Nonconscious Mimicry Research Articles

Behavioral mimicry predicts social favor in adolescent rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Non-conscious mimicry is a highly conserved component of animal behavior with multifaceted connections to sociality across taxa. One intriguing consequence of this mimicry in primates is that it promotes positive social feedback from the recipient toward the mimicker. This suggests that mimicry in primates may be an important aspect of positive social interaction, but few studies have tracked the consequences of mimicry in naturally occurring complex social conditions. Here, we designed a novel ethogram to characterize mimicry between conspecifics, to better understand whether mimicry is associated with affiliation between primates in a semi-naturalistic captive setting. In this study, 15 juvenile (aged 2-4years) rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were observed at the California National Primate Research Center. Frequencies of mimicry defined a priori (e.g. following, postural mimicry) were observed over a course of 12weeks. In separate observations during the same period, focal social behavior (e.g. aggression, play, affiliation) with group members was also observed. Subjects that exhibited higher degrees of mimicry were not more prosocial, but they received significantly more play overtures from social partners (p < 0.01). Additionally, rates of mimicry were higher in 2- and 3-year-olds than 4-year-olds. These results provide proof of principle in a small sample of monkeys that mimicry is associated with social advantages in a complex, semi-naturalistic setting in primates.

Reciprocal recursive nonconscious behavior mimicry, PE groupings, and modification-by-adaptation

ABSTRACT This manuscript outlines the possible benefits of nonconscious behavioural mimicry (NBM) to Physical Education (PE). The identification of NBM as an unexamined phenomenon in PE will be explored, as well as factors mediating its occurrence. Further, this manuscript will discuss the speculated origins of this phenomenon within the human species. Drawing on ecological cognition, this paper seeks to explain how students in PE could benefit from NBM in mixed ability groupings within adaptive environmental constraints. Describing a volleyball example using teaching strategies informed by both Teaching Games for Understanding and the Sport Education Model, the authors propose possible benefits and applications of this phenomenon in game-based PE lessons.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Nonconscious Mimicry: History, Applications, and Theoretical and Methodological Innovations

The study of mimicry has a rich history of investigation in nonverbal communication research, although the area has struggled with inconsistent operationalizations of the construct. The Special Issue on Nonconscious Mimicry includes empirical, methodological and theoretical innovations, and provides guidance about future directions. This introduction highlights a number of emerging themes in this Special Issue, and places these themes in historical context.

Behavioral effects of nonconscious mimicry and social intentions: A Reverse Engineered Pitch

Using the pitching research template elaborated by Faff (2017) as basis, this paper discusses the reverse engineering process on the article “Behavioural effects of nonconscious mimicry and social intentions” by Wong, Hartley and Tombs (2017). The main objective is to reflect on the reverse engineering exercise while including major findings of the paper itemized. This paper adds an additional angle on the reverse engineering process, the pitching research template and Robert Faff’s efforts in creating a comprehensive research base.

The Effects of Empathy, Emotional Intelligence and Psychopathy on Interpersonal Interactions

The current study investigated the relationships between empathy (emotional and cognitive), emotional intelligence, psychopathy, emotional contagion, and non-conscious behavioural mimicry (smiles and hand scratches), using self-report scales and a script-based interview session exhibiting nine non-verbal gestures, on a student sample. Past findings suggest a deficit of emotional but not cognitive empathy in psychopaths. Empirical research on non-conscious behavioural mimicry in psychopathy with reference to emotional intelligence is somewhat scarce; however it was proposed that individuals high in psychopathic traits would show reduced emotional mimicry based on the relation of empathy to mimicry. The study was quasi-experimental, involving individual assessment of 51 participants. Results suggest decreased emotional empathy at high levels of psychopathy and show that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between psychopathy and non-conscious mimicry (smiles per minute). Social competence might be more predictive of effects of psychopathy on non-conscious mimicry.

The use of mimicry to improve evaluation of unsought beverages

In the present paper we explore if interaction with a second person may change the experience and perception of the taste of distasteful beverages. The aim of the current research is to explore the impact of mimicry on flavor perception of unsought beverages which are beneficial, but due to factors such as unpleasant taste may be perceived negatively and thus avoided. In the first study, the participants were either mimicked or not mimicked by the confederate. The second study focused on measuring the amount of mimicry engaged in by the participant. The research reported here demonstrates that (1) mimicry of others can be used to influence their willingness to purchase an unsought product and to increase the price they are willing to pay for it, and (2) the level of non-conscious mimicry by a consumer can be used to predict their willingness to purchase an unsought product.

Behavioural effects of nonconscious mimicry and social intentions

Nonconscious mimicry is a salient behaviour in many social interactions, such as the imitation of accent over the phone or the tendency to return a smile from another smiling person. However, existing research has yet to consider the importance of individuals' social intentions when entering into a social interaction in a customer service setting. This paper extends current managerial leadership theory into the novel setting of nonconscious mimicry to explain the critical role of social intentions in relationship building in customer service encounters. This research consists of a 3 × 2 between-subjects factorial design to evaluate the hypothesised relationships between nonconscious mimicry, social intentions, and product choice behaviour. The findings indicate that social intentions play a critical role influencing the relationship between nonconscious mimicry and product consumption, purchase intentions, and product liking in service encounters. Further, it is suggested that individuals identified as task-oriented should not be behaviourally imitated, as this will not positively increase product liking, purchase intentions, or product consumption. Instead, consumers should be primed to be relationship-oriented prior to nonconscious mimicry.

Male and Female Differences in Nonconscious Mimicry: A Systematic Review

<p class="p1">Previous research on nonconscious mimicry suggests that females mimic their communication partners more often than males. Many studies have investigated the association between mimicry, emotion recognition, and empathy. However, there is a trend in this research area to recruit same-sex samples, thus neglecting a discussion regarding the role of sex or gender as a moderator of nonconscious mimicry. This article reviews the research on nonconscious mimicry – facial, behavioural, and verbal, in order to identify whether or not there are male and female differences. The results indicate that mimicry may be moderated by participant sex or gender depending upon, among others, choice of mimicry measurement, stimulus exposure length, and social context. However, few studies address male and female differences in mimicry and many have methodological limitations. The review concludes with a discussion and recommendations for future research.

The tongue-tied chameleon: The role of nonconscious mimicry in the behavioral confirmation process

The current study examines whether mimicry of negative behaviors occurs in ongoing social interactions, and whether mimicry may be a process through which one person's negative expectations lead to another person's expectancy-consistent behaviors. Using a simulated phone interview, applicant participants heard questions from an interviewer in either a neutral or negative tone of voice. Audio-recordings of applicant responses were transcribed to remove all tone information, and coders assessed applicant performance. Audio-recordings were subjected to a low-pass filter to remove recognizable words but retain vocal tone, and different coders assessed applicant tone of voice. Evidence of both behavioral mimicry and expectancy-consistent performance was found. Importantly, interviewer tone had a significant indirect effect on applicant performance through its influence on applicant tone. Nonconscious behavioral mimicry of negative behaviors occurs in social interactions, is not always associated with positive outcomes, and serves as a process through which behavioral confirmation can occur.

Nonverbal Reactions to an Attractive Stranger: The Role of Mimicry in Communicating Preferred Social Distance

The present study was conducted to determine the extent to which different nonverbal behaviors were associated with romantic interest in a highly attractive confederate and whether these behaviors differed as a function of relationship status and self-reported love for one’s partner. Mimicry was positively associated with romantic interest in the confederate, and consistent with the devaluation hypothesis, mimicry was negatively associated with self-reported love for one’s partner, suggesting that mimicry functions to signal preferred social distance. In addition, smiling and vocal pleasantness emerged as important affiliative nonverbal behaviors. The present results suggest that mimicry acts as a relationship-maintenance mechanism, one that is expressed automatically, unintentionally, and nonconsciously. Implications for the role of nonconscious mimicry in romantic attraction and relationship-maintenance processes are discussed.

Pride attenuates nonconscious mimicry.

Positive affect has been associated with increased nonconscious mimicry-an association that is quite logical given ties between positive mood and desires for social bonding. Yet positive emotions vary with respect to function, leading to the prediction that not all positive states might similarly increase mimicry. Pride, due to its association with higher status and self-focus, could be expected to attenuate affiliative behaviors such as mimicry. Participants in the present study were induced to experience one of three affective states (neutral, pride, general positivity), after which they interacted with a confederate who expressed a specific, neutral nonverbal behavior (i.e., foot shaking). Supporting past research, participants experiencing general positive affect evidenced greater mimicry as compared to participants in a neutral mood. In accord with predictions, participants experiencing pride mimicked the confederate's behavior significantly less than did those experiencing general positive affect or a neutral state. Regression analyses also confirmed that increasing intensities of pride predicted decreasing mimicry.

