TY - JOUR

T1 - The submissive chameleon

T2 - Third-party inferences from observing mimicry

AU - Genschow, Oliver

AU - Alves, Hans

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - Past research has shown that mimicry has a number of pro-social consequences for interaction partners. However, such research has almost exclusively focused on its effects among interaction dyads. As social interactions are often witnessed by third-party observers, the question arises which inferences perceivers draw from observing mimicry. In the present work, we apply a third-party perspective to mimicry and test whether observers perceive mimicking individuals as submissive. Experiment 1 confirmed our prediction and found that observers perceived a mimicking person as less dominant, and thus more submissive, than a mimicked person. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and ruled out possible demand effects. Experiment 3 showed that when an interaction partner does not mimic the movements initiated by another person, the interaction partner gains dominance in the eye of the observer. Experiment 4 demonstrates that the inferences that perceivers draw from observing mimicry partly rely on a mere action-response pattern. These findings have not only important implications for mimicry as a genuinely social phenomenon, but also for research on impression management and person perception.

AB - Past research has shown that mimicry has a number of pro-social consequences for interaction partners. However, such research has almost exclusively focused on its effects among interaction dyads. As social interactions are often witnessed by third-party observers, the question arises which inferences perceivers draw from observing mimicry. In the present work, we apply a third-party perspective to mimicry and test whether observers perceive mimicking individuals as submissive. Experiment 1 confirmed our prediction and found that observers perceived a mimicking person as less dominant, and thus more submissive, than a mimicked person. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and ruled out possible demand effects. Experiment 3 showed that when an interaction partner does not mimic the movements initiated by another person, the interaction partner gains dominance in the eye of the observer. Experiment 4 demonstrates that the inferences that perceivers draw from observing mimicry partly rely on a mere action-response pattern. These findings have not only important implications for mimicry as a genuinely social phenomenon, but also for research on impression management and person perception.

KW - Dominance

KW - Imitation

KW - Mimicry

KW - Person perception

KW - Submissiveness

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079855410&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103966

DO - 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103966

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85079855410

VL - 88

JO - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

JF - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

SN - 0022-1031

M1 - 103966

ER -