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

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dc.abstract.enBehavioral 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.
dc.affiliationDepartment of Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii i Prawa w Poznaniu
dc.contributor.authorTrzmielewska, Weronika
dc.contributor.authorRak, Tomasz
dc.date.access2026-09-18
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-18T10:55:02Z
dc.date.available2026-09-18T10:55:02Z
dc.date.created2026-09-16
dc.date.issued2026-09-16
dc.description.accesstimebefore_publication
dc.description.sdgQualityEducation
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.identifier.doipostprint10.1007/s10919-026-00528-0
dc.identifier.issn1573-3653
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2531
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enControl conditions
dc.subject.enExperimental studies
dc.subject.enLiking
dc.subject.enMeta-analytic synthesis
dc.subject.enMimicry
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleConfederate Motor Behavior in Control Conditions and Liking Effects of Being Mimicked : A Meta-analysis of Human Confederate Paradigms
dc.title.journalJournal of Nonverbal Behavior
dc.typeReviewArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle