Question

Benjy is 5 years old. He can put a dish into the microwave and press the "2" button to cook for 2 minutes. One day, he sees his mother wipe the front of the microwave with a damp paper towel before she presses a number button. After that, Benjy rubs the front of the microwave with a napkin before he presses the number button. Why?

Answer 1

Answer:

Due to the occurrence of over-imitation.

Explanation:

Over-imitation is a psychological behavior where an individual imitates or copies irrelevant actions by observing an action. In this pattern of behavior the imitator is usually unaware of the real cause of the action but imitates it just because it has observed the action.

This behavior can be mostly seen among young children who imitates what their parents or elders do by just observing them. Here, Benjy might have learned to operate the microwave by observing his mother. Similarly, when he observes his mother wipe the front of the microwave with a damp paper towel before she presses a number button, he must've thought that it was the new way of operating the microwave. Thus, he starts to rub the front of the microwave with a napkin every time before he presses the number button from then on.