The Effects of Nonverbal Mirroring on Perceived Persuasiveness, Agreement with an Imitator, and Reciprocity in a Group Discussion

Two experiments focused on nonverbal mirroring in a group discussion. In Experiment 1, each participant interacted with two confederates. Confederates disagreed with each other and with the participant during discussion. One confederate mirrored the nonverbal behavior of the participant; the other did not. Participants rated the imitating confederate as more confident and persuasive. However, they were not more likely to change their viewpoint to match that of this confederate. Independent coders, unaware of the hypotheses, did not rate the two confederates as significantly different. In Experiment 2, each participant again interacted with two confederates. One confederate agreed with the participant during the discussion, and the other disagreed. One confederate rubbed his or her face during the discussion. The other shook his or her foot. The hypothesis that participants would be more likely to mirror the nonverbal behavior of the confederate who agreed with them during discussion received no support.

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