Verbal Mimicry Predicts Social Distance and Social Attraction to an Outgroup Member in Virtual Reality

The present study analyzes the extent to which verbal mimicry contributes to improving outgroup perceptions in virtual reality (VR) interactions. Particularly, this study examined the interplay between avatar customization, the salience of a common ingroup identity, and verbal mimicry in 54 VR dyads comprising users from different ethnic backgrounds. Participants were asked to customize their avatars to look either like themselves or someone completely different. Participants interacted wearing either similar avatar uniforms (salient common identity) or different clothes (nonsalient identity). The linguistic style matching (LSM) algorithm was employed to calculate verbal mimicry in the communication exchanged during a joint task. The results suggested that verbal mimicry significantly predicted lesser social distance and greater social attraction towards the outgroup member. These results are discussed in terms of their contribution for potential intergroup models of avatar communication in immersive virtual environments (IVEs).