Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 15;10(1):103.
doi: 10.1186/s40337-022-00607-9.

Experiences of mimicry in eating disorders

Savannah R Erwin  1 , Peggy J Liu  2   3 , Nandini Datta  4   5 , Julia Nicholas  6   7 , Alannah Rivera-Cancel  4   6 , Mark Leary  4 , Tanya L Chartrand  2 , Nancy L Zucker  4   6
Affiliations

Experiences of mimicry in eating disorders

Savannah R Erwin et al. J Eat Disord. .

Abstract

Background: People unknowingly mimic the behaviors of others, a process that results in feelings of affiliation. However, some individuals with eating disorders describe feeling "triggered" when mimicked. This study explores the effects of implicit non-verbal mimicry on individuals with a history of an eating disorder (ED-His) compared to healthy controls (HCs).

Method: Women (N = 118, nED-His = 31; Mage = 21 years) participated in a laboratory task with a confederate trained to either discreetly mimic (Mimicry condition) or not mimic (No-Mimicry condition) the mannerisms of the participant. Participants rated the likability of the confederate and the smoothness of the interaction.

Results: Participants in the No-Mimicry condition rated the confederate as significantly more likable than in the Mimicry condition, and ED-His rated the confederate as more likable than HCs. ED-His in the Mimicry condition rated the interaction as less smooth than HCs, whereas this pattern was not found in the No-Mimicry condition. Among ED-His, longer disorder duration (≥ 3.87 years) was associated with less liking of a confederate who mimicked and more liking of a confederate who did not mimic.

Conclusions: We discuss the implications of these findings for interpersonal therapeutic processes and group treatment settings for eating disorders. Our study on subtle, nonverbal mimicry revealed differences in social behavior for women with a history of an eating disorder compared to healthy women. For participants with an eating disorder history, a longer duration of illness was associated with a worse pattern of affiliation, reflected in lower liking of a mimicker. Further research on how diverging processes of affiliation may function to perpetuate the chronicity of eating disorders and implications for treatment is needed.

Keywords: Eating disorders; Imitative behavior; Interpersonal relations; Nonverbal communication; Social perception.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participants rated how likable they found the confederate on a scale of 1 (extremely dislikable) to 7 (extremely likable). Mean likable rating was significantly higher for participants with a history of an eating disorder (ED-His) than for the healthy control (HC) participants and significantly higher for all participants in the No-Mimicry condition than for all participants in the Mimicry Condition. We did not find a significant group by condition interaction. Error bars represent standard error
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participants rated the smoothness of the interaction with the confederate on a scale of 1 (extremely awkward) to 7 (extremely smoothly). Within the Mimicry condition, participants with a history of an eating disorder (ED-His) rated the interaction as less smooth than healthy control (HC) participants. There was not a significant group difference within the No-Mimicry condition. Error bars represent standard error
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
For participants with a history of eating disorder, self-reported duration of eating disorder moderated the effect of condition on likable ratings. Duration of illness showed a positive relationship with likable ratings in the No-Mimicry condition but showed a negative relationship with likable ratings in the Mimicry condition. The Johnson-Neyman Floodlight technique showed that the simple effect of condition on likable ratings is significant when the duration of eating disorder was 3.87 years or longer. The vertical dashed line indicates the region of significance for the simple effect within the ED-His group: for participants who had a duration of eating disorder of 3.87 years or longer, likeable ratings from participants who were not mimicked were significantly higher than those from participants who were mimicked. Scatterplot points are jittered to avoid overlap
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Bardone-Cone AM, Thompson KA, Miller AJ. The self and eating disorders. J Pers. 2020;88(1):59–75. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12448. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Corning AF, Krumm AJ, Smitham LA. Differential social comparison processes in women with and without eating disorder symptoms. J Couns Psychol. 2006;53(3):338–349. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.53.3.338. - DOI
    1. Fitzsimmons-Craft EE, Bardone-Cone AM, Bulik CM, Wonderlich SA, Crosby RD, Engel SG. Examining an elaborated sociocultural model of disordered eating among college women: the roles of social comparison and body surveillance. Body Image. 2014;11(4):488–500. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.07.012. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hamel AE, Zaitsoff SL, Taylor A, Menna R, Le Grange D. Body-related social comparison and disordered eating among adolescent females with an eating disorder, depressive disorder, and healthy controls. Nutrients. 2012;4(9):1260–1272. doi: 10.3390/nu4091260. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Norris ML, Boydell KM, Pinhas L, Katzman DK. Ana and the internet: a review of pro-anorexia websites. Int J Eat Disord. 2006;39(6):443–447. doi: 10.1002/eat.20305. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources