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. 2016 Oct 14:6:35295.
doi: 10.1038/srep35295.

Testing the relationship between mimicry, trust and rapport in virtual reality conversations

Joanna Hale  1 , Antonia F De C Hamilton  1
Affiliations

Testing the relationship between mimicry, trust and rapport in virtual reality conversations

Joanna Hale et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

People mimic each other's actions and postures during everyday interactions. It is widely believed this mimicry acts as a social glue, leading to increased rapport. We present two studies using virtual reality to rigorously test this hypothesis. In Study 1, 50 participants interacted with two avatars who either mimicked their head and torso movements at a 1 or 3 second time delay or did not mimic, and rated feelings of rapport and trust toward the avatars. Rapport was higher towards mimicking avatars, with no effect of timing. In Study 2, we aimed to replicate this effect in a pre-registered design and test whether it is modulated by cultural ingroup-outgroup boundaries. Forty participants from European or East Asian backgrounds interacted with four avatars, two of European appearance and two of East Asian appearance. Two avatars mimicked while the other two did not. We found no effects of mimicry on rapport or trust ratings or implicit trust behaviour in a novel maze task, and no effects of group status or interactions. These null results were calculated in line with our pre-registration. We conclude that being mimicked does not always increase rapport or trust, and make suggestions for future directions.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Virtual mimicry system.
The participant was fitted with two motion tracking sensors which recorded their head and torso movements. The movement was mirrored by an avatar after a specified time delay. The avatar was displayed on a projector screen. This image was created using Vizard virtual reality software (WorldViz Inc, Version 5.4, http://www.worldviz.com/virtual-reality-software-downloads/).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Avatar appearances.
This image was created using Vizard virtual reality software (WorldViz Inc, Version 5.4, http://www.worldviz.com/virtual-reality-software-downloads/).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Experiment procedure, showing an example order of conditions.
Group and mimicry were counterbalanced across participants. This image was created using Vizard virtual reality software (WorldViz Inc, Version 5.4, http://www.worldviz.com/virtual-reality-software-downloads/).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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