1. //
  2. Start
  3. //
  4. Publications
  5. Automatic imitation
  6. Output formats
  7. //

Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Standard

Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. / Cracco, Emiel; Bardi, Lara; Desmet, Charlotte et al.
In: Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 144, No. 5, 01.05.2018, p. 453-500.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Cracco, E, Bardi, L, Desmet, C, Genschow, O, Rigoni, D, Coster, LD, Radkova, I, Deschrijver, E & Brass, M 2018, 'Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis', Psychological Bulletin, vol. 144, no. 5, pp. 453-500. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000143

APA

Cracco, E., Bardi, L., Desmet, C., Genschow, O., Rigoni, D., Coster, L. D., Radkova, I., Deschrijver, E., & Brass, M. (2018). Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 144(5), 453-500. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000143

Vancouver

Cracco E, Bardi L, Desmet C, Genschow O, Rigoni D, Coster LD et al. Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. 2018 May 1;144(5):453-500. doi: 10.1037/bul0000143

Bibtex

@article{e48de396435e4abaa2d93d174be9cacf,
title = "Automatic imitation: A meta-analysis",
abstract = "impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.",
keywords = "Automatic imitation, Imitation, Meta-analysis, Mimicry, Review, Business psychology",
author = "Emiel Cracco and Lara Bardi and Charlotte Desmet and Oliver Genschow and Davide Rigoni and Coster, {Lize De} and Ina Radkova and Eliane Deschrijver and Marcel Brass",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Psychological Association.",
year = "2018",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1037/bul0000143",
language = "English",
volume = "144",
pages = "453--500",
journal = "Psychological Bulletin",
issn = "0033-2909",
publisher = "American Psychological Association Inc.",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Automatic imitation

T2 - A meta-analysis

AU - Cracco, Emiel

AU - Bardi, Lara

AU - Desmet, Charlotte

AU - Genschow, Oliver

AU - Rigoni, Davide

AU - Coster, Lize De

AU - Radkova, Ina

AU - Deschrijver, Eliane

AU - Brass, Marcel

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 American Psychological Association.

PY - 2018/5/1

Y1 - 2018/5/1

N2 - impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.

AB - impeded by incompatible observed movements. In the past 15 years, automatic imitation has been studied to understand the relation between perception and action in social interaction. Although research on this topic started in cognitive science, interest quickly spread to related disciplines such as social psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience. However, important theoretical questions have remained unanswered. Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, we evaluated seven key questions on automatic imitation. The results, based on 161 studies containing 226 experiments, revealed an overall effect size of gz=0.95, 95% CI [0.88, 1.02]. Moderator analyses identified automatic imitation as a flexible, largely automatic process that is driven by movement and effector compatibility, but is also influenced by spatial compatibility. Automatic imitation was found to be stronger for forced choice tasks than for simple response tasks, for human agents than for nonhuman agents, and for goalless actions than for goal-directed actions. However, it was not modulated by more subtle factors such as animacy beliefs, motion profiles, or visual perspective. Finally, there was no evidence for a relation between automatic imitation and either empathy or autism. Among other things, these findings point toward actor-imitator similarity as a crucial modulator of automatic imitation and challenge the view that imitative tendencies are an indicator of social functioning. The current meta-analysis has important theoretical implications and sheds light on longstanding controversies in the literature on automatic imitation and related domains.

KW - Automatic imitation

KW - Imitation

KW - Meta-analysis

KW - Mimicry

KW - Review

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042660481&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/bul0000143

DO - 10.1037/bul0000143

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 29517262

AN - SCOPUS:85042660481

VL - 144

SP - 453

EP - 500

JO - Psychological Bulletin

JF - Psychological Bulletin

SN - 0033-2909

IS - 5

ER -

Related by journal

Gender differences in sex drive: Reply to Conley and Yang (2024)

Frankenbach, J., Weber, M., Loschelder, D. D., Kilger, H. & Friese, M., 01.08.2024, In: Psychological Bulletin. 150, 8, p. 1011-1019 9 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Sex Drive: Theoretical Conceptualization and Meta-Analytic Review of Gender Differences

