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The social side of innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Bruce Rawlings
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712. [email protected] [email protected] https://www.brucerawlings.com/ http://www.cristinelegare.com/
Cristine H. Legare
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712. [email protected] [email protected] https://www.brucerawlings.com/ http://www.cristinelegare.com/

Abstract

Innovation is fundamental to cumulative culture, allowing progressive modification of existing technology. The authors define innovation as an asocial process, uninfluenced by social information. We argue that innovation is inherently social – innovation is frequently the product of modifying others' outputs, and successful innovations are acquired by others. Research should target examination of the cognitive underpinnings of socially-mediated innovations.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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