Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: experiments in The Hive

Fergus G. Neville; John Drury; Stephen David Reicher; Sanjeedah Choudhury; Clifford Stott; Roger Ball; Daniel Richardson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241227

Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: experiments in The Hive

Fergus G. Neville, John Drury, Stephen David Reicher, Sanjeedah Choudhury, Clifford Stott, Roger Ball, Daniel Richardson

School of Psychology and Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

5 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Introduction

Do we always do what others do, and, if not, when and under what conditions do we do so? In this paper we test the hypothesis that mimicry is moderated by the mere knowledge of whether the source is a member of the same social category as ourselves.

Methods

We investigated group influence on mimicry using three tasks on a software platform which interfaces with mobile computing devices to allow the controlled study of collective behaviour in an everyday environment.

Results

Overall, participants (N = 965) were influenced by the movements of confederates (represented as dots on a screen) who belonged to their own category in both purposive and incidental tasks.

Conclusion

Our results are compatible with collective level explanations of social influence premised on shared social identification. This includes both a heuristic of unintended mimicry (the acts of group members are diagnostic of how one should act), and communication of affiliation (based on a desire to make one’s group cohesive). The results are incompatible with traditional ‘contagion’ accounts which suggest mimicry is automatic and inevitable. The results have practical implications for designing behavioural interventions which can harness the power of copying behaviour, for example in emergency evacuations.

Original language	English
Article number	e0241227
Number of pages	17
Journal	PLoS One
Volume	15
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241227
Publication status	Published - 30 Oct 2020

Keywords

Mimicry
Social influence
Social identity
Self-categorization
Shared social identification
Shared identity
Heuristics
Contagion

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10.1371/journal.pone.0241227Licence: CC BY

Neville_2020_PLoSONE_Self-categorization_CC
Copyright: © 2020 Neville et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Final published version, 1.06 MBLicence: CC BY

1 Finished

Social Identity Processes: Beyond contagion: Social identity processes in involuntry social influence.
Reicher, S. D. (PI)
Economic & Social Research Council
1/05/16 → 30/04/19
Project: Standard

Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: Experiments in The Hive (dataset)
Neville, F. G. (Creator) & Reicher, S. D. (Creator), OSF, 2020
https://osf.io/kjt4u/?view_only=4a871bdea56a4f4e829c1bd651c5b97d
Dataset

Cite this

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title = "Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: experiments in The Hive",

abstract = "Introduction Do we always do what others do, and, if not, when and under what conditions do we do so? In this paper we test the hypothesis that mimicry is moderated by the mere knowledge of whether the source is a member of the same social category as ourselves. Methods We investigated group influence on mimicry using three tasks on a software platform which interfaces with mobile computing devices to allow the controlled study of collective behaviour in an everyday environment. Results Overall, participants (N = 965) were influenced by the movements of confederates (represented as dots on a screen) who belonged to their own category in both purposive and incidental tasks. Conclusion Our results are compatible with collective level explanations of social influence premised on shared social identification. This includes both a heuristic of unintended mimicry (the acts of group members are diagnostic of how one should act), and communication of affiliation (based on a desire to make one{\textquoteright}s group cohesive). The results are incompatible with traditional {\textquoteleft}contagion{\textquoteright} accounts which suggest mimicry is automatic and inevitable. The results have practical implications for designing behavioural interventions which can harness the power of copying behaviour, for example in emergency evacuations. ",

keywords = "Mimicry, Social influence, Social identity, Self-categorization, Shared social identification, Shared identity, Heuristics, Contagion",

author = "Neville, {Fergus G.} and John Drury and Reicher, {Stephen David} and Sanjeedah Choudhury and Clifford Stott and Roger Ball and Daniel Richardson",

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AU - Ball, Roger

AU - Richardson, Daniel

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N2 - Introduction Do we always do what others do, and, if not, when and under what conditions do we do so? In this paper we test the hypothesis that mimicry is moderated by the mere knowledge of whether the source is a member of the same social category as ourselves. Methods We investigated group influence on mimicry using three tasks on a software platform which interfaces with mobile computing devices to allow the controlled study of collective behaviour in an everyday environment. Results Overall, participants (N = 965) were influenced by the movements of confederates (represented as dots on a screen) who belonged to their own category in both purposive and incidental tasks. Conclusion Our results are compatible with collective level explanations of social influence premised on shared social identification. This includes both a heuristic of unintended mimicry (the acts of group members are diagnostic of how one should act), and communication of affiliation (based on a desire to make one’s group cohesive). The results are incompatible with traditional ‘contagion’ accounts which suggest mimicry is automatic and inevitable. The results have practical implications for designing behavioural interventions which can harness the power of copying behaviour, for example in emergency evacuations.

AB - Introduction Do we always do what others do, and, if not, when and under what conditions do we do so? In this paper we test the hypothesis that mimicry is moderated by the mere knowledge of whether the source is a member of the same social category as ourselves. Methods We investigated group influence on mimicry using three tasks on a software platform which interfaces with mobile computing devices to allow the controlled study of collective behaviour in an everyday environment. Results Overall, participants (N = 965) were influenced by the movements of confederates (represented as dots on a screen) who belonged to their own category in both purposive and incidental tasks. Conclusion Our results are compatible with collective level explanations of social influence premised on shared social identification. This includes both a heuristic of unintended mimicry (the acts of group members are diagnostic of how one should act), and communication of affiliation (based on a desire to make one’s group cohesive). The results are incompatible with traditional ‘contagion’ accounts which suggest mimicry is automatic and inevitable. The results have practical implications for designing behavioural interventions which can harness the power of copying behaviour, for example in emergency evacuations.

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Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: experiments in The Hive

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

Social Identity Processes: Beyond contagion: Social identity processes in involuntry social influence.

Datasets

Self-categorization as a basis of behavioural mimicry: Experiments in The Hive (dataset)

Cite this