Frankenbach, J., Weber, M., Loschelder, D. D., Kilger, H. & Friese, M., 01.11.2022, In: Psychological Bulletin. 148, 9-10, p. 621-661 41 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Crowdsourcing Hypothesis Tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results

Landy, J. F., Liam, M., Ding, I. L., Viganola, D., Tierney, W., Dreber, A., Johannesson, M., Pfeiffer, T., Ebersole, C. R., Gronau, Q. F., Ly, A., Bergh, D. V. D., Marsman, M., Derks, K., Wagenmaker, E. J., Proctor, A., Bartels, D. M., Bauman, C. W., Brady, W. J., Cheung, F., Cimpian, A., Dohle, S., Donnellan, M. B., Hahn, A., Hall, M. P., Jiménez-Leal, W., Johnson, D. J., Lucas, R. E., Monin, B., Montealegre, A., Mullen, E., Pang, J., Ray, J., Reinero, D. A., Reynolds, J., Sowden, W., Storage, D., Su, R., Tworek, C. M., Van Bavel, J. J., Walco, D., Wills, J., Xu, X., Yam, K. C., Yang, X., Cunningham, W. A., Schweinsberg, M., Urwitz, M., Uhlmann, E. L., Adamkovic, M., Alaei, R., Albers, C. J., Allard, A., Anderson, I. A., Andreychik, M. R., Babinčák, P., Baker, B. J., Baník, G., Baskin, E., Bavolar, J., Berkers, R. M. W. J., Białek, M., Blanke, J., Breuer, J., Brizi, A., Brown, S. E. V., Brühlmann, F., Bruns, H., Caldwell, L., Campourcy, J. F., Chan, E. Y., Chang, Y. P., Cheung, B. Y., Chin, A., Cho, K. W., Columbus, S., Conway, P., Corretti, C. A., Craig, A. W., Curran, P. G., Danvers, A. F., Dawson, I. G. J., Day, M. V., Dietl, E., Doerflinger, J. T., Dominici, A., Dranseika, V., Edelsbrunner, P. A., Edlund, J. E., Fisher, M., Fung, A., Genschow, O., Gnambs, T., Goldberg, M. H., Graf-Vlachy, L., Hafenbrack, A. C., Hafenbrädl, S., Hartanto, A., Heffner, J. P., Hilgard, J., Holzmeister, F., Horchak, O. V., Huang, T. S. T., Hüffmeier, J., Hughes, S., Hussey, I., Imhoff, R., Jaeger, B., Jamro, K., Johnson, S. G. B., Jones, A., Keller, L., Kombeiz, O., Krueger, L. E., Lantian, A., Laplante, J. P., Lazarevic, L. B., Leclerc, J., Legate, N., Leonhardt, J. M., Leung, D. W., Levitan, C. A., Lin, H., Liu, Q., Liuzza, M. T., Locke, K. D., Ly, A. L., MacEacheron, M., Madan, C. R., Manley, H., Mari, S., Martončik, M., McLean, S. L., McPhetres, J., Mercier, B. G., Michels, C., Mullarkey, M. C., Musser, E. D., Nalborczyk, L., Nilsonne, G., Otis, N. G., Otner, S. M. G., Otto, P. E., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Pellegrini, F., Pereira, V. M. D., Perfecto, H., Pfuhl, G., Phillips, M. H., Plonsky, O., Pozzi, M., Puric, D. B., Raymond-Barker, B., Redman, D. E., Reynolds, C. J., Ropovik, I., Röseler, L., Ruessmann, J. K., Ryan, W. H., Sablaturova, N., Schuepfer, K. J., Schütz, A., Sirota, M., Stefan, M., Stocks, E. L., Strosser, G. L., Suchow, J. W., Szabelska, A., Tey, K. S., Tiokhin, L., Troian, J., Utesch, T., Vásquez-Echeverriá, A., Vaughn, L. A., Verschoor, M., Helversen, B. V., Wallisch, P., Weissgerber, S. C., Wichman, A. L., Woike, J. K., Žeželj, I., Zickfeld, J. H., Ahn, Y., Blaettchen, P. F., Kang, X., Lee, Y. J., Parker, P. M., Parker, P. A., Song, J. S., Very, M. A. & Wong, L., 01.05.2020, In: Psychological Bulletin. 146, 5, p. 451-479 29 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

