The Effect of Interest Level on Susceptibility to Unconscious Nonverbal Mimicry

Amanda Caizza

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Keywords

Mimicry, Chameleon Effect, Interest

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

This study measured the role interest level plays in nonconscious mimicry. Forty participants performed a proofreading task in which the reading material was either of high interest, a compilation of original creative short stories and poetry, or of low interest, an excerpt from a statistics textbook. During participant completion of either task, a confederate discreetly initiated a sequence of scripted nonverbal behaviors. As predicted, those participants in the high interest condition mimicked the confederate�s behavior less often than did those completing the low interest task. Participant�s also noticed the confederate�s behavior in relation to how often he/she mimicked. This research suggests situational factors, such as involvement in certain conscious tasks, influence susceptibility to nonconscious nonverbal mimicry possibly in part because of the perception-behavior link.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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