet and attentive, as to not interrupt the teachers lecture. I conform to the observed "common" behaviour because I see that everyone else has done so. Or in another example, when at rugby practice, I perform the same move in a certain drill because I see that everyone else is doing the drill a certain way. I then learn how to do the drill correctly much quicker than I would by teaching myself. 

    When thinking of ways that I have conformed to similarity bias in my personal life, I think back to when I was much younger. Growing up in a small town outside of Ottawa, people were quite similar, especially children my age from my community. Because of this, a lot of my interests and hobbies at the time fit in with those around me. I spoke English and with the same "slang" as my friends around me, and I would often spend time doing things like playing and watching hockey in my community, as it was the most popular sport, and people like me were also playing it, so it was taught more in my community. 

    Lastly, prestige bias affects many people, especially younger people looking for role models. Re using the hockey example, I looked up to Carey Price, a former NHL goaltender, because he was my idol growing up. Because I recognized that Price was the best, I tried to imitate him in my playing style, using the same strategies he used, and wore his jersey often, as well as wearing the same pads and using the same stick that he used. Through this, I was able to progress faster than normal in learning useful hockey strategies and skills.