Do Kids Copy Their Parents More Than Strangers? A Surprising Twist in Overimitation

If you’ve ever caught yourself peeling a banana “the right way” just because that’s how your mom did it—or humming the exact tune your granddad used to whistle—you’ve experienced the pull of imitation. Humans are natural copycats. Sometimes, we even copy the bits that don’t actually matter for getting the job done. Psychologists have a name for this: overimitation—faithfully reproducing irrelevant actions along with the necessary ones.

Think of a child tapping a box three times before opening it, just because they saw someone else do it, even though the tapping isn’t needed. Overimitation is thought to play a role in passing down traditions, habits, and social norms. But here’s a twist: do children copy their parents’ quirks more than a stranger’s… or the other way around?

A new study by Louise Mackie and colleagues, published in Developmental Psychology (2025), has just shaken up what we thought we knew.

The Experiment: Parents vs. Strangers

The researchers tested 52 Austrian 5-year-olds with a transparent puzzle box that could be opened in two ways:

1. Inefficient method – involving four completely unnecessary actions plus one useful action.

2. Efficient method – just the useful action, no fluff.

   
   

In one condition, kids first watched their parent perform the inefficient version, then saw a stranger demonstrate the efficient method. In the other condition, the order was reversed—stranger first, then parent.

The researchers wanted to see:

• Would kids overimitate their parent more than a stranger?

• Would their copying habits change once they saw a better way?

  
  

What Happened

At first, things looked as expected:When parents went first, kids copied their unnecessary moves slightly more than when strangers went first. That fits with the idea that young children trust familiar models.

But the plot twist came in Phase 2—after the other adult showed the efficient solution.

• If the stranger showed the efficient way: Kids quickly dropped their imitation of their parent’s inefficient method, down to baseline levels.

• If the parent showed the efficient way: Many kids kept imitating the stranger’s inefficient actions—and 35% even protested when their parent skipped them, as if to say, “No, you’re doing it wrong!”

  
  

In other words, the 5-year-olds sometimes treated the stranger’s version as the “real” way to do it, even when their own parent demonstrated a faster, more sensible approach.

Why Would Kids Prefer the Stranger?

The findings suggest something bigger than blind copying. The authors point to a dual-process theory of overimitation:

1. Phase 1 – Blanket copying: Kids copy everything at first, without worrying about efficiency.

2. Phase 2 – Selective copying: Once they know what’s necessary, they choose who to copy—sometimes for social reasons.

   
   

In this case, the lab setting may have given the stranger an air of expertise or authority. The children might have thought: This is a university—maybe this person knows the “official” way to do it.

There’s also the idea of affiliation—copying as a way to connect with someone. The children already had a bond with their parent, but maybe in this strange environment, they wanted to align themselves with the new, “important” adult.

The Bigger Picture

Overimitation isn’t just about learning “how to do stuff.” It’s tangled up with trust, authority, social belonging, and cultural transmission. While past research often found that young children prefer familiar models, this study shows that context matters. In a novel, formal setting, the unfamiliar adult may win out.

It also hints that kids are more flexible—and strategic—than we give them credit for. They may switch allegiance depending on the situation, the perceived expertise of the model, or their desire to fit in.

Key Takeaways

• Overimitation is common in 5-year-olds, but who they copy depends on the social context.

• In a university lab, kids sometimes valued a stranger’s inefficient method over their parent’s efficient one.

• Copying can be about affiliation as much as learning.

• Familiarity isn’t always king—especially when an unfamiliar person might seem like an expert.

  
  

If you’re a parent, the moral isn’t to feel threatened by every random adult your child meets. Instead, it’s a reminder that kids are constantly weighing who to trust and what to copy—often in ways that are socially smart, even if they look a little silly.

After all, sometimes a pointless box-tap is more than just a box-tap—it’s a handshake, a nod, a way of saying, I’m with you.