The Impact of Guilt on Mimicry Behavior

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Mimicry, also called the "chameleon effect" (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999), refers to unconscious imitation of behaviors such as postures, facial expressions, mannerisms, and other verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Researchers have shown that in social interaction, people mimic a host of verbal and nonverbal behaviors of their counterparts (Bavelas, Black, Lemery, & Mullet, 1986, 1987; Giles & Powesland, 1975; LaFrance, 1982). This mimicry is explained by a perception-behavior link theory (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999; Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001) arguing that seeing someone engaged in a behavior activates that behavioral representation which, in return, leads the perceiver to engage himself or herself in that behavior. Mimicry is also explained in terms of rapport and liking. Chartrand and Bargh (1999) found that participants who were mimicked by a confederate reported liking the confederate more than those who were not mimicked. Lakin and Chartrand (2003) found that affiliation goals were associated with higher levels of mimicry behavior. Participants primed with words related to the concept of affiliation (friend, partner) expressed greater level of mimicry than those primed with neutral words. Lakin and Chartrand also found that participants who unsuccessfully attempted to affiliate in a first interaction, exhibited more mimicry behavior in a later second interaction with another confederate, than participants who experienced successful affiliation in the first interaction. Thus, if the desire for affiliation with somebody enhances mimicry behavior, we can speculate that guilt could trigger the same reaction. Researchers of several studies found that people who experienced feelings of guilt after a first social interaction with somebody--because they had been instructed to tell a lie (Freedman, Wallington, & Bless, 1967) or to deliver electric shocks (Carlsmith & Gross, 1969)--were more likely to …