The Impact of Mimicry on Tobacco Addiction

Tobacco addiction, a major cause of preventable death, requires an understanding of how it develops and is maintained. This paper examines mimicry as a 'social glue' in smokers' social interactions and its influence on the development and maintenance of smoking behaviour. A first laboratory experiment showed that nonverbal mimicry (physical actions, hand and arm movements and body posture) increases cigarette consumption due to increased liking for the mimicker, proving that mimicry not only binds (smokers) but first and foremost reduces chances for quitting smoking. The second experiment, conducted in a natural setting, showed that mimicry of smoking behaviour reduced the desire to quit smoking. This suggests that whilst mimicry acts as a strong 'social glue' amongst smokers, it also impedes efforts to quit. Thus, it seems that mimicry maintains smoking addiction and overcoming tobacco addiction might require severing the social bonds created by mimicry (e.g., smoking in solitary).