IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0292699.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mimicry and law: Experiments in a natural setting of a law company

Author

Listed:
  • Wojciech Kulesza
  • Paweł Muniak
  • Dariusz Dolinski
  • Tomasz Antoszek
  • Agnieszka Świderska-Cieśla
  • Anna Nowak
  • Bernadetta Kowalczyk

Abstract

This paper joins an effort to build a relational approach to law practice by testing mimicry as a vehicle for building trust in a legal context. Mimicry research indicates that this phenomenon leads to benefits, like greater trust, willingness to help, and satisfaction from interactions, which shows a potential for practical applications in, for example, a legal context. In two experiments conducted in the natural setting of a legal company, the tendency to trust the mimicker on a yet unresearched and deep level, namely putting one’s legal future and security in the hands of an attorney, was measured. Both experiments consistently showed a greater tendency to give legal representation to an attorney when she verbally (Experiment #1) as well as both verbally and nonverbally (Experiment #2) mimicked the client. This paper explores the potential of applying mimicry in a legal service environment, focusing on fostering cooperation in professional conversations. Furthermore, the study contributes to the existing literature on mimicry by examining its effect on trust. Possible dangers, future studies and limitations are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wojciech Kulesza & Paweł Muniak & Dariusz Dolinski & Tomasz Antoszek & Agnieszka Świderska-Cieśla & Anna Nowak & Bernadetta Kowalczyk, 2023. "Mimicry and law: Experiments in a natural setting of a law company," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(10), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0292699
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292699
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0292699
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0292699&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0292699?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0292699. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.