Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics. Imitation is also a form of social learning that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. It allows for the transfer of information (behaviours, customs, etc.) between individuals and down generations without the need for genetic inheritance."
Read more about Imitation: Anthropology and Social Sciences, Neuroscience, Mirror Neuron System, Animal Behavior, Child Development, Automatic Imitation, Deferred Imitation
Famous quotes containing the word imitation:
“Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“Plot, rules, nor even poetry, are not half so great beauties in tragedy or comedy as a just imitation of nature, of character, of the passions and their operations in diversified situations.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)