A Stranger's Cold Shoulder Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Why Not Being Mimicked by a Stranger Enhances Longstanding Relationship Evaluations

Abstract

Lack of mimicry in interpersonal interactions may thwart an individual’s sense of belonging. Nonmimicked individuals are hypothesized to compensate for this by upgrading their personal relationships. In line with this hypothesis, Experiment 1 showed that nonmimicked participants enhanced their evaluation of their current romantic relationship, compared to both mimicked participants and those who had no prior interaction. Experiment 2 showed the impact of nonmimicry on a variety of close relationship evaluations using a pre- versus postmeasure design. Mediation analyses further revealed that the link between mimicry and relationship evaluations is mediated by increased belongingness needs, specifically for the nonmimicked participants. These studies show that after an interaction even with a perfect stranger, nonmimicry may frustrate one’s belongingness needs and therefore lead to strengthened bonds with one’s close others. Implications for (non)mimicry as a behavioral indicator of social exclusion and the presumed buffer function of close relationships are discussed.

Keywords

behavioral mimicry nonverbal behavior close relationships need to belong social exclusion

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