Imitation in the eyes of others: Agency and communion in observed mimicry.
Imitation in the eyes of others: Agency and communion in observed mimicry.
StatusPost-Print
Alternative title
Authors
Muniak, Paweł
Genschow, Oliver
Alves, Hans
Köchling, Lars
Kulesza, Wojciech
Monograph
Monograph (alternative title)
Date
2026
Publisher
Journal title
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Issue
Volume
Pages
Pages
ISSN
0096-1523
ISSN of series
Access date
2026-05-20
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
People automatically imitate each other, which is known to elicit feelings of affiliation. Previous research on mimicry has mainly studied dyadic interactions and thereby neglected that many social interactions are often observed by others. This raises the question of how observers perceive individuals who mimic or are mimicked. Based on previous research, we formulated two competing hypotheses about how third-party observers perceive people who initiate actions and people who mimic the actions along the Big Two dimensions (i.e., agency vs. communion). We tested these hypotheses against each other in eight experiments. The results strongly support the “Agency Hypothesis” according to which people who initiate actions are perceived as more agentic than people who mimic the actions. Our experiments also find some support for the “Communion Hypothesis” indicating that people who mimic actions are perceived as more communal than people who initiate the actions. Interestingly, support for the Agency Hypothesis was very robust, whereas the effect on perceived communion was more variable and dependent on the stimuli used. When investigating downstream consequences of the link between observed mimicry and ascriptions along the Big Two dimensions, we find that both ascribed agency and communion predict donation behavior.
Abstract other
Keywords PL
Keywords EN
mimicry
person perception
donation
Big Two
person perception
donation
Big Two
Keywords other
Sustainable Development Goals
Exhibition title
Place of exhibition (institution)
Exhibition curator
Type
License type
Funder
Time range from
Time range to
Contact person name
Related publication
Related publication
Grant/project name
Wpływ koordynacji interpersonalnej na efekt ekstrapolacji. Zrozumienie rozprzestrzeniania się skutków naśladownictwa
Collections
Views
0Acquisition Date20.10.2022
Downloads
0Acquisition Date20.10.2022
Altmetrics©
Dimensions
Google Scholar
