The Too-Much-Mimicry Effect: Strong (vs. Subtle) Mimicry Impairs Liking and Trust in Distributive Negotiations
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In: Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol. 48, No. 2, 06.2024, p. 253-276.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The Too-Much-Mimicry Effect
T2 - Strong (vs. Subtle) Mimicry Impairs Liking and Trust in Distributive Negotiations
AU - Wessler, Janet
AU - Loschelder, David D.
AU - Fendel, Johannes C.
AU - Friese, Malte
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - We examined whether mimicking an interaction partner is universally advantageous or, provided the mimicry is particularly strong, whether it has detrimental impacts on interpersonal and negotiation outcomes. Participants interacted with a confederate who engaged in no, subtle, or strong mimicry and then negotiated. In laboratory Experiment 1 (N = 71) and Experiment 2 (N = 149), subtly (vs. not) mimicked participants liked the confederate more, while strongly (vs. subtly) mimicked participants liked and trusted less. In Experiment 2, strongly (vs. subtly) mimicked participants were less susceptible to the first-offer anchor. The online Experiment 3 (N = 180) corroborated the too-much-mimicry effect: When participants became aware of mimicry, it exerted detrimental effects on liking and trust irrespective of the experimental condition. Experiment 1 and Experiment 3 found no too-much-mimicry effect on anchoring susceptibility. These findings show that (a) sufficiently subtle mimicry positively influences interpersonal outcomes and (b) too much mimicry backfires.
AB - We examined whether mimicking an interaction partner is universally advantageous or, provided the mimicry is particularly strong, whether it has detrimental impacts on interpersonal and negotiation outcomes. Participants interacted with a confederate who engaged in no, subtle, or strong mimicry and then negotiated. In laboratory Experiment 1 (N = 71) and Experiment 2 (N = 149), subtly (vs. not) mimicked participants liked the confederate more, while strongly (vs. subtly) mimicked participants liked and trusted less. In Experiment 2, strongly (vs. subtly) mimicked participants were less susceptible to the first-offer anchor. The online Experiment 3 (N = 180) corroborated the too-much-mimicry effect: When participants became aware of mimicry, it exerted detrimental effects on liking and trust irrespective of the experimental condition. Experiment 1 and Experiment 3 found no too-much-mimicry effect on anchoring susceptibility. These findings show that (a) sufficiently subtle mimicry positively influences interpersonal outcomes and (b) too much mimicry backfires.
KW - Anchor effect
KW - Mimicry
KW - Negotiation
KW - Nonverbal communication
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85177564634&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/f25e5e67-ddab-3f51-8741-2699dac514db/
U2 - 10.1007/s10919-023-00446-5
DO - 10.1007/s10919-023-00446-5
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85177564634
VL - 48
SP - 253
EP - 276
JO - Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
JF - Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
SN - 0191-5886
IS - 2
ER -