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The Emergence of Social Adaptation: How Children (and other Primates) Learn and Apply Social Norms to Navigate the World More Efficiently
Abstract
Successfully navigating the social world requires individuals to flexibly adapt their behavior to different situational demands. Yet, the social world is also governed by broad behavioral rules: norms that prescribe or proscribe behaviors in certain situations. This poses a particularly interesting problem for early development: learning the foundational structure of norms may require strict adherence, but effective social functioning involves flexibility. Here, we refer to the ability to flexibly navigate social norms as social adaptation.