After the experiments conducted by Chartrand and John Bargh in 1999, they discovered what is formally known today as the Chameleon effect. The Chameleon effect is a phenomenon describing the tendency of unintentionally imitating other’s expressions, postures, and voice tones in society. Most often, an individuals efforts to mimic someone else tends to make them more likable and strengthen interpersonal relationships. Normally we are unaware of these kinds of situations. but if you pay closer attention you begin to notice the patterns. Individuals often strive to behave the exact same way as their surrounding peers.
Through personal experience, I can prove this phenomenon is accurate. The example I want to share is school related and commonly occurs throughout society. The context is when you are asked to answer a question and raise your hand to determine which is the correct answer although you might be unsure which one is right. When I am unsure of the correct answer to the question, I will wait to raise my hand until I notice the point in time when half the class begins to raise their hand. Despite their answers being wrong, it is much less embarrassing when you are not the only person who got the answer wrong.
Instead of trying to determine the correct answer on my own, I will unintentionally conform with the rest of the class when they all begin to raise their hand. An individual feels more comfortable getting an answer wrong when others get it wrong. The key idea in this situation represents how the Chameleon effect works. I am unintentionally mimicking the behavior of my fellow classmates. This is a habit that carries with me in school and probably one that other students follow as well.
I have also been a victim to the chameleon effect. As a student, sometimes I find it hard to trust myself with an answer if I see that the whole class has something different. I have been in situations where I have known that my answer is correct, but because everyone else thought something else I did not raise my hand only for the sole reason that I feel more comfortable being wrong as a group than maybe being the only person to get something wrong.