A meta-analysis on gender differences in negotiation outcomes and their moderators

Mazei, J., Hüffmeier, J., Freund, P. A., Stuhlmacher, A. F., Bilke, L. & Hertel, G., 01.2015, In: Psychological Bulletin. 141, 1, p. 85-104 20 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Social network changes and life events across the life span: A meta-analysis

Wrzus, C., Hänel, M., Wagner, J. & Neyer, F. J., 01.01.2013, In: Psychological Bulletin. 139, 1, p. 53-80 28 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Other publications by the same author(s)

Automatic Imitation

Genschow, O. & Cracco, E., 2025, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Research output: Books and anthologies › Book

Introduction to Automatic Imitation

Genschow, O. & Cracco, E., 2025, Automatic Imitation. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, p. 1-7

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review

Social Modulation of Imitative Behavior

Genschow, O. & Cracco, E., 2025, Automatic Imitation. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, p. 219–239

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., Pronizius, E., Broek, K. L. V. D., Vlasceanu, D., Constantino, S., Morais, M. J., Schumann, P., Rathje, S., Fang, K., Aglioti, S. M., Alfano, M., Alvarado-Yepez, A. J., Andersen, A., Anseel, F., Apps, M. A. J., Asadli, C., Awuor, F. J., Azevedo, F., Basaglia, P., Bélanger, J. J., Berger, S., Bertin, P., Białek, M., Bialobrzeska, O., Blaya-Burgo, M., Bleize, D. N. M., Bø, S., Boecker, L., Boggio, P. S., Borau, S., Bos, B., Bouguettaya, A., Brauer, M., Brick, C., Brik, T., Briker, R., Brosch, T., Buchel, O., Buonauro, D., Butalia, R., Carvacho, H., Chamberlain, S. A. E., Chan, H-Y., Chow, D., Chung, D., Cian, L., Cohen-Eick, N., Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Contu, D., Cristea, V., Cutler, J., D'Ottone, S., Keersmaecker, J. D., Delcourt, S., Delouvée, S., Diel, K., Douglas, B. D., Drupp, M. A., Dubey, S., Ekmanis, J., Elbaek, C. T., Elsherif, M., Engelhard, I. M., Escher, Y. A., Etienne, T. W., Farage, L., Farias, A. R., Feuerriegel, S., Findor, A., Freira, L., Friese, M., Gains, N. P., Gallyamova, A., Geiger, S. J., Genschow, O., Gjoneska, B., Gkinopoulos, T., Goldberg, B., Goldenberg, A., Gradidge, S., Grassini, S., Gray, K., Grelle, S., Griffin, S. M., Grigoryan, L., Grigoryan, A., Grigoryev, D., Gruber, J., Guilaran, J., Hadar, B., Hahnel, U. J. J., Halperin, E., Harvey, A. J., Haugestad, C. A. P., Herman, A. M., Hershfield, H. E., Himichi, T., Hine, D. W., Hofmann, W., Howe, L., Huaman-Chulluncuy, E. T., Huang, G., Ishii, T., Ito, A., Jia, F., Jost, J. T., Jovanović, V., Jurgiel, D., Kácha, O., Kankaanpää, R., Kantorowicz, J., Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, E., Mintz, K. K., Kaya, I., Kaya, O., Khachatryan, N., Klas, A., Klein, C., Klöckner, C. A., Koppel, L., Kosachenko, A. I., Kothe, E. J., Krebs, R., Krosch, A. R., Krouwel, A. P. M., Kyrychenko, Y., Lagomarsino, M., Lamm, C., Lange, F., Cunningham, J. L., Lees, J., Leung, T. Y., Levy, N., Lockwood, P. L., Longoni, C., Ortega, A. L., Loschelder, D. D., Lu, J. G., Luo, Y., Luomba, J., Lutz, A. E., Majer, J. M., Markowitz, E., Marsh, A. A., Mascarenhas, K. L., Mbilingi, B., Mbungu, W., McHugh, C., Meijers, M. H. C., Mercier, H., Mhagama, F. L., Michalakis, K., Mikus, N., Milliron, S., Mitkidis, P., Monge-Rodríguez, F. S., Mora, Y. L., Moreau, D., Motoki, K., Moyano, M., Mus, M., Navajas, J., Nguyen, T. L., Nguyen, D. M., Nguyen, T., Niemi, L., Nijssen, S. R. R., Nilsonne, G., Nitschke, J. P., Nockur, L., Okura, R., Öner, S., Özdoğru, A. A., Palumbo, H., Panagopoulos, C., Panasiti, M. S., Pärnamets, P., Paruzel-Czachura, M., Pavlov, Y. G., Payán-Gómez, C., Pearson, A. R., Costa, L. P. D., Petrowsky, H. M., Pfattheicher, S., Pham, N. T., Ponizovskiy, V., Pretus, C., Rêgo, G. G., Reimann, R., Rhoads, S. A., Riano-Moreno, J., Richter, I., Röer, J. P., Rosa-Sullivan, J., Ross, R. M., Sabherwal, A., Saito, T., Sarrasin, O., Say, N., Schmid, K., Schmitt, M. T., Schoenegger, P., Scholz, C., Schug, M. G., Schulreich, S., Shreedhar, G., Shuman, E., Sivan, S., Sjåstad, H., Soliman, M., Soud, K., Spampatti, T., Sparkman, G., Spasovski, O., Stanley, S. K., Stern, J. A., Strahm, N., Suko, Y., Sul, S., Syropoulos, S., Taylor, N. C., Tedaldi, E., Tinghög, G., Huynh, L. D. T., Travaglino, G. A., Tsakiris, M., Tüter, İ., Tyrala, M., Uluğ, Ö. M., Urbanek, A., Valko, D., Linden, S. V. D., Schie, K. V., Stekelenburg, A. V., Vanags, E., Västfjäll, D., Vesely, S., Vintr, J., Vranka, M., Wanguche, P. O., Willer, R., Wojcik, A. D., Xu, R., Yadav, A., Zawisza, M., Zhao, X., Zhao, J., Żuk, D. & Bavel, J. J. V., 09.02.2024, In: Science Advances. 10, 6, 19 p., eadj5778.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Correction: The Open Anchoring Quest Dataset: Anchored Estimates from 96 Studies on Anchoring Effects (Journal of Open Psychology Data, (2022), 10, 1, (16), 10.5334/jopd.67)

