Lynden K. Miles, Jordan L. Griffiths,
Michael J. Richardson and C. Neil
Macrae
• People tend to mimic those they like or wish to affiliate with, but
refrain from imitating those they dislike or who belong to an
unpopular group.
• Interpersonal synchrony as a pathway through which people can
influence their connections with others.
• Synchrony elicits feelings of connectedness and rapport, and
enhances the memorability of a dyadic interaction.
• Interpersonal coordination is thought of to be a result from selforganizing processes of coupled oscillator dynamic.
• Stable modes of synchrony are associated with higher ratings
of rapport and liking, and facilitate memory for an interaction
partner compared to less stable forms of coordination
• Boundary Conditions
• Are there particular circumstances under which people are more or less
likely to coordinate with others?
• How are the self-changing systems vulnerable?
• Dynamical Processes
• Self organized processes that have been shown to underlie a range of
complex emotional, developmental and social psychological phenomena.
• Coordination dynamics that underlie interpersonal synchrony may be
sensitive to the operation of overarching social goals.
• 26 female graduates who participated in exchange for course
credit.
Procedure:
1. Upon arrival to study, participants either waited for their
partner or began the experiment on time.
2. Filled out questionnaires on rapport and Positive and
Negative Affect.
3. Recorded physical activity with confederates 50cm in front of
the participants.
4. Debrief
• Baseline coordination was calculated by comparing participant
movements during the 30 seconds period when they stepped
alone, with the confederate’s movements during the first 30
seconds of the test stage of the procedure.
• Coordination is indicated by a concentration of relative phase
angles in the portions of the distribution near 0 degrees (in
phase coordination) and/or 180 degrees (anti-phase
coordination).
• Synchrony
• On time condition: footsteps were coordinated in an in-phase mode, with those
of the confederate at a significantly greater level than during the baseline.
• Late condition: Despite an elevated level during the stage, there was no
significance between the baseline.
• Rapport
• Ratings on the positive rapport index were higher for participants in the ontime condition than those in late condition.
• No difference emerged for the index of negative rapport items
• Higher ratings on the positive rapport index were accompanied by a
greater degree of coordination
• Higher ratings on the negative rapport index were accompanied by
lower levels of coordination.
• Mood
• Participants furnished higher positive than negative mood ratings.
• No significant relationships between ratings of either positive or negative
mood and the frequency of in-phase coordination.
• Participants in the late condition generally failed to coordinate
at levels significantly greater than the baseline.
• Contextual factors shape the self-organization of the dynamics that sustain
behavioral synchrony
• A negative social context can inhibit or eliminate the emergence of this
form of coordination.
• Synchronous actions co-vary with differences in the expected
affective tone of a social interaction
• Participants did not report significant differences in mood as a
function of experimental condition
• How does the dynamical view then explain the systematic
differences in synchrony in this study?
• Disdain may have prevented the subject from looking at her partner, thus
visually impeding her from self-organization.
• The mode of coordination has important implications for joint
action
• Setting a foundation for social interaction
• Influencing core aspects of social-cognitive