Imitation
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.
Psychology
Recent work in neuroscience has begun to reveal the mechanisms of imitation in the human brain. It seems that there is a system of mirror neurons which are active both when you see another person act and when you do the same thing yourself, and these may allow humans to learn by imitation.
It has been argued by Susan Blackmore in The Meme Machine, that imitation is what makes humans unique among animals. Imitation might have been selected as fit by evolution because those who were good at it had a wider arsenal of learned cultural behavior at their disposal, such as tool making or even language.
Anthropology
In anthropology, diffusion theories explain why cultures imitate the ideas or practices of other cultures. Some theories hold that all cultures imitate ideas from one or a few original cultures, the Adam of the Bible, or several cultural circles that overlap. Evolutionary diffusion theory holds that cultures are influenced by one another, but that similar ideas can be developed in isolation.
Sociology
In mid-20th century, social scientists began to study how and why people imitate ideas. Everett Rogers pioneered diffusion of innovations studies, using research to prove factors in adoption and profiles of adopters of ideas.
In music it refers to the repetition of a phrase played on one instrument, by another instrument.
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