Mimicry or synchrony: The effects of intentionality attributions for nonverbal mirroring behavior

Abstract

In many interactions, people have to make the choice between whether they believe another's nonverbal behavior was encoded with specific intent, as a social representation, or as a primarily symptomatic behavior. It is argued that these attributions may alter the attributor's perceptions and evaluations of the other's behavior. This study looks specifically at how beliefs about intentionality behind a partner's use of nonverbal mirroring behavior affects the tatter's perception of the former's personality, behavior, and message intent. It was found that participants (N = 60) who were allowed to make their own attributions saw their partner's behavior as somewhat intentional, evaluated their partner to be more competent and interpersonally attractive, and rated his/her behavior as more favorable and sincere and as less disjointed and exaggerated than those who were led to believe their partner acted deliberately and, in some cases, those who believed their partner acted unintentionally. Participants who saw their partner's behavior as intentional were also more likely to read the relational messages of disinterest and dissimilarity into the behaviors of their partner.

Key concepts:

• Nonverbal behavior
• nonverbal communication
• attributions
• mirroring
• relational messages