Social Modulation of Imitative Behavior
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Automatic Imitation. ed. / Oliver Genschow; Emiel Cracco. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2025. p. 219–239.
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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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 -