Confederate Motor Behavior in Control Conditions and Liking Effects of Being Mimicked : A Meta-analysis of Human Confederate Paradigms

Trzmielewska, Weronika; Rak, Tomasz

Confederate Motor Behavior in Control Conditions and Liking Effects of Being Mimicked : A Meta-analysis of Human Confederate Paradigms

StatusVoR

Dublin Core metadata

Authors

Trzmielewska, Weronika

Rak, Tomasz

Date

2026-09-16

Journal title

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

ISSN

1573-3653

Access date

2026-09-18

Abstract EN

Behavioral mimicry is commonly assumed to enhance interpersonal liking, yet reported effect sizes vary considerably across experimental studies. Although mimicry manipulations in being-mimicked paradigms share some common features across studies, control conditions differ more substantially in whether confederates remain motorically inactive (no movement; NM) or display natural, noncontingent movements (responsiveness; RES). Such differences may systematically influence participants’ evaluations and, consequently, the estimated magnitude of mimicry-liking effects. To examine this possibility, we conducted a reconstructed meta-analysis, defined here as a synthesis in which published aggregate data from eligible studies were extracted, harmonized, and reanalyzed within a common statistical framework. Major bibliographic databases and supplementary sources were searched, and studies were screened using predefined criteria. Study-level means, standard deviations, and sample sizes were transformed to a common 1–7 liking scale. We then coded confederate motor behavior in control conditions and tested it as a study-level moderator of mimicry-liking effect sizes using weighted meta-analytic models. Across 26 reconstructed contrasts, mimicry showed a robust positive effect on liking, estimated d=0.75, 95% CI [0.56, 0.94]. Importantly, liking in mimicry conditions was highly consistent across studies and implementations. In contrast, evaluations in control conditions varied substantially depending on their design. NM controls produced the lowest baseline liking and the largest mimicry-control differences, estimated d=0.98, 95% CI [0.75, 1.20], whereas RES controls yielded smaller and more stable effects, estimated d=0.36, 95% CI [0.20, 0.52]. These findings suggest that mimicry is associated with higher liking, but that the observed effect magnitude is partly shaped by comparison-condition design. Controls that suppress expressive behavior may artificially lower baseline liking and inflate apparent mimicry effects, underscoring the need for conceptually valid and standardized control conditions in research on mimicry and interpersonal liking.

Keywords EN

Control conditions
Experimental studies
Liking
Meta-analytic synthesis
Mimicry

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 4. Quality Education

URI

https://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2531

License type

Except as otherwise noted, this item is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence | Permitted use of copyrighted works

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