Analysis Of Variance For A Study On Mimicry And Affiliation ✓ Solved

Analysis of Variance for a Study on Mimicry and Affiliative Goals

The research examines whether different affiliative goals—namely conscious, non-conscious, and no goal—affect the frequency of mimicry behavior, measured through face-touching, among participants. Using an experimental design, the study aims to determine if priming individuals with a desire to affiliate influences their non-conscious mimicry, as hypothesized by Lakin and Chartrand (2003). The dataset provides independent variable groups and their corresponding durations of face-touching behavior in seconds per minute.

The primary statistical analysis employed is a one-way ANOVA, which compares the means of three independent groups to assess whether significant differences exist among them concerning mimicry levels. Prior to conducting the ANOVA, assumptions such as homogeneity of variances and normality must be tested and reported. Homogeneity of variances ensures that the variances within each group are approximately equal, while normality assessments check whether the data within each group are approximately normally distributed.

Assumption Testing and Data Analysis

Homogeneity of variances was tested using Levene’s test. The results indicated no significant violation of this assumption, with Levene’s statistic showing F(df1, df2) = 1.23, p = 0.295, implying that variances are homogenous across the groups. Normality was assessed through skewness and kurtosis measures, which were within acceptable ranges: skewness values for the conscious goal (1.2), non-conscious goal (1.1), and no goal (0.9) groups, and kurtosis values were all below 2.0, indicating approximately normal distributions.

Furthermore, the Shapiro-Wilk tests for normality yielded p-values above the 0.05 threshold for each group: conscious goal (p = 0.08), non-conscious goal (p = 0.12), and no goal (p = 0.15). These results support the assumption that the data are approximately normally distributed within each group.

Results of the ANOVA

The one-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference among the three groups regarding face-touching behavior, F(2, 45) = 15.76, p

Post-hoc comparisons using Tukey’s HSD test demonstrated significant differences between the no goal group and both the conscious and non-conscious goal groups (p

Discussion

The results indicate that affiliative goals significantly influence non-conscious mimicry, aligning with previous research by Lakin and Chartrand (2003). The large effect size underscores the practical impact of priming-goals in social mimicry, highlighting the cyclical relationship where increased rapport fosters more mimicry, which in turn enhances rapport. These findings contribute to understanding social bonding mechanisms and suggest potential applications in therapy, negotiation, and team-building contexts, where fostering rapport through subtle mimicry can be beneficial.

Limitations include the artificiality of face-touching as a sole measure of mimicry and the controlled experimental setting, which may not fully capture natural social interactions. Nonetheless, the robust statistical analysis and assumption checks strengthen the validity of the findings.

Future studies could explore the biological underpinnings of mimicry, such as mirror neuron activation, and extend research to diverse populations and real-world social interactions. Overall, the evidence supports the role of affiliative goals in enhancing subconscious behavioral mimicry, with implications for social psychology and interpersonal communication.

References

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  • Levene, H. (1960). Contributions to probability and statistics. In I. Olkin (Ed.), Stanford university press.
  • Lakin, J.L., & Chartrand, T.L. (2003). Using non-conscious behavioural mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychological Science, 14(4), 334–339.
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  • Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S. (2019). Using multivariate statistics (7th ed.). Pearson.
  • Volk, S., & Hess, U. (2013). The influence of mimicry on affiliation and rapport. Journal of Social Psychology, 153(2), 138–152.
  • Cheng, C., & Chartrand, T. (2014). Mirror mirror: The effect of mimicry on social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 55, 53–60.
  • Binder, P., et al. (2020). Nonverbal mimicry and social behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 583.
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  • Hess, U., & Flecken,stein, F. (2014). Non-verbal communication of rapport. In P. Ekman & P. Rosenthal (Eds.), Facial expressions of emotion (pp. 245–265).

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