Thesis subject

Mimicry and environmental behavior

How do we get people to adopt environmentally significant behaviors? This question has been a driving force behind many research endeavors over the past decades. A big trend nowadays seems to be developing so called ‘nudges’: gentle, unobtrusive ways to push people in the right direction. The goal of the current research is to investigate whether a particular kind of nudge can be successful in eliciting environmental behavior change. That nudge is mimicry.

Mimicry refers to the unconscious imitation of the interaction partner’s nonverbal behaviors. Not only does mimicry increase liking; research also shows that being mimicked leads people to attach more value to the welfare and rights of others; to be more concerned with the collective than the personal good: in other words, to become more prosocial. Studies have shown that being mimicked leads people to donate more to charity and to more willingness to help a partner (Stel et al., 2008).

The goal of the current study is to find out whether being mimicked also affects people’s environmental decision making. The MSc student will design and carry out an experiment to this end. Experience with and/or interest in quantitative data analysis (ANOVA, regression, et cetera) is required.