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Synchronising movements with the sounds of a virtual partner enhances partner likeability

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Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that synchronising movements with other people can influence affiliative behaviour towards them. While research has focused on synchronisation with visually observed movement, synchronisation with a partner who is heard may have similar effects. We replicate findings showing that synchronisation can influence ratings of likeability of a partner, but demonstrate that this is possible with virtual interaction, involving a video of a partner. Participants performed instructed synchrony in time to sounds instead of the observable actions of another person. Results show significantly higher ratings of likeability of a partner after moving at the same time as sounds attributed to that partner, compared with moving in between sounds. Objectively quantified synchrony also correlated with ratings of likeability. Belief that sounds were made by another person was manipulated in Experiment 2, and results demonstrate that when sounds are attributed to a computer, ratings of likeability are not affected by moving in or out of time. These findings demonstrate that interaction with sound can be experienced as social interaction in the absence of genuine interpersonal contact, which may help explain why people enjoy engaging with recorded music.

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Notes

  1. In conditions where participants had been told not to synchronise, this was preceded by “Given that your aim was not to synchronise,”.

  2. Following null results relating to the change in virtual eye gaze in Experiment 2, further analyses were performed on the eye tracking data (on pupil dilation, variability of gaze within and outside eye region of image, and time course of eye gaze change) to determine whether an effect was being masked by the virtual eye contact measure. These did not reveal any reliable differences between the “with” and “between” conditions. A third experiment was conducted as a replication of Experiment 1 using the minimum participants statistically required to demonstrate the effect identified in Experiment 1. As in Experiment 2, these results did not reveal any significant differences between eye gaze in the two instruction conditions and demonstrated a non-significant trend towards increases in eye gaze being associated with rating a partner as less likeable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Jacques Launay, Roger T. Dean & Freya Bailes

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    Jacques Launay

  3. School of Drama, Music and Screen, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, UK

    Freya Bailes

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  1. Jacques Launay
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  2. Roger T. Dean
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  3. Freya Bailes
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Correspondence to Jacques Launay.

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Launay, J., Dean, R.T. & Bailes, F. Synchronising movements with the sounds of a virtual partner enhances partner likeability. Cogn Process 15, 491–501 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-014-0618-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-014-0618-0

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