Deferred Imitation

In psychology, deferred imitation is a child’s way of learning from the behaviors of those around them, particularly adults. To defer is to postpone an action to a later date. Imitation is the act of copying someone else’s actions. So, as the term implies, instead of copying what they see right away, children tend to wait until a later time (possibly an older age) before performing certain actions. One might assume that a child is too young to notice others’ actions, but in reality, he or she records behaviors in the brain only to exhibit the same behaviors later. The benefit of deferred imitation is that it helps to train and mold a child’s behavior from a young age. On the other hand, though, deferred imitation could be potentially harmful, especially if the child is exposed to undesirable behaviors.