Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social con... more Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social consequences. Explanations for this relationship were investigated here using implicit measures of imitation (automatic imitation task) and memory (preference overlap task). In Study 1, participants performed an intentional synchronisation task where they moved sliders in or out of time with another person while a third person observed. Those who had moved in synchrony showed a stronger tendency to imitate their partner’s actions than those who had moved in a non-synchronous way. Similarly, coordinated partners were also more likely to share object preferences. Results also showed that rather than memory blurring between co-actors, participants had improved memories for the self. Study 2 exchanged intentional for incidental coordination (coordinating with a synchronous metronome). None of the findings from Study 1 replicated when synchronisation was incidental rather than intentional, suggesting that having a shared goal may be critical for triggering effects of synchronisation on imitation tendencies and memory. Together these findings favour explanations related to changes in social categorisation over representational overlap between co-actors.
People who have a high degree of autistic traits often underperform on theory of mind tasks such ... more People who have a high degree of autistic traits often underperform on theory of mind tasks such as perspective-taking or facial emotion recognition compared to those with lower levels of autistic traits. However, some research suggests that this may not be the case if the agent they are evaluating is anthropomorphic (i.e. animal or cartoon) rather than typically human. The present studies examined the relation between facial emotion recognition and autistic trait profiles in over 750 adults using either a standard or cartoon version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) test. Results showed that those scoring above the clinical cut off for autistic traits on the Autism Quotient performed significantly worse than those with the lowest levels of autistic traits on the standard RME, while scores across these groups did not differ substantially on the cartoon version of the task. These findings add further evidence that theory of mind ability such as facial emotion recognition is not at a global deficit in those with a high degree of autistic traits. Instead, differences in this ability may be specific to evaluating human agents.
Moving in time with others-interpersonal coordination-increases affiliation, helping behaviours a... more Moving in time with others-interpersonal coordination-increases affiliation, helping behaviours and gives rise to a host of other prosocial outcomes. Recent research suggests that merely imagining coordination may lead to similar social effects. In the present study, participants were asked to imagine walking with a crowd in a coordinated (versus uncoordinated) way to explore the effects of imagined coordination on individuals' perceptions of themselves and the crowd. Imagined coordination led to greater levels of deindividuation and affiliation. That is, participants were less likely to report seeing themselves as unique individuals, instead viewing themselves as a part of a group (deindividuation) and more likely to report a sense of emotional closeness (affiliation) with the imagined group. Deindividuation partially mediated the effect of imagined coordination on affiliation. This work establishes that imagined synchrony can be employed online to foster prosocial attitudes towards groups of people, and that a process of deindividuation might mediate this effect.
Moving in time together has been shown to cultivate pro-social effects in co-actors, such as coop... more Moving in time together has been shown to cultivate pro-social effects in co-actors, such as cooperation and helping. But less is known about who these effects apply towhether they are restricted only to co-actors, or whether they generalize to those not involved in the coordination. One difference between past work finding generalized vs. restricted effects is whether these "outsiders" were present for the coordination or not. The present study explores whether the pro-social effects of coordination are seen towards observers as well as co-actors, and whether the absence or presence of observers during the coordination is a determining factor. Results show that greater cooperation following coordination is only seen amongst co-actors, regardless of whether the observers were present during the task or not. Findings are discussed in the context of the literature and alternative explanations for research showing generalized effects are suggested.
Autistic people are often described as being impaired with regards to theory of mind (ToM), thoug... more Autistic people are often described as being impaired with regards to theory of mind (ToM), though more recent literature finds flaws in the ToM deficit paradigm. Additionally, the predominant methods for examining ToM often rely on "observational" modes of assessment and do not adequately reflect the dynamic process of real-life perspective taking. Thus, it is imperative that researchers continue to test the autistic ToM deficit paradigm and explore ToM experiences through more naturalistic approaches. This study qualitatively examined ToM in twelve autistic adolescents through a series of semi-structured interviews. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of the data revealed four core themes in participants' ToM experiences and strategies, all of which highlighted how a more accurate representation of autistic ToM is one of difference rather than deficit. For instance, data showed that autistic heightened perceptual abilities may contribute to mentalizing strengths and that honesty in autism may be less dependent on systemizing rather than personal experience and choice. Such findings suggest that future research should reexamine autistic characteristics in light of their ability to enhance ToM processing. Understanding how an autistic ToM is uniquely functional is an imperative step towards both destigmatizing the condition and advocating for neurodiversity.
Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social con... more Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social consequences. Explanations for this relationship were investigated here using implicit measures of imitation (automatic imitation task) and memory (preference overlap task). In Study 1, participants performed an intentional synchronisation task where they moved sliders in or out of time with another person while a third person observed. Those who had moved in synchrony showed a stronger tendency to imitate their partner's actions than those who had moved in a non-synchronous way. Similarly, coordinated partners were also more likely to share object preferences. Results also showed that rather than memory blurring between co-actors, participants had improved memories for the self. Study 2 exchanged intentional for incidental coordination (coordinating with a synchronous metronome). None of the findings from Study 1 replicated when synchronisation was incidental rather than intentional, suggesting that having a shared goal may be critical for triggering effects of synchronisation on imitation tendencies and memory. Together these findings favour explanations related to changes in social categorisation over representational overlap between co-actors. We rhythmically coordinate with each other throughout our lives, from falling into step as we walk next to each other to dancing, singing, and playing music together 1,2. Generally, rhythmic coordination occurs when the movements of co-acting individuals follow specific patterns of relative timing between them 3. A common form of rhythmic coordination is (in-phase) synchrony, where people perform the same movements at the same time as one another 4 , either because they have a shared goal to do so, or because they happen to have fallen into a synchronous pattern. Moving in synchrony with others fosters many social consequences. For instance, we are more likely to help, cooperate, conform with and obey those with whom we have acted in synchrony 5-7. The relationship between synchrony and its socio-emotional consequences is demonstrated in a rapidly growing body of empirical work, and various explanations for this relationship have been purported (for recent reviews see 8-10). Some suggest that acting in synchrony leads to a positive affect and generalised pro-sociality 11. That is, moving in time leads people to feel good and act more prosocially or positively towards people in general, including towards individuals with whom they have not coordinated. However, while some work suggests that synchrony leads to generalised pro-sociality 11,12 , other work does not support this conclusion 13-17. Indeed, see 8,15 for an alternative explanation for the findings. There is also little evidence for positive affect underlying the relationship between synchronous movement performance and generalised pro-sociality 7,8. Other explanations revolve around synchrony leading to an increase in representational overlap between self and other, which can be reflected in co-actors feeling close to each other. Some go as far as to suggest that we essentially begin to represent our co-actors as a part of, or an extension of, ourselves 18. Others suggest that synchrony makes us see those we coordinate with not as part of or an extension of ourselves, but as part of the same social group as ourselves 8. These explanations do not suggest that coordination's effects will extend beyond those whom we have synchronised with to include other people (although there is some evidence 14,19 in line with the group categorisation explanation that the effects of synchrony may extend to affiliates or wider group members of our co-actor). There is mixed evidence as to whether moving in synchrony leads to changes in representational overlap between the individuals involved. While some work finds more reported overlap and affiliation between co-actors following synchronous coordination 7,20 , others have failed to replicate these findings 12,21-23. All of this work has relied on explicit self-report measures of similarity, closeness and connectedness between co-actors or pictorial ratings of overlap using the Inclusion of Other in Self scale (IoS) 24. Similarly, there is also some evidence that OPEN
Still want to help? Interpersonal coordination's effects on helping behaviour after a 24 hour delay, 2020
A fast-growing literature is establishing how moving in time together has pro-social consequences... more A fast-growing literature is establishing how moving in time together has pro-social consequences, though no work to date has explored the persistence of these effects over time. Across two studies, people who had previously performed coordinated movements were over three times more likely to give their time to help their co-actor when asked 24 hours later than those who had performed a similar but uncoordinated task. Findings showed that group-level categorisation, but not social affiliation, partially mediated helping behaviour. This provides preliminary evidence that the pro-social effects of coordination are sustainable over a longer period than previously reported, and that the effects of coordination upon pro-social motivation may be more related to changes in group level categorisations than increased social affiliations. Rhythmically coordinating our movements with people over time is a common feature of everyday life. People regularly dance, sing, chant, play music and even walk together in coordinated ways (McNeil, 1995). These forms of interpersonal coordination have been repeatedly shown to promote a wide range of pro-social behaviours amongst co-actors, including increased liking, rapport, trust, helping, cooperation and even decreasing negative attitudes (
People are prone to dividing others into the categories of 'us' and 'them'. This can be particula... more People are prone to dividing others into the categories of 'us' and 'them'. This can be particularly detrimental to minorities who may experience social exclusion, prejudice, and reduced access to equal opportunities. One method of improving intergroup relations is to create opportunities for contact. Common contact interventions have members of different groups meet and engage in conversation. There are also non-verbal embodied intergroup activities that produce the same effects. Previous work has shown that the pro-social effects of coordination may be linked to whether co-actors are classed as in or out-group members. The current study explored whether imagining walking in synchrony with in-or out-group members changed majority members' attitudes towards those individuals. Imagining walking in synchrony fostered greater increases in empathy and decreases in negative attitudes only towards minority group members following imagined coordination (not in-groups). Implications and future directions are discussed.
This paper uses a data-driven approach to identify the psychological factors that underlie the ar... more This paper uses a data-driven approach to identify the psychological factors that underlie the array of strategies that people use to hide their deceit. Two hundred and nine participants told two lies and two truths and then completed a self-report scale that elicited their experiences when deceiving. A factor analysis of responses produced four factors, three of which were strategic in nature: Nonverbal behaviour control, which relates to attempts to monitor and control nonverbal behaviour when lying; Detail, which relates to attempts to produce detailed, engaging lies; Cognitive difficulty, which relates to the cognitive difficulties experienced when lying and their strategic consequences; and Anxiety, which relates to the negative emotions experienced when deceiving. The results further our understanding of the psychological processes that underpin deception and suggest several potentially fruitful avenues for future research.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2019
People with autism are often characterized as having difficulties with theory of mind abilities s... more People with autism are often characterized as having difficulties with theory of mind abilities such as emotion recognition. However, rather than being a pervasive deficit of 'mindblindness,' a number of studies suggests these difficulties vary by context, and when people with autism mindread non-human agents, such as animals or cartoons, these abilities improve. To replicate this effect, 15 adolescents with both autism and intellectual disability participated in a test of facial emotion recognition , with both human and animal faces. Participants performed significantly better on the animal version of the assessment compared to the human version, and human rather than animal scores were the strongest predictor of symptom severity. These results were shown to be primarily driven by improvement in recognition of the emotions happiness and anger in animal rather than human faces. Implications with regards to social motivation and theory of mind interventions are discussed.
Interpersonal entrainment has been shown to have a wide variety of social consequences which span... more Interpersonal entrainment has been shown to have a wide variety of social consequences which span far beyond those that could be considered purely pro-social. This work reviews all of the social effects of entrainment and the various explanations for them. The group formation framework emerges as a parsimonious account claiming that as we entrain our sense of self is temporarily diluted as an interdependent identity becomes more salient, thus leading to a range of social and psychological consequences which are pro-group. The sense of belonging arising from moving together is conducive towards pro-social behaviours; yet, it also makes the individual more susceptible to adopting the ideology of the group without critical thinking. We argue that the wide landscape of interpersonal entrainment's effects reflects its primary effect, de-individuation, and the formation of a common group identity amongst co-actors.
Stereotyping is a pervasive societal problem that impacts not only minority groups but sub-serves... more Stereotyping is a pervasive societal problem that impacts not only minority groups but sub-serves individuals who perpetuate stereotypes, leading to greater distance between groups. Social contact interventions have been shown to reduce prejudice and stereotyping, but optimal contact conditions between groups are often out of reach in day to day life. Therefore , we investigated the effects of a synchronous walking intervention, a non-verbal embodied approach to intergroup contact that may reduce the need for optimal contact conditions. We studied attitude change towards the Roma group in Hungary following actual and imagined walking, both in a coordinated and uncoordinated manner. Results showed that coordinated walking, both imagined and in vivo, led to explicit and implicit reductions in prejudice and stereotyping towards both the Roma individual and the wider Roma social group. This suggests that coordinated movement could be a valuable addition to current approaches towards prejudice reduction.
