In presenting their bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution for understanding how individuals flexibly choose between instrumental and ritual stances in social learning, Jagiello and colleagues review much of the developmental literature on copying strategies in social learning. They note attentional differences of the two approaches in facilitating effective social learning and selectively engaging in the most efficient degree of copying fidelity. We argue that despite a few minimal references to research with culturally diverse samples, the authors leave the role of culture, environment, and intersectional identities largely unexplored. Indeed, although Jagiello and colleagues note some differences across culture in social learning strategies, other research indicates that variability within cultures may be an important driving factor in how children navigate between the ritual and instrumental stances. That is to say, choosing whether to follow a ritual stance to achieve social affiliation may be a very different process for a child from a minority group than that of a child from the majority group within the same country. These differences may be further exacerbated by the intersection of the child's additional identities, which may impact the stance they take in learning from others. In addition to the lack of consideration of culture, the authors tend to look across a wide range of ages with little note of developmental differences that may be present across these ages. We highlight the importance of each of these considerations below.

Children's preferences for social affiliation and learning have been shown to be influenced by their own racial identity and that of those around them, suggesting that both context and children's own identity are important to consider in their social learning even within cultures (Gaither et al., Reference Gaither, Chen, Corriveau, Harris, Ambady and Sommers2014). For example, in the United States, recent immigrants from China both copy actions, and transmit information, with higher fidelity than children who have lived in the country for several generations (Corriveau, Kim, Song, & Harris, Reference Corriveau, Kim, Song and Harris2013, Reference Corriveau, DiYanni, Clegg, Min, Chin and Nasrini2017; DiYanni, Corriveau, Kurkul, Nasrini, & Nini, Reference DiYanni, Corriveau, Kurkul, Nasrini and Nini2015). Similarly, the relation between children's high-fidelity copying of family members varies depending on a host of family contextual factors, such as the extent to which the family identifies as a religious minority within their culture (Cui et al., Reference Cui, Clegg, Yan, Davoodi, Harris and Corriveau2020; Davoodi et al., Reference Davoodi, Cui, Clegg, Yan, Payir, Harris and Corriveau2020; McLoughlin, Jacob, Samrow, & Corriveau, Reference McLoughlin, Jacob, Samrow and Corriveau2021). Parental authoritarianism also drives the way in which information is presented to young learners, and in turn, the weight children place on high-fidelity copying (Reifen Tagar, Federico, Lyons, Ludeke, & Koenig, Reference Reifen Tagar, Federico, Lyons, Ludeke and Koenig2014). Further, the degree to which children within a culture are exposed to racial out-group members influences their learning and socialization preferences (Chen, Corriveau, Lai, Poon, & Gaither, Reference Chen, Corriveau, Lai, Poon and Gaither2018). Taken together, these data highlight the important role of within-cultural factors that drive social learning decisions.

In addition to such within-culture variability, research has also highlighted important developmental mechanisms that impact children's employment of imitation and innovation. For example, children's willingness to engage in overimitation increases with age, with children as young as 23-months-old showing no tendencies to copy irrelevant actions (McGuigan & Whiten, Reference McGuigan and Whiten2009). Similarly, 5-year-old children were more likely than 3-year-olds to overimitate irrelevant causal actions rather than engage in more effective emulation processes, even when less information was presented (McGuigan, Whiten, Flynn, & Horner, Reference McGuigan, Whiten, Flynn and Horner2007). Additional research has shown that these tendencies to overimitate continue into adulthood, with 5-year-olds and adults imitating irrelevant actions at more similar rates than 3-year-olds, suggesting that for older individuals imitation is an adaptive strategy to maintain task efficiency (McGuigan, Makinson, & Whiten, Reference McGuigan, Makinson and Whiten2011). Such developmental differences are especially apparent when considering features of the model, such as age or prestige. When the model is an adult, rather than a child, older children and adults are significantly more likely to defer to her (McGuigan et al., Reference McGuigan, Makinson and Whiten2011), even when the adult model proclaimed they did not know how to complete the task (Wood, Kendal, & Flynn, Reference Wood, Kendal and Flynn2012; for a review see Over & Carptenter, Reference Over and Carpenter2012). However, other work modifying features of the model has found that older children are less likely to engage in imitation than younger children, for instance if the actions are performed by an antisocial ingroup member (Wilks, Kirby, & Nielsen, Reference Wilks, Kirby and Nielsen2019). As such, these findings reveal important developmental differences that impact children's social learning strategies, as well as additional considerations about how identities of the model may intersect with those of the child.

Indeed, research has yet to fully consider children's intersectional identities and the role these play in how children selectively engage in social learning strategies. Some work suggests that children from non-Western cultures may follow different developmental trajectories with their over imitation being significantly reduced until they are older (Berl & Hewlett, Reference Berl and Hewlett2015). Additional research across has alluded to gender differences in children's tendencies to overimitate but has found conflicting evidence in separate studies (Frick, Clément, & Gruber, Reference Frick, Clément and Gruber2017, Reference Frick, Schleihauf, Satchell and Gruber2021). Although some work suggests boys may imitate more than girls (Frick et al., Reference Frick, Clément and Gruber2017), another research using similar paradigms finds the opposite and suggests these gender effects may be interacting with age-related differences despite being unable to fully elucidate these mechanisms (Frick, Schleihauf, Satchell, & Gruber, Reference Frick, Schleihauf, Satchell and Gruber2021). Taken together, these data reveal some evidence, as well as important future direction, for considering children's multiple identities and contexts when exploring their social learning strategies.

In sum, the bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution to understand the flexible weighting of innovation and high-fidelity copying provides an important framework for situating and understanding this vast body of literature. We believe there are necessary considerations around variability within cultures and across developmental ages that warrant consideration. Future research on how these different factors intersect and influence children's social learning choices is imperative in fully understanding and using a bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution.