Not only can watching someone eat a snack make you hungry for the same thing, but seeing someone mimic your actions can make you react more favourably to that person — and whatever that person is selling — according to U.S. researchers.

"We demonstrate that people mimic the consumption behaviors of others and that this mimicry in turn can influence one's own preferences toward the consumed items," the researchers from Duke University, the University of Maryland and the University of Amsterdam wrote about their two studies, which are to be published in the April issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

In the first study, the researchers found that consumers are likely to mimic others' consumption patterns, in this case, watching someone else eat a particular snack led to participants choosing, and munching on, the same snack. 

The participants, believing they were involved in a study concerning memory of advertisements, were asked to watch a video of someone describing a series of ads while occasionally snacking on either goldfish or animal crackers. Bowls of both crackers were in the shot, but the video presenter ate only one kind.

Researchers found that study participants who had the two types of crackers in front of them chose goldfish crackers 71 per cent of the time after watching the presenter eat them. Those who watched the presenter eat animal crackers only chose goldfish crackers 44 per cent of the time. The study noted that an earlier survey found that on average, participants preferred goldfish crackers to animal crackers.

Salespeople who mimic customers rated better

"A person who views someone else's snacking behavior will come to exhibit a similar snack selection pattern," the researchers stated in a release. "This suggests preferences may shift as a result of unintentionally mimicking another person's consumption."

The second study looked at how being mimicked affected behaviour, and found that participants who had their posture, body angle, foot movements and verbal patterns mimicked by a salesperson were more likely to rate the person's product more favourably and consume more of it.

"This suggests that mimicry has the potential to be a valuable tool in interpersonal persuasion, particularly in cases where the motivations and persuasive intent of the mimicker are transparent," the researchers said in the release. "So, even though consumers might try to resist a salesperson's pitch, being mimicked by that salesperson makes that pitch more impacting."

A separate experiment showed positive ratings and consumption amount were even higher when the mimicker said he or she was invested in the product's success.

The researchers noted that there may be roadblocks to mimicry's success in regular consumer settings, as stores are more chaotic than the controlled research lab and salespeople may have less time to spend with customers.  Additionally, they said that deliberate mimicry as a sales technique runs the risk of being noticed by the customer.