Group membership does not modulate goal- versus movement-based imitation

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

It is often put forward that in-group members are imitated more strongly than out-group members. However, the validity of this claim has been questioned as recent investigations were not able to find differences for the imitation of in- versus out-group members. A central characteristic of these failed replications is their mere focus on movement-based imitation, thereby neglecting to take into consideration the superior goal of the movements. By using a computerised version of the pen-and-cups task, we disentangled movement- from goal-based imitation to shed further light onto the link between group membership and imitation. As previous research demonstrated that out-group members (as compared with in-group members) are represented psychologically distant and as psychological distance shifts the degree to which participants engage in goal- versus movement-based imitation, we predicted that in-group members (as compared with out-group members) shift the degree to which individuals imitate movements versus goals. The results did not confirm our predictions, as group membership does not modulate the degree of movement- versus goal-based imitation. Theoretical implications and the question whether imitative behaviour is socially modulated are discussed.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftQuarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Jahrgang76
Ausgabenummer4
Seiten (von - bis)827-837
Anzahl der Seiten11
ISSN1747-0218
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 04.2023

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG; funding ID: GE 3040/2-1) as part of the DFG Research Unit “Relativity in Social Cognition” (FOR 2150).

Publisher Copyright:
© Experimental Psychology Society 2022.

DOI