Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport.
Nonconscious behavioral mimicry occurs when a person unwittingly imitates the behaviors of another person. This mimicry has been attributed to a direct link between perceiving a behavior and performing that same behavior. The current experiments explored whether having a goal to affiliate augments the tendency to mimic the behaviors of interaction partners. Experiment 1 demonstrated that having an affiliation goal increases nonconscious mimicry, and Experiment 2 further supported this proposition by demonstrating that people who have unsuccessfully attempted to affiliate in an interaction subsequently exhibit more mimicry than those who have not experienced such a failure. Results suggest that behavioral mimicry may be part of a person's repertoire of behaviors, used nonconsciously, when there is a desire to create rapport.
Lakin
Jessica L
JL
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA. lakin.6@osu.edu
Chartrand
Tanya L
TL
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology