“A person who views someone else’s snacking behavior will come to exhibit a similar snack selection pattern”.Mimicry has long been a topic of research for many social scientists that are constantly digging deep in to the human tendency that prompts on to mimic others. A recently concluded study which will be published in the April issue of the “Journal of Consumer Research” describes the mimic based consumption behavior in much detail.
Researchers found that if someone is eating a goldfish or animal crackers the viewer will also be inclined to eat the same stuff. It is basically mimicking someone else eat a particular food. This is replicated in the same way for the consumption of other products as well, according to the researchers.
Research took up a set of experimental studies and combined the results in order to arrive at some firm conclusion. In their first experiment participants were asked to sit in front of computer in a private lab room to watch a video of another fellow participant who was describing a series of advertisements and was eating goldfish and animal crackers from a bowl while he was describing. There were two bowls in front of this participant with goldfish and animal crackers in one and another but the participant was deliberately taking out the food item from one specific bowl repeatedly fro the entire time of the video show.
The participants who were watching these videos also had two bowls in front of themselves. Researchers observed that these participants started mimicking the same pattern at most of the time. If the participant in the video was taking goldfish crackers from the bowl then the viewer participant also took the same from a bowl in front of him for an average 71% of the time.
Similarly in 44% of the cases the participants took the animal crackers from the bowls in front of them because the participant in the video was also doing the same. A complete rating of all the case reporting revealed that overall the participants showed more inclination towards eating the goldfish crackers compared to the animal crackers.
According to the researchers, “preferences may shift as a result of unintentionally mimicking another person’s consumption behavior”.
The second experiment explored the possible linkages between responsiveness and the mimicking behavior of the participants. They examined if the person who is mimicking another person also like the same person with enhanced degree compared to otherwise normal situations. This was basically intended to explore the possible positive response for a particular product that has been endorsed this way.
Researchers observed that mimicking of body posture; angle, foot movements, and verbal patterns were the prime motivating factors for the participants to show a positive response towards a new sports drink. These participants drank the same sports drink compared to those participants who did not mimic.
The third experiment by the researchers showed that the rate of consumption of a particular product was significantly high in cases where the participants did mimic and above all they also invested in the success of this product.
Researchers say that these patterns are indicative of mimicry having a tremendous potential to be used an important tool for influencing the interpersonal persuasion and communication. This would be an immensely helpful approach in controlling several habits that will in turn help a normal person to protect himself from many health problems.