Röseler, L., Weber, L., Helgerth, K., Stich, E., Günther, M., Tegethoff, P., Wagner, F. S., Ambrus, E., Antunovic, M., Barrera-Lemarchand, F., Halali, E., Ioannidis, K., Genschow, O., McKay, R., Milstein, N., Molden, D. C., Papenmeier, F., Pavlovic, Z., Rinn, R., Schreiter, M. L., Zimdahl, M. F., Allen, E., Bahník, Š., Bermeitinger, C., Blower, F. B. N., Bögler, H. L., Burgmer, P., Cheek, N. N., Dorsch, L., Fels, S. A., Frech, M. L., Freira, L., Harris, A. J. L., Hartig, B., Häusser, J. A., Hedgebeth, M. V., Henkel, M., Horvath, D., Imhoff, R., Intelmann, P., Klamar, A., Knappe, E., Köppel, L-M. A., Krueger, S. M., Lagator, S., Bóo, F. L., Navajas, J., Norem, J. K., Novak, J., Onuki, Y., Page, E., Pearton, J., Ponader, S., Rebholz, T. R., Rostekova, A., Sartorio, M., Schindler, S., Seida, C., Shanks, D. R., Siems, M. C., Speekenbrink, M., Stäglich, P., Starkulla, M., Stitz, M., Straube, T., Thies, K., Thum, E., Ueda, K., Undorf, M., Urlichich, D., Vadillo, M. A., Wolf, A. H., Zhou, A. & Schütz, A., 23.08.2024, In: Journal of Open Psychology Data. 12, 1, 3 p., 8.

Research output: Journal contributions › Comments / Debate / Reports › Research

DOI