The Chameleon effect

Children pick habits or behavioral traits from their parents/friends. People living in a community/friend circle tend to have a common lifestyle even if it wasn’t there in the first place. I have recently observed that some of my actions or the way I think are somewhat similar to what my father or my mother would do if they were at the same place. To be honest, I didn’t like it.(because of my urge to be distinctive maybe :P )

A study was conducted among the students from Humboldt State University California, who takes pride in their environmental credentials. A student/participant was asked about their own environmental views while sitting next to an actor (who was playing a role of a third student wearing a university sweatshirt) while listening to an interview of a student (let’s call him A) who stressed the importance of walking or cycling short distances rather than taking a car and then later admitting to driving to the interview. When student-A’s hypocrisy was revealed, the actor either made a negative remark about their behavior or stayed quiet.

In most cases, the participant’s comment was dependent on how the actor was reacting to it. Like when the actor criticized how student-A is being such a hypocrite elicited the strongest environmental feelings in the participant. Conversely, if the outsider stayed quiet, the participants judged the importance of cycling the lowest. So, how an outsider judges the interviewee has a significant impact on whether the participant backs him up or not.

This is called vicarious dissonance. It is when you see someone behave in a way different from your attitude, you feel like changing it too.

It doesn’t mean that you will start copying the other person, but you will change your attitudes to reflect your behavior because you feel similar to them and see them as an extension of you. This can also be the need to seek the approval of others while joining a new group to get along with them.

It can be as big as picking up a smoking habit from your friends even though you know how harmful it is or as small as starting to drink loads of water first thing in the morning because your partner does so because duh hydration is important! Some common examples can be the fashion trends you follow or bestseller food dishes you want to try.

Beneath your awareness, your brain is constantly picking up on cues from the people around you to inform your behavior. This is also known as social proximity behavior. One good way to take advantage of this is if there’s something you want to pursue, focus your effort on finding out people who are already doing that thing and building relationships with them. This way, you will feel comfortable pursuing it and increase your chances to reach the end goal.

Some researchers call this phenomenon of unconsciously imitating the people around the chameleon effect. They found out that the more empathetic someone was, the more likely they were to mimic other person’s mannerisms. This also made sense because empathetic people pay more attention to the people around them and have an overall greater perception. This link can be well explained when it comes to micro-level behaviors one can mimic unconsciously: gestures, postures, speech patterns, moods, etc. And also, it seems to help us bond even when we’re not trying to because, in the end, it’s all unconscious.

So, the next time you find yourself mirroring someone’s gestures or mimicking someone’s accent, don’t be embarrassed — remind yourself that it means you’re an empathetic human being.

Our decisions might not always be in our hands. But this also means we can use our influence for good. Your presence on Earth makes a difference whether you realize it or not! :)

Links & References : https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190520-how-your-friends-change-your-habits---for-better-and-worse, https://www.discovery.com/science/copy-other-peoples-mannerisms, https://www.riskology.co/proximity-effect/