title: Contingency and contiguity of imitative behaviour affect social affiliation.
abstract: Actions of others automatically prime similar responses in an agent's behavioural repertoire. As a consequence, perceived or anticipated imitation facilitates own action control and, at the same time, imitation boosts social affiliation and rapport with others. It has previously been suggested that basic mechanisms of associative learning can account for behavioural effects of imitation, whereas a possible role of associative learning for affiliative processes is poorly understood at present. Therefore, this study examined whether contingency and contiguity, the principles of associative learning, affect also the social effects of imitation. Two experiments yielded evidence in favour of this hypothesis by showing more social affiliation in conditions with high contingency (as compared to low contingency) and in conditions of high contiguity (compared to low contiguity).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Engelbergerstrasse 41, 79085, Freiburg, Germany. dignath.david@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dignath
authors.affiliation: University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lotze-Hermes
authors.affiliation: University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.affiliation: University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pfister
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult