The Influence of Similarity on Automatic Imitation in School-Aged Children

Abstract

Factors such as a person’s liking of the model or perceived similarity can influence imitation. However, to date, it is unclear whether perceived similarity influences one specific type of imitation, automatic imitation, in children. This study investigated whether school-aged children (N = 101, Mage = 92.57, SDage = 3.28 months) differ in their automatic imitation depending on whether they perceived the model as similar or dissimilar to themselves. Although the similarity manipulation seemed to work, we did not find support for an effect on children’s automatic imitation. We discuss our findings in light of previous research in this area and critically reflect upon the methodological challenges of this study.