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Children’s natural curiosity, playfulness, sociability, and future orientation as forces for cultural adaptation and innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2026

Peter Gray Open the ORCID record for Peter Gray [Opens in a new window]
Peter Gray*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA grayp@bc.edu https://www.petergray.org/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Children’s natural curiosity, playfulness, sociability, and future orientation predispose them for cultural adaptation. I exemplify this with Sugata Mitra’s “hole in the wall experiment,” adolescents’ role in the computer revolution, and the likely role of play in children’s development of Nicaraguan Sign Language; and I give an example of juvenile play resulting in cultural innovation in Macaques.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e234
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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