Ritualistic behavior are picked by young children very quickly

According to a new psychology study, preschool children are very quick in adopting ritualistic behavior. 259 children between 3-6 years old took part in the study. They were asked to watch videos of people performing some unusual task like tapping pegs with a hammer on a pegboard in a particular sequence etc. the videos either showed the task being performed by one person or two people simultaneously. When conventional language preceded two people performing the same actions simultaneously, then the children imitated the behavior more accurately. However, when information about the result or goal preceded demonstration by a single person, the children ignored the exact sequence of the actions. "Seeing two people do the same thing at the same time is a strong indication that the specific form of the activity—the exact way in which it is performed—is regulated by convention," Christine Legare, the co author says. "We speculate that when such uniformity is detected, children are disposed to ascribe it to social factors—more specifically, to norms regulating how each person should act."