On Mimicry and the Psychology of the Belief in a Just World: Imitating the Behaviors of Others Reduces the Blaming of Innocent Victims

Social Justice Research

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 14-24

  Stel, Mariëlle ^a   van den Bos, Kees ^b   Bal, Michèlle ^b  

^a TILBURG UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^b UTRECHT UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Imitation; Judgment; Mimicry; Nonverbal behavior; Victim blaming

Indexed keywords

EID: 84858754054     PISSN: 08857466     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11211-012-0150-2     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Aderman, D., Brehm, S. S., & Katz, L. B. (1974). Empathic observation of an innocent victim: The just world revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 342-347.
2. Ashton-James, C., van Baaren, R. B., Chartrand, T. L., Decety, J., & Karremans, J. (2007). Mimicry and me: The impact of mimicry on self-construal. Social Cognition, 25, 518-535.
3. Bal, M., & van den Bos, K. (2010). The role of perpetrator similarity in reactions toward innocent victims. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 957-969.
4. Berger, S. M. (1962). Conditioning through vicarious instigation. Psychological Review, 69, 450-466.
5. Bernieri, F. J. (1988). Coordinated movement and rapport in teacher-student interactions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 12, 120-138.
6. Bourgeois, P., & Hess, U. (2008). The impact of social context on mimicry. Biological Psychology, 77, 343-352.
7. Brown, A. L., & Testa, M. (2008). Social influences on judgments of rape victims: The role of negative and positive social reactions of others. Sex Roles, 54, 490-500.
8. Campbell, R., Sefl, T., Barnes, H. E., Ahrens, C. E., Wasco, S. M., & Zaragoza-Diesfeld, Y. (1999). Community services for rape survivors: Enhancing psychological well-being or increasing trauma? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 847-858.
9. Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893-910.
10. Cheng, C. M., & Chartrand, T. L. (2003). Self-monitoring without awareness: Using mimicry as a nonconscious affiliation strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1170-1179.
11. Correia, I., Vala, J., & Aguiar, P. (2007). Victim's innocence, social categorization, and the threat to the belief in a just world. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 31-38.
12. Dimberg, U. (1990). Facial electromyography and emotional reactions. Psychophysiology, 27, 481-494.
13. Hafer, C. L. (2000). Do innocent victims threaten the belief in a just world? Evidence from a modified Stroop task. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 165-173.
14. Hsee, C. K., Hatfield, E., Carlson, J. G., & Chemtob, C. (1990). The effect of power on susceptibility to emotional contagion. Cognition and Emotion, 4, 327-340.
15. Jackson, P. L., Meltzoff, A. N., & Decety, J. (2005). How do we perceive the pain of others? A window into the neural processes involved in empathy. Neuroimage, 24, 771-779.
16. Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25, 881-919.
17. Lerner, M. J. (1965). Evaluation of performance as a function of performer's reward and attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1, 355-360.
18. Lerner, M. J. (1980). The belief in a just world. New York: Plenum Press.
19. Lerner, M. J., & Simmons, C. H. (1966). Observers' reactions to the "innocent victim": Comparison or rejection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 203-210.
20. Likowski, K. U., Mühlberger, A., Seibt, B., Pauli, P., & Weyers, P. (2008). Modulation of facial mimicry by attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1065-1072.
21. Stel, M., Blascovich, J., McCall, C., Mastop, J., van Baaren, R. B., & Vonk, R. (2010a). Mimicking disliked others: Effects of a priori liking on the mimicry-liking link. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 876-880.
22. Stel, M., van Baaren, R., Blascovich, J., McCall, C., Pollmann, M. H., van Leeuwen, M. L., et al. (2010b). Effects of a priori liking on the elicitation of mimicry. Experimental Psychology, 57, 412-418.
23. Stel, M., van Baaren, R. B., & Vonk, R. (2008). Effects of mimicking: Acting prosocially by being emotionally moved. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 965-976.
24. Stel, M., van Dijk, E., & Olivier, E. (2009). You want to know the truth? Then don't mimic! Psychological Science, 20, 693-699.
25. Stel, M., & Vonk, R. (2009). Empathizing via mimicry depends on whether emotional expressions are seen as real. European Psychologist, 14, 342-350.
26. van Baaren, R. B., Holland, R. W., Kawakami, K., & van Knippenberg, A. (2004). Mimicry and prosocial behavior. Psychological Science, 15, 71-74.