Mimicry and Helping Behavior: An Evaluation of Mimicry on Explicit Helping Request

ABSTRACT

Research found that mimicry behavior led to increased helping behavior toward the mimicker and is associated with higher positive evaluation of the mimicker. Furthermore, studies on helping behavior focused only on implicit helping behavior, whereas no experimental study on explicit helping request was tested. An experiment was carried out in which a female student-confederate mimicked or not mimicked a participant during a discussion about paintings and, after that, solicited the participant for a written feedback about an essay. It was found that mimicry increased compliance to the confederate's request.

Keywords:

• mimicry
• request
• helping behavior
• evaluation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sébastien Meineri

Nicolas Guéguen is a Professor of Social Behavior at the University of Bretagne-Sud in France. His research interests focus on atmospherics and consumer behavior, nonverbal influence and compliance-gaining procedures. Angélique Martin is an Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Bretagne-Sud in France. Her research interests focus on mimicry and nonverbal influence. Sébastien Meineri is an Associate Professor of Social Behavior at the University of Bretagne-Sud in France. His research interests focus on compliance-gaining procedures and nonverbal influence.