The Effects of Shared Opinions on Nonverbal Mimicry

People often mimic each other. Research has examined the positive social benefits of mimicry and factors that lead to increased mimicry. Two studies examine whether a participant is more likely to mimic nonverbal behavior of someone who shares the same opinion as the participant than someone who doe...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lyn M. Van Swol, Meghann L. Drury-Grogan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-05-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017707243
Description
Summary:People often mimic each other. Research has examined the positive social benefits of mimicry and factors that lead to increased mimicry. Two studies examine whether a participant is more likely to mimic nonverbal behavior of someone who shares the same opinion as the participant than someone who does not. The participant made a decision between two vacation destinations and discussed the choice in a three-person group. The two other group members were confederates. One agreed with the participant’s choice and one disagreed. Each confederate emitted a different nonverbal behavior consistently throughout discussion. Results offer some support to the hypothesis that the participant would be more likely to mimic nonverbal behavior of the confederate who is in agreement with the participant.
ISSN:2158-2440