The implicit association test (IAT) measures bias towards often controversial topics (e.g., race,... more The implicit association test (IAT) measures bias towards often controversial topics (e.g., race, religion), while newspapers typically take strong positive/negative stances on such issues. In a pre-registered study, we developed and administered an immigration IAT to readers of the Daily Mail (a typically anti-immigration publication) and the Guardian (a typically pro-immigration publication) newspapers. IAT materials were constructed based on co-occurrence frequencies from each newspapers' website for immigration-related terms (migrant/immigrant) and positive/negative attributes (skilled/unskilled). Target stimuli showed stronger negative associations with immigration concepts in the Daily Mail compared to the Guardian, and stronger positive associations in the Guardian corpus compared to the Daily Mail corpus. Consistent with these linguistic distributional differences, Daily Mail readers exhibited a larger IAT bias, revealing stronger negative associations to immigration concepts compared to Guardian readers. This difference in overall bias was not fully explained by other variables, and raises the possibility that exposure to biased language contributes to biased implicit attitudes.
Rhythmically coordinating with a partner can increase pro-sociality, but pro-sociality does not a... more Rhythmically coordinating with a partner can increase pro-sociality, but pro-sociality does not appear to change in proportion to coordination success, or particular classes of coordination. Pro-social benefits may have more to do with simply coordinating in a social context than the details of the actual coordination (Cross et al., 2016). This begs the question, how stripped down can a coordination task be and still affect pro-sociality? Would it be sufficient simply to imagine coordinating with others? Imagining a social interaction can lead to many of the same effects as actual interaction (Crisp and Turner, 2009). We report the first experiments to explore whether imagined coordination affects pro-sociality similarly to actual coordination. Across two experiments and over 450 participants, mentally simulated coordination is shown to promote some, but not all, of the pro-social consequences of actual coordination. Imagined coordination significantly increased group cohesion and de-individuation, but did not consistently affect cooperation.
Theory of mind (ToM) is defined as the process of taking another's perspective. Anthropomorphism ... more Theory of mind (ToM) is defined as the process of taking another's perspective. Anthropomorphism can be seen as the extension of ToM to non-human entities. This review examines the literature concerning ToM and anthropomorphism in relation to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), specifically addressing the questions of how and why those on the spectrum both show an increased interest for anthropomorphism and may even show improved ToM abilities when judging the mental states of anthropomorphic characters. This review highlights that while individuals with ASD traditionally show deficits on a wide range of ToM tests, such as recognizing facial emotions, such ToM deficits may be ameliorated if the stimuli presented is cartoon or animal-like rather than in human form. Individuals with ASD show a greater interest in anthropomorphic characters and process the features of these characters using methods typically reserved for human stimuli. Personal accounts of individuals with ASD also suggest they may identify more closely with animals than other humans. It is shown how the social motivations hypothesized to underlie the anthropomorphizing of non-human targets may lead those on the spectrum to seek social connections and therefore gain ToM experience and expertise amongst unlikely sources.
Although it is well established that rhythmically coordinating with a social partner can increase... more Although it is well established that rhythmically coordinating with a social partner can increase cooperation, it is as yet unclear when and why intentional coordination has such effects. We distinguish three dimensions along which explanations might vary. First, pro-social effects might require in-phase synchrony or simply coordination. Second, the effects of rhythmic movements on cooperation might be direct or mediated by an intervening variable. Third, the pro-social effects might occur in proportion to the quality of the coordination, or occur once some threshold amount of coordination has occurred. We report an experiment and two follow-ups which sought to identify which classes of models are required to account for the positive effects of coordinated rhythmic movement on cooperation. Across the studies, we found evidence (1) that coordination, and not just synchrony, can have pro-social consequences (so long as the social nature of the task is perceived), (2) that the effects of intentional coordination are direct, not mediated, and (3) that the degree of the coordination did not predict the degree of cooperation. The fact of inter-personal coordination (moving together in time and in a social context) is all that's required for pro-social effects. We suggest that future research should use the kind of carefully controllable experimental task used here to continue to develop explanations for when and why coordination affects pro-social behaviors.
Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social con... more Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social consequences. Explanations for this relationship were investigated here using implicit measures of imitation (automatic imitation task) and memory (preference overlap task). In Study 1, participants performed an intentional synchronisation task where they moved sliders in or out of time with another person while a third person observed. Those who had moved in synchrony showed a stronger tendency to imitate their partner’s actions than those who had moved in a non-synchronous way. Similarly, coordinated partners were also more likely to share object preferences. Results also showed that rather than memory blurring between co-actors, participants had improved memories for the self. Study 2 exchanged intentional for incidental coordination (coordinating with a synchronous metronome). None of the findings from Study 1 replicated when synchronisation was incidental rather than intentional, suggesting that having a shared goal may be critical for triggering effects of synchronisation on imitation tendencies and memory. Together these findings favour explanations related to changes in social categorisation over representational overlap between co-actors.
People who have a high degree of autistic traits often underperform on theory of mind tasks such ... more People who have a high degree of autistic traits often underperform on theory of mind tasks such as perspective-taking or facial emotion recognition compared to those with lower levels of autistic traits. However, some research suggests that this may not be the case if the agent they are evaluating is anthropomorphic (i.e. animal or cartoon) rather than typically human. The present studies examined the relation between facial emotion recognition and autistic trait profiles in over 750 adults using either a standard or cartoon version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes (RME) test. Results showed that those scoring above the clinical cut off for autistic traits on the Autism Quotient performed significantly worse than those with the lowest levels of autistic traits on the standard RME, while scores across these groups did not differ substantially on the cartoon version of the task. These findings add further evidence that theory of mind ability such as facial emotion recognition is not at a global deficit in those with a high degree of autistic traits. Instead, differences in this ability may be specific to evaluating human agents.
Moving in time with others-interpersonal coordination-increases affiliation, helping behaviours a... more Moving in time with others-interpersonal coordination-increases affiliation, helping behaviours and gives rise to a host of other prosocial outcomes. Recent research suggests that merely imagining coordination may lead to similar social effects. In the present study, participants were asked to imagine walking with a crowd in a coordinated (versus uncoordinated) way to explore the effects of imagined coordination on individuals' perceptions of themselves and the crowd. Imagined coordination led to greater levels of deindividuation and affiliation. That is, participants were less likely to report seeing themselves as unique individuals, instead viewing themselves as a part of a group (deindividuation) and more likely to report a sense of emotional closeness (affiliation) with the imagined group. Deindividuation partially mediated the effect of imagined coordination on affiliation. This work establishes that imagined synchrony can be employed online to foster prosocial attitudes towards groups of people, and that a process of deindividuation might mediate this effect.
Moving in time together has been shown to cultivate pro-social effects in co-actors, such as coop... more Moving in time together has been shown to cultivate pro-social effects in co-actors, such as cooperation and helping. But less is known about who these effects apply towhether they are restricted only to co-actors, or whether they generalize to those not involved in the coordination. One difference between past work finding generalized vs. restricted effects is whether these "outsiders" were present for the coordination or not. The present study explores whether the pro-social effects of coordination are seen towards observers as well as co-actors, and whether the absence or presence of observers during the coordination is a determining factor. Results show that greater cooperation following coordination is only seen amongst co-actors, regardless of whether the observers were present during the task or not. Findings are discussed in the context of the literature and alternative explanations for research showing generalized effects are suggested.
Autistic people are often described as being impaired with regards to theory of mind (ToM), thoug... more Autistic people are often described as being impaired with regards to theory of mind (ToM), though more recent literature finds flaws in the ToM deficit paradigm. Additionally, the predominant methods for examining ToM often rely on "observational" modes of assessment and do not adequately reflect the dynamic process of real-life perspective taking. Thus, it is imperative that researchers continue to test the autistic ToM deficit paradigm and explore ToM experiences through more naturalistic approaches. This study qualitatively examined ToM in twelve autistic adolescents through a series of semi-structured interviews. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of the data revealed four core themes in participants' ToM experiences and strategies, all of which highlighted how a more accurate representation of autistic ToM is one of difference rather than deficit. For instance, data showed that autistic heightened perceptual abilities may contribute to mentalizing strengths and that honesty in autism may be less dependent on systemizing rather than personal experience and choice. Such findings suggest that future research should reexamine autistic characteristics in light of their ability to enhance ToM processing. Understanding how an autistic ToM is uniquely functional is an imperative step towards both destigmatizing the condition and advocating for neurodiversity.
Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social con... more Acting in synchrony is a fundamental part of many social interactions and can have pro-social consequences. Explanations for this relationship were investigated here using implicit measures of imitation (automatic imitation task) and memory (preference overlap task). In Study 1, participants performed an intentional synchronisation task where they moved sliders in or out of time with another person while a third person observed. Those who had moved in synchrony showed a stronger tendency to imitate their partner's actions than those who had moved in a non-synchronous way. Similarly, coordinated partners were also more likely to share object preferences. Results also showed that rather than memory blurring between co-actors, participants had improved memories for the self. Study 2 exchanged intentional for incidental coordination (coordinating with a synchronous metronome). None of the findings from Study 1 replicated when synchronisation was incidental rather than intentional, suggesting that having a shared goal may be critical for triggering effects of synchronisation on imitation tendencies and memory. Together these findings favour explanations related to changes in social categorisation over representational overlap between co-actors. We rhythmically coordinate with each other throughout our lives, from falling into step as we walk next to each other to dancing, singing, and playing music together 1,2. Generally, rhythmic coordination occurs when the movements of co-acting individuals follow specific patterns of relative timing between them 3. A common form of rhythmic coordination is (in-phase) synchrony, where people perform the same movements at the same time as one another 4 , either because they have a shared goal to do so, or because they happen to have fallen into a synchronous pattern. Moving in synchrony with others fosters many social consequences. For instance, we are more likely to help, cooperate, conform with and obey those with whom we have acted in synchrony 5-7. The relationship between synchrony and its socio-emotional consequences is demonstrated in a rapidly growing body of empirical work, and various explanations for this relationship have been purported (for recent reviews see 8-10). Some suggest that acting in synchrony leads to a positive affect and generalised pro-sociality 11. That is, moving in time leads people to feel good and act more prosocially or positively towards people in general, including towards individuals with whom they have not coordinated. However, while some work suggests that synchrony leads to generalised pro-sociality 11,12 , other work does not support this conclusion 13-17. Indeed, see 8,15 for an alternative explanation for the findings. There is also little evidence for positive affect underlying the relationship between synchronous movement performance and generalised pro-sociality 7,8. Other explanations revolve around synchrony leading to an increase in representational overlap between self and other, which can be reflected in co-actors feeling close to each other. Some go as far as to suggest that we essentially begin to represent our co-actors as a part of, or an extension of, ourselves 18. Others suggest that synchrony makes us see those we coordinate with not as part of or an extension of ourselves, but as part of the same social group as ourselves 8. These explanations do not suggest that coordination's effects will extend beyond those whom we have synchronised with to include other people (although there is some evidence 14,19 in line with the group categorisation explanation that the effects of synchrony may extend to affiliates or wider group members of our co-actor). There is mixed evidence as to whether moving in synchrony leads to changes in representational overlap between the individuals involved. While some work finds more reported overlap and affiliation between co-actors following synchronous coordination 7,20 , others have failed to replicate these findings 12,21-23. All of this work has relied on explicit self-report measures of similarity, closeness and connectedness between co-actors or pictorial ratings of overlap using the Inclusion of Other in Self scale (IoS) 24. Similarly, there is also some evidence that OPEN
Still want to help? Interpersonal coordination's effects on helping behaviour after a 24 hour delay, 2020
A fast-growing literature is establishing how moving in time together has pro-social consequences... more A fast-growing literature is establishing how moving in time together has pro-social consequences, though no work to date has explored the persistence of these effects over time. Across two studies, people who had previously performed coordinated movements were over three times more likely to give their time to help their co-actor when asked 24 hours later than those who had performed a similar but uncoordinated task. Findings showed that group-level categorisation, but not social affiliation, partially mediated helping behaviour. This provides preliminary evidence that the pro-social effects of coordination are sustainable over a longer period than previously reported, and that the effects of coordination upon pro-social motivation may be more related to changes in group level categorisations than increased social affiliations. Rhythmically coordinating our movements with people over time is a common feature of everyday life. People regularly dance, sing, chant, play music and even walk together in coordinated ways (McNeil, 1995). These forms of interpersonal coordination have been repeatedly shown to promote a wide range of pro-social behaviours amongst co-actors, including increased liking, rapport, trust, helping, cooperation and even decreasing negative attitudes (
People are prone to dividing others into the categories of 'us' and 'them'. This can be particula... more People are prone to dividing others into the categories of 'us' and 'them'. This can be particularly detrimental to minorities who may experience social exclusion, prejudice, and reduced access to equal opportunities. One method of improving intergroup relations is to create opportunities for contact. Common contact interventions have members of different groups meet and engage in conversation. There are also non-verbal embodied intergroup activities that produce the same effects. Previous work has shown that the pro-social effects of coordination may be linked to whether co-actors are classed as in or out-group members. The current study explored whether imagining walking in synchrony with in-or out-group members changed majority members' attitudes towards those individuals. Imagining walking in synchrony fostered greater increases in empathy and decreases in negative attitudes only towards minority group members following imagined coordination (not in-groups). Implications and future directions are discussed.
