The (Un)aware Chameleon. The relationship between nonverbal mimicry, getting in by mimicry, and (un)awareness of the process

In a field of mimicry, unawareness of this mechanism is like a dogma. It is assumed that mimickee is neither aware while being mimicked nor of the positive effects that the imitation has on liking of the mimicker. Surprisingly to the date no research addressed the question whether awareness of mimicry would eliminate the impact of 'the chameleon effect'. In this paper two studies have addressed this issue. In both experiments a nonverbal behavior presented by participants was (or was not) imitated and its awareness was manipulated . Both studies showed that making people aware of the chameleon effect did not reduce the impact of this mechanism. Limitations of the studies are discussed, ideas for some future studies as well as an in-depth discussion on unawareness of the chameleon have been presented. peerReviewed publishedVersion