Mimicry or Responsiveness? Verifying the Mimicry-as-a-Social-Glue Hypothesis

• DOI: 10.24425/ppb.2023.144882
• Publication Date: 2023-07-14T18:51:00Z
• Authors: Wojciech Kulesza; Paweł Muniak; Martyna Czekiel; Sylwia Bedyńska; Aleksandra Cisłak

Mimicry has been proven to be responsible for many social consequences linked bonding: improved trust, liking, and rapport.This accumulating empirical evidence mostly based on experimental designs focused comparisons between two conditions: an condition involving mimicking behavior versus a control in which any movement or direct verbal reaction is withdrawn.Thus, it unclear whether the observed differences stem from potential increase rapport mimicry decrease thereof when naturally occurring gestures are not present during interaction.To address this confound, we included additional responsiveness (but mimicry) aimed at increasing both internal external validity.We found significant conditions, thereby lending support original mimicry-as-a-social-glue hypothesis.