This paper uses a data-driven approach to identify the psychological factors that underlie the ar... more This paper uses a data-driven approach to identify the psychological factors that underlie the array of strategies that people use to hide their deceit. Two hundred and nine participants told two lies and two truths and then completed a self-report scale that elicited their experiences when deceiving. A factor analysis of responses produced four factors, three of which were strategic in nature: Nonverbal behaviour control, which relates to attempts to monitor and control nonverbal behaviour when lying; Detail, which relates to attempts to produce detailed, engaging lies; Cognitive difficulty, which relates to the cognitive difficulties experienced when lying and their strategic consequences; and Anxiety, which relates to the negative emotions experienced when deceiving. The results further our understanding of the psychological processes that underpin deception and suggest several potentially fruitful avenues for future research.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2019
People with autism are often characterized as having difficulties with theory of mind abilities s... more People with autism are often characterized as having difficulties with theory of mind abilities such as emotion recognition. However, rather than being a pervasive deficit of 'mindblindness,' a number of studies suggests these difficulties vary by context, and when people with autism mindread non-human agents, such as animals or cartoons, these abilities improve. To replicate this effect, 15 adolescents with both autism and intellectual disability participated in a test of facial emotion recognition , with both human and animal faces. Participants performed significantly better on the animal version of the assessment compared to the human version, and human rather than animal scores were the strongest predictor of symptom severity. These results were shown to be primarily driven by improvement in recognition of the emotions happiness and anger in animal rather than human faces. Implications with regards to social motivation and theory of mind interventions are discussed.
Interpersonal entrainment has been shown to have a wide variety of social consequences which span... more Interpersonal entrainment has been shown to have a wide variety of social consequences which span far beyond those that could be considered purely pro-social. This work reviews all of the social effects of entrainment and the various explanations for them. The group formation framework emerges as a parsimonious account claiming that as we entrain our sense of self is temporarily diluted as an interdependent identity becomes more salient, thus leading to a range of social and psychological consequences which are pro-group. The sense of belonging arising from moving together is conducive towards pro-social behaviours; yet, it also makes the individual more susceptible to adopting the ideology of the group without critical thinking. We argue that the wide landscape of interpersonal entrainment's effects reflects its primary effect, de-individuation, and the formation of a common group identity amongst co-actors.
Stereotyping is a pervasive societal problem that impacts not only minority groups but sub-serves... more Stereotyping is a pervasive societal problem that impacts not only minority groups but sub-serves individuals who perpetuate stereotypes, leading to greater distance between groups. Social contact interventions have been shown to reduce prejudice and stereotyping, but optimal contact conditions between groups are often out of reach in day to day life. Therefore , we investigated the effects of a synchronous walking intervention, a non-verbal embodied approach to intergroup contact that may reduce the need for optimal contact conditions. We studied attitude change towards the Roma group in Hungary following actual and imagined walking, both in a coordinated and uncoordinated manner. Results showed that coordinated walking, both imagined and in vivo, led to explicit and implicit reductions in prejudice and stereotyping towards both the Roma individual and the wider Roma social group. This suggests that coordinated movement could be a valuable addition to current approaches towards prejudice reduction.
