Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport.
Journal Article (Clinical Trial;Journal Article)
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.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Lakin, JL; Chartrand, TL
Published Date
- July 2003
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 14 / 4
Start / End Page
- 334 - 339
PubMed ID
- 12807406
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1467-9280
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0956-7976
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1111/1467-9280.14481
Language
- eng