Fairness modulates non-conscious facial mimicry in women

In societies with high cooperation demands, implicit consensus on social norms enables successful human coexistence. Mimicking other people's actions and emotions has been proposed as a means to synchronize behaviour, thereby enhancing affiliation. Mimicry has long been thought to be reflexive, but it has recently been suggested that mimicry might also be motivationally driven. Here, we show during an economic bargaining game that automatic happy mimicry of those making unfair offers disappears. After the bargaining game, when the proposers have acquired either a fair or unfair reputation, we observe increased angry mimicry of proposers with an unfair reputation and decreased angry mimicry of fair proposers. These findings provide direct empirical evidence that non-conscious mimicry is modulated by fairness. We interpret the present results as reflecting that facial mimicry in women functions conditionally, dependent on situational demands.

Resonating with others: the effects of self-construal type on motor cortical output.

"Self-construal" refers to how individuals view and make meaning of the self, and at least two subtypes have been identified. Interdependent self-construal is a view of the self that includes relationships with others, and independent self-construal is a view of the self that does not include relations with others. It has been suggested that priming these two types of self-construal affects the cognitive processing style that an individual adopts, especially with regard to context sensitivity. Specifically, an interdependent self-construal is thought to promote attention to others and social context to a greater degree than an independent self-construal. To investigate this assertion, we elicited motor-evoked potentials with transcranial magnetic stimulation during an action observation task in which human participants were presented with either interdependent or independent self-construal prime words. Priming interdependent self-construal increased motor cortical output whereas priming independent self-construal did not, compared with a no-priming baseline condition. These effects, likely mediated by changes in the mirror system, essentially tune the individual to, or shield the individual from, social input. Interestingly, the pattern of these self-construal-induced changes in the motor system corroborates with previously observed self-construal effects on overt behavioral mimicry in social settings, and as such, our results provide strong evidence that motor resonance likely mediates nonconscious mimicry in social settings. Finally, these self-construal effects may lead to the development of interventions for disorders of deficient or excessive social influence, like certain autism spectrum and compulsive imitative disorders.

No evidence of contagious yawning in the red-footed tortoise Geochelone carbonaria

Abstract Three hypotheses have attempted to explain the phenomenon of contagious yawning. It has been hypothesized that it is a fixed action pattern for which the releasing stimulus is the observation of another yawn, that it is the result of non-conscious mimicry emerging through close links between perception and action or that it is the result of empathy, involving the ability to engage in mental state attribution. This set of experiments sought to distinguish between these hypotheses by examining contagious yawning in a species that is unlikely to show nonconscious mimicry and empathy but does respond to social stimuli: the red-footed tortoise Geochelone carbonaria. A demonstrator tortoise was conditioned to yawn when presented with a red square-shaped stimulus. Observer tortoises were exposed to three conditions: observation of conditioned yawn, non demonstration control, and stimulus only control. We measured the number of yawns for each observer animal in each condition. There was no difference between conditions. Experiment 2 therefore increased the number of conditioned yawns presented. Again, there was no significant difference between conditions. It seemed plausible that the tortoises did not view the conditioned yawn as a real yawn and therefore a final experiment was run using video recorded stimuli. The observer tortoises were presented with three conditions: real yawn, conditioned yawns and empty background. Again there was no significant difference between conditions. We therefore conclude that the red-footed tortoise does not yawn in response to observing a conspecific yawn. This suggests that contagious yawning is not the result of a fixed action pattern but may involve more complex social processes.

Altogether now: Activating interdependent self-construal induces hypermotor resonance

Nonconscious mimicry (NCM) has been widely studied but the mechanisms underlying it remain unspecified. One possibility is that NCM is mediated by motor resonance (MR). If so, factors that moderate NCM may affect MR. Priming interdependent self-construal (InterSC) increases NCM. We measured MR in a cued-response task using electromyography (EMG) while participants squeezed a rubber ball hard or softly in response to colored words. Words were superimposed on videos depicting hard or soft squeezes. Words primed InterSC or independent self-construal (IndSC). When observed squeezes were incongruent with word color, reaction time (RT) slowed and EMG activity was modulated. These effects were greater for InterSC primes than IndSC primes. Participants who failed to notice any difference in the actions in the videos also showed the effect. Activating InterSC causes MR processes to become hypersensitive to observed actions, even in the absence of awareness of what the action was.

The stereotyper and the chameleon: The effects of stereotype use on perceivers’ mimicry

Interpersonal dynamics may play a crucial role in the perpetuation of stereotypes. In an experimental study, participants interacted with a confederate who provided either stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent descriptions about the elderly. Based on the assumption that mimicry represents a social glue that fosters interpersonal liking and affiliation, we assessed the extent to which participants mimicked the nonverbal behaviors of the confederate as a function of the stereotypicality of the descriptions. Results showed that nonconscious mimicry was more likely when the speaker relied on stereotypes rather than on stereotype-inconsistent information. In Study 2 the effect was replicated in relation to national stereotypes. This finding indicates that stereotypers are faced with subtle nonverbal cues from the audience that can retroactively reinforce their behaviors and thus make stereotype dismissal so difficult to be achieved.

I Am Too Just Like You

Research across various disciplines has demonstrated that social exclusion has devastating psychological, emotional, and behavioral consequences. Excluded individuals are therefore motivated to affiliate with others, even though they may not have the resources, cognitive or otherwise, to do so. The current research explored whether nonconscious mimicry of other individuals-a low-cost, low-risk, automatic behavior-might help excluded individuals address threatened belongingness needs. Experiment 1 demonstrated that excluded people mimic a subsequent interaction partner more than included people do. Experiment 2 showed that individuals excluded by an in-group selectively (and nonconsciously) mimic a confederate who is an in-group member more than a confederate who is an out-group member. The relationship between exclusion and mimicry suggests that there are automatic behaviors people can use to recover from the experience of being excluded. In addition, this research demonstrates that nonconscious mimicry is selective and sensitive to context.

Mimicry and Me: The Impact of Mimicry on Self–Construal

Previous research has demonstrated that nonconscious interpersonal mimicry engenders liking, affiliation, empathy, and other positive social consequences. Some of these consequences have recently been shown to go beyond the dyad. In other words, interpersonal mimicry not only affects the way we feel toward our immediate interaction partner, but also affects our feelings and behavior toward other people in general. The goal of the present research is to understand why it is that nonconscious mimicry has consequences that go beyond the dyad. Specifically, it is hypothesized and found that being mimicked during social interaction shifts self–construals such that they become more interdependent and “other–oriented” (Study 1). Accordingly, interpersonal mimicry heightens one's perception of interpersonal closeness with nonspecified others (Study 2) and decreases one's physical proximity to others (Study 3). In a final experiment (Study 4), the impact of mimicry on self–construal is shown to mediate the positive social consequences of mimicry.

The Chameleon Effect as Social Glue: Evidence for the Evolutionary Significance of Nonconscious Mimicry

The "chameleon effect" refers to the tendency to adopt the postures, gestures, and mannerisms of interaction partners (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). This type of mimicry occurs outside of conscious awareness, and without any intent to mimic or imitate. Empirical evidence suggests a bi-directional relationship between nonconscious mimicry on the one hand, and liking, rapport, and affiliation on the other. That is, nonconscious mimicry creates affiliation, and affiliation can be ex- pressed through nonconscious mimicry. We argue that mimicry played an impor- tant role in human evolution. Initially, mimicry may have had survival value by helping humans communicate. We propose that the purpose of mimicry has now evolved to serve a social function. Nonconscious behavioral mimicry increases af- filiation, which serves to foster relationships with others. We review current re- search in light of this proposed framework and suggest future areas of research.

It takes two to mimic: behavioral consequences of self-construals.

The present studies demonstrated the moderation of self-construal orientation on mimicry. Recent research has indicated that an interdependent self-construal is associated with assimilation of the other to the self whereas an independent self-construal is associated with minimizing the influence of others on the self (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991; D. Stapel & W. Koomen, 2001). Therefore, the authors hypothesized that an interdependent self-construal would be associated with more mimicry than an independent self-construal. When self-construal orientations were experimentally primed, as in Studies 1 and 2, independent self-construals produced less nonconscious mimicry than interdependent self-construals. When self-construals were examined as cultural differences with either a chronically dominant independent (Americans) or interdependent (Japanese) construal of the self, these results were replicated.