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

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 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103124000325?via%3Dihub

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 -