If They Move in Sync, They Must Feel in Sync: Movement Synchrony Leads to Attributions of Rapport and Entitativity
Abstract
Coordinated behavior patterns are one of the pillars of social interaction. Researchers have recently shown that movement synchrony influences ratings of rapport, and the extent to which groups are judged to be a unit. The current experiments investigated the hypothesis that observers infer a shared psychological state from synchronized movement rhythms, influencing attributions of rapport and entitativity judgments. Movement rhythms of observed individuals are manipulated between participants (Experiment 1) or kept constant while the source of the emerging movement synchrony is manipulated (Experiment 2), and both rapport and perceived entitativity are measured. The findings support the assumption that movement synchrony increases attributed rapport and perceived entitativity. Furthermore, mediational analyses reveal that the effects of movement synchrony on perceived unity are not purely perceptual in nature, but caused by psychological inferences. Observers infer the degree to which individuals are a social unit from their movement rhythms.
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Synchrony is interpreted by observers as a marker of high group cohesion and entitativity.
“Furthermore, synchrony is interpreted by observers as a marker of high group cohesion and entitativity, suggesting that the association between synchrony and group unity is particularly strong [46,47].”
From The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding (2015) · cites this paper as [46]
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- Authors
- Lakens, D., & Stel, M.
- Affiliations
- Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Venue
- Social Cognition
- Publisher
- Guilford Publications
- Published
- 2011-02
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-14
- ISSN
- 0278-016X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2112131668
- Cited by
- 304
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 13.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Cognition (publishedVersion)
- Research portal (Tilburg University) (publishedVersion)
- University of Twente Research Information (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Keywords
- motor synchronization, rapport, entitativity, social perception, interpersonal coordination, movement rhythm
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