Joint and individual tool making in preschoolers: From social to cognitive processes

Abstract

Tool making has been proposed as a key force in driving the complexity of human material culture. The ontogeny of tool-related behaviors hinges on social, representational, and creative factors. In this study, we test the associations between these factors in development across two different cultures. Results of Study 1 with 5-to-6-year-old Turkish children in dyadic or individual settings show that tool making is facilitated by social interaction, hierarchical representation, and creative abilities. Results of a second explorative study comparing the Turkish sample with a sample of 5-to-6-year-old children in New Zealand suggest that tool innovation might be affected by culture, and that the role of cognitive and creative factors diminishes through social interaction in tool making.