The spillover effect of mimicry: Being mimicked by one person increases prosocial behavior toward another person
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In: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 113, 104620, 01.07.2024.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The spillover effect of mimicry: Being mimicked by one person increases prosocial behavior toward another person
AU - Muniak, Paweł
AU - Genschow, Oliver
AU - Dolinski, Dariusz
AU - Grzyb, Tomasz
AU - Kulesza, Wojciech
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2024/7/1
Y1 - 2024/7/1
N2 - People have the automatic tendency to mimic their interaction partners. Mimicry theories propose that such mimicking behavior is beneficial for the mimicker as mimicked persons tend to like, trust and help the mimicker more. Yet an open question remains as to whether prosocial effects translate to parties other than the mimicker. To test for the presence of such a spillover effect, we ran two field experiments (total N = 460). In all experiments, participants interacted with an experimenter. The experimenter either verbally mimicked the participants or behaved naturally. Afterwards, either the experimenter or another person asked participants to donate to a charity. Across all experiments, our results indicate that irrespective of whether a donation request is made by the mimicker or another person, mimicry increases the likelihood to donate to a charity, but not the amount that participants are willing to donate. Bayesian analyses suggest that this effect is less strongly pronounced than assumed by previous research and theories.
AB - People have the automatic tendency to mimic their interaction partners. Mimicry theories propose that such mimicking behavior is beneficial for the mimicker as mimicked persons tend to like, trust and help the mimicker more. Yet an open question remains as to whether prosocial effects translate to parties other than the mimicker. To test for the presence of such a spillover effect, we ran two field experiments (total N = 460). In all experiments, participants interacted with an experimenter. The experimenter either verbally mimicked the participants or behaved naturally. Afterwards, either the experimenter or another person asked participants to donate to a charity. Across all experiments, our results indicate that irrespective of whether a donation request is made by the mimicker or another person, mimicry increases the likelihood to donate to a charity, but not the amount that participants are willing to donate. Bayesian analyses suggest that this effect is less strongly pronounced than assumed by previous research and theories.
KW - Verbal mimicry
KW - Nonverbal mimicry
KW - Imitation
KW - The chameleon effect
KW - Spillover effect of mimicry
KW - Prosocial behavior
KW - Charity donation
KW - Field study
KW - Social influence
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85191170198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c03f2879-024a-3549-8ebc-53752064a0bc/
U2 - 10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104620
DO - 10.1016/j.jesp.2024.104620
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 113
JO - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
SN - 0022-1031
M1 - 104620
ER -