What makes behaviours spread? Social and behavioural modulators of nonconscious mimicry and contagion
Date
2021-11
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Abstract
Social species stay in groups by constantly adjusting their behaviours to match those of neighbouring individuals. This nonconscious transmission of behaviour keeps specific individuals together and relays information between them. Despite the central importance of behavioural mimicry and contagion, we cannot yet predict when it will occur. What makes behaviours spread in some situations but not in others? My thesis compares rates of mimicry across different social variables (e.g., age, proximity, rank) and characteristics of the behaviour (e.g., duration, intensity) to determine which factors contribute to behavioural transmission. Using a habituated population of bighorn sheep, I compare mimicry of vigilance (head raising during grazing) across several social and behavioural conditions. Results support the idea that vigilance transmission is modulated more by social factors than by characteristics of the behaviour itself. Specifically, mimicry is more common when neighbours are closer physically, more familiar with one another, and posturally aligned. Interestingly, behavioural characteristics of vigilance itself do not appear to influence transmission; however, a related behaviour (chewing/not chewing whilst vigilant) is a strong predictor of vigilance contagion that may contribute to information transfer. Integrating these findings with other studies is challenging due to the multidisciplinary nature of this field and the use of different terms (e.g., mimicry vs. contagion) to describe this phenomenon. My thesis further addresses this issue in a terminology review. From a review of the literature, I propose that behavioural mimicry and behavioural contagion appear to investigate the same phenomenon from different perspectives. That is, behavioural contagion examines attributes of the behaviour that contribute to its spread, whereas behavioural mimicry focuses on the observer of the behaviour and that individual’s relationship with the actor or the group. Both perspectives likely influence behavioural transmission simultaneously. Fitting these collective findings into the existing literature, I propose a theoretical framework to predict when behavioural mimicry/contagion should occur. The framework identifies five conditions that must be met for behaviour to spread: perception, attention, ability, affiliation, and net benefit, and provides an overview of representative research topics within each condition. This framework will aid the design of further research and create a unified multidisciplinary theory of behavioural mimicry/contagion.
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Keywords
behavioural contagion, behavioural mimicry, vigilance, group living, bighorn sheep, behavioural synchrony, behaving similarly, allelomimicry, social influence, framework
Citation
McDougall, P. L. (2021). What makes behaviours spread? Social and behavioural modulators of nonconscious mimicry and contagion (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.