The implicit association test (IAT) measures bias towards often controversial topics (e.g., race,... more The implicit association test (IAT) measures bias towards often controversial topics (e.g., race, religion), while newspapers typically take strong positive/negative stances on such issues. In a pre-registered study, we developed and administered an immigration IAT to readers of the Daily Mail (a typically anti-immigration publication) and the Guardian (a typically pro-immigration publication) newspapers. IAT materials were constructed based on co-occurrence frequencies from each newspapers' website for immigration-related terms (migrant/immigrant) and positive/negative attributes (skilled/unskilled). Target stimuli showed stronger negative associations with immigration concepts in the Daily Mail compared to the Guardian, and stronger positive associations in the Guardian corpus compared to the Daily Mail corpus. Consistent with these linguistic distributional differences, Daily Mail readers exhibited a larger IAT bias, revealing stronger negative associations to immigration concepts compared to Guardian readers. This difference in overall bias was not fully explained by other variables, and raises the possibility that exposure to biased language contributes to biased implicit attitudes.
Rhythmically coordinating with a partner can increase pro-sociality, but pro-sociality does not a... more Rhythmically coordinating with a partner can increase pro-sociality, but pro-sociality does not appear to change in proportion to coordination success, or particular classes of coordination. Pro-social benefits may have more to do with simply coordinating in a social context than the details of the actual coordination (Cross et al., 2016). This begs the question, how stripped down can a coordination task be and still affect pro-sociality? Would it be sufficient simply to imagine coordinating with others? Imagining a social interaction can lead to many of the same effects as actual interaction (Crisp and Turner, 2009). We report the first experiments to explore whether imagined coordination affects pro-sociality similarly to actual coordination. Across two experiments and over 450 participants, mentally simulated coordination is shown to promote some, but not all, of the pro-social consequences of actual coordination. Imagined coordination significantly increased group cohesion and de-individuation, but did not consistently affect cooperation.
Theory of mind (ToM) is defined as the process of taking another's perspective. Anthropomorphism ... more Theory of mind (ToM) is defined as the process of taking another's perspective. Anthropomorphism can be seen as the extension of ToM to non-human entities. This review examines the literature concerning ToM and anthropomorphism in relation to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), specifically addressing the questions of how and why those on the spectrum both show an increased interest for anthropomorphism and may even show improved ToM abilities when judging the mental states of anthropomorphic characters. This review highlights that while individuals with ASD traditionally show deficits on a wide range of ToM tests, such as recognizing facial emotions, such ToM deficits may be ameliorated if the stimuli presented is cartoon or animal-like rather than in human form. Individuals with ASD show a greater interest in anthropomorphic characters and process the features of these characters using methods typically reserved for human stimuli. Personal accounts of individuals with ASD also suggest they may identify more closely with animals than other humans. It is shown how the social motivations hypothesized to underlie the anthropomorphizing of non-human targets may lead those on the spectrum to seek social connections and therefore gain ToM experience and expertise amongst unlikely sources.
Although it is well established that rhythmically coordinating with a social partner can increase... more Although it is well established that rhythmically coordinating with a social partner can increase cooperation, it is as yet unclear when and why intentional coordination has such effects. We distinguish three dimensions along which explanations might vary. First, pro-social effects might require in-phase synchrony or simply coordination. Second, the effects of rhythmic movements on cooperation might be direct or mediated by an intervening variable. Third, the pro-social effects might occur in proportion to the quality of the coordination, or occur once some threshold amount of coordination has occurred. We report an experiment and two follow-ups which sought to identify which classes of models are required to account for the positive effects of coordinated rhythmic movement on cooperation. Across the studies, we found evidence (1) that coordination, and not just synchrony, can have pro-social consequences (so long as the social nature of the task is perceived), (2) that the effects of intentional coordination are direct, not mediated, and (3) that the degree of the coordination did not predict the degree of cooperation. The fact of inter-personal coordination (moving together in time and in a social context) is all that's required for pro-social effects. We suggest that future research should use the kind of carefully controllable experimental task used here to continue to develop explanations for when and why coordination affects pro-social behaviors.
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Papers by Liam Cross