The influence of facial attractiveness on imitation

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology 2009-11, Vol.45 (6), p.1295-1298
• Main Authors: van Leeuwen, Matthijs L., Veling, Harm, van Baaren, Rick B., Dijksterhuis, Ap
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attractiveness; Behavior. Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Cultural imitation; Experimental psychology; Experiments; Face; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Imitation; Interpersonal attraction; Judgement; Life Sciences; Meta-analysis; Neurons and Cognition; Physical appearance; Psychological aspects; Psychology and behavior; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social psychology; Unconscious
• ISSN: 0022-1031; 1096-0465
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.07.008

People judge, evaluate, and treat attractive people better than moderately attractive or unattractive people [Langlois, J. H., Kalakanis, L., Rubenstein, A. J., Larson, A., Hallam, M., & Smoot, M. (2000). Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 390–423]. The fact that individuals like attractive people combined with the finding that individuals imitate the ones they like, suggests that they may be more prone to imitate attractive people. The present research extends previous work on attractiveness and imitation by examining this hypothesis. Using a novel coloring procedure, we show that attractive females are imitated more than unattractive females (Experiment 1) and that attractive males are imitated more than unattractive males (Experiment 2). Importantly, this imitation occurs without any direct or anticipated contact with the target individual and without awareness of the influence of attractiveness on imitation behavior.