Incidental Similarity Facilitates Behavioral Mimicry
Abstract
Research has shown that mimicry increases the social influence of the mimicker and leads to greater liking of the mimicker. It has been proposed that mimicry is exhibited to create affiliation and rapport during social interaction. In two experiments (total N = 95) we manipulated the role of incidental similarity between two individuals on mimicry behavior. Undergraduates who believed they had (vs. did not have) the same first name (Study 1) or same subject of study (Study 2) as a target presented on videotape were more likely to mimic the target’s nonverbal behavior. Results support the notion that mimicry helps to create affiliation and rapport because the desire to build such a relationship is higher in the similarity condition.
References
2005). Digital chameleons: Automatic assimilation of nonverbal gestures in immersive virtual environments. Psychological Science, 16, 814–819.
(1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
(1986). “I show how you feel”: Motor mimicry as a communicative act. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 322–329.
(1987). Motor mimicry as primitive empathy. In , Empathy and its development (pp. 317–338). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1987). Un prénom pour toujours: La cote des prénoms hier, aujourd’hui, demain [
(A first name for life: Ranking of first names yesterday, today, tomorrow ]. Paris: France Loisirs.2004). What a coincidence! The effects of incidental similarity on compliance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35–43.
(1989). The effects of facial control and facial mimicry on subjective reaction to comedy routines. Motivation and Emotion, 12, 120–138.
(1999). The chameleon effect: The perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893–910.
(2007). Self-monitoring and mimicry of positive and negative social behaviors. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 425–433.
(1989). Another direct tactic of (self-)image management: Boosting. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 222–232.
(1975). Speech style and social evaluation. London: Academic Press.
(2007). 100 petites expériences en psychologie de la séduction [
(100 little experiments in the psychology of seduction ]. Paris: Dunod.2005). Similarity and helping behavior on the Web: The impact of the convergence of surnames between a solicitor and a solicitee in a request made by e-mail. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 423–429.
(1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
(2008). The functional purpose of mimicry for creating interpersonal closeness. Manuscript in preparation, The Ohio State University.
(1982). Posture mirroring and rapport. In , Interaction rhythms: Periodicity in commutative behavior (pp. 279–298). New York: Human Sciences Press.
(2003). Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychological Science, 14, 334–339.
(2003). The chameleon effect as social glue: Evidence for the evolutionary significance of nonconscious mimicry. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27, 145–162.
(1983). Effects of postural congruence on client’s perception of counselor empathy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 30, 158–163.
(2003). Contagious yawning: The role of self-awareness and mental state attribution. Cognitive Brain Research, 17, 223–227.
(1992). Faces as releasers of contagious yawning: An approach to face detection using normal human subjects. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 27, 211–214.
(2006). Implicit behavioral mimicry: Investigating the impact of group membership. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 30, 97–113.
(