title: Mimicry and propagation of prosocial behavior in a natural setting.
abstract: This study tested, in a natural setting, the effect of mimicry on people's disposition toward helping others and the extent to which this helping behavior is extended to people not directly involved in the mimicry situation. In the main street of a busy town, men (n = 101) and women (n = 109) passersby were encountered and asked for directions. These passersby were subjected to mimicry by naïve confederates who mimicked either verbal behavior alone or verbal and nonverbal behaviors together, including arm, hand, and head movements. In the control condition, passersby were not mimicked. Following this first encounter, each subject was then met further down the street by a second confederate who asked for money. The results show that people who had been mimicked complied more often with a request for money and gave significantly more, suggesting they were more helpful and more generous toward other people, even complete strangers.
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne-Sud, IUT de Vannes, 8 rue Montaigne, 56017 Vannes Cedex, France. jacques.fischer-lokou@univ-ubs.fr
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fischer-Lokou
authors.forename: Angélique
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guéguen
authors.forename: Lubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D014705:Verbal Behavior