TY - CHAP

T1 - Social Modulation of Imitative Behavior

AU - Genschow, Oliver

AU - Cracco, Emiel

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Given that imitative behavior is a social phenomenon, an often put forward claim in the literature is that imitation should be modulated by social factors. Motivational theories explain social modulation with the notion that people use imitation as a tool to affiliate with others. As a result, individuals are expected to imitate others more when they have an affiliation goal. Self-other overlap theories suggest that imitative tendencies are learned responses that develop as a result of self-observation and interaction with other, often similar individuals. As a consequence, imitation is expected to increase if perceived similarity is high. Interestingly, the empirical evidence for these theories has been rather mixed. That is, while there is cumulative evidence for the influence of some social factors, there is only preliminary or no evidence for the influence of other social factors. In this chapter, we review the evidence in favor and against social modulation of imitative behavior, explain why some, but not other factors influence imitation, and then end with outlining potential avenues for future research.

AB - Given that imitative behavior is a social phenomenon, an often put forward claim in the literature is that imitation should be modulated by social factors. Motivational theories explain social modulation with the notion that people use imitation as a tool to affiliate with others. As a result, individuals are expected to imitate others more when they have an affiliation goal. Self-other overlap theories suggest that imitative tendencies are learned responses that develop as a result of self-observation and interaction with other, often similar individuals. As a consequence, imitation is expected to increase if perceived similarity is high. Interestingly, the empirical evidence for these theories has been rather mixed. That is, while there is cumulative evidence for the influence of some social factors, there is only preliminary or no evidence for the influence of other social factors. In this chapter, we review the evidence in favor and against social modulation of imitative behavior, explain why some, but not other factors influence imitation, and then end with outlining potential avenues for future research.

KW - Psychology

KW - Automatic imitation

KW - mimicry

KW - similarity

KW - self-other focus

KW - self-other overlap

KW - affiliation

KW - social modulation

KW - replications

KW - moderators

KW - interindividual factors

KW - animacy

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-62634-0_11

DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-62634-0_11

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-3-031-62633-3

SP - 219

EP - 239

BT - Automatic Imitation

A2 - Genschow, Oliver

A2 - Cracco, Emiel

PB - Springer Nature Switzerland AG

ER -