When your decisions are not (quite) your own: Action observation influences free choices

Cole, Geoff G.; Wright, Damien; Doneva, Silviya P.; Skarratt, Paul A.

Abstract

A growing number of studies have begun to assess how the actions of one individual are represented in an observer. Using a variant of an action observation paradigm, four experiments examined whether one person’s behaviour can influence the subjective decisions and judgements of another. In Experiment 1, two observers sat adjacent to each other and took turns to freely select and reach to one of two locations. Results showed that participants were less likely to make a response to the same location as their partner. In three further experiments observers were asked to decide which of two familiar products they preferred or which of two faces were most attractive. Results showed that participants were less likely to choose the product or face occupying the location of their partner’s previous reaching response. These findings suggest that action observation can influence a range of free choice preferences and decisions. Possible mechanisms through which this influence occurs are discussed.

Citation

Cole, G. G., Wright, D., Doneva, S. P., & Skarratt, P. A. (2015). When your decisions are not (quite) your own: Action observation influences free choices. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0127766. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127766

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 20, 2015
• Online Publication Date: May 29, 2015
• Publication Date: May 29, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: PLoS one
• Print ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: ARTN e0127766
• Pages: e0127766
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127766
• Keywords: Decision making; Behaviour; Face; Confidence levels; Imitation; Cognition; Perception; Animal behaviour
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/377310
• Publisher URL: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127766
• Additional Information: Copy of article first published in: PLoS one, 2015, v.10, issue 5
• Contract Date: Nov 23, 2017