中文导读

别人抬手、微笑时，我们常会不自觉地跟着做，心理学称之为“自动模仿”。过去的研究大多在西方国家进行，那么这种倾向是否因文化而不同？德国吕讷堡洛伊法纳大学等机构的研究者原本预计，更重视群体的“集体主义”文化中的人会模仿得更多。他们用一个在线手指任务测试了美国和越南约 400 人，又测试了 22 个国家的 4400 多人：屏幕上的手指动作与自己要做的动作不一致时，人们的反应会变慢，延迟越大说明模仿倾向越强。结果在每个国家都观察到这种模仿效应，却没有找到集体主义文化更爱模仿的有力证据；研究者也提醒，仍有一个与屏幕位置有关的初步规律有待验证。文章按“设想—方法—结果—局限”展开，阅读时可留意 because、however、whether 如何连接预期、结果和后续问题，以及 suggests、may 如何为结论设定边界。

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When someone lifts a hand or smiles, people nearby often do the same thing without planning to. Psychologists call this automatic imitation. Many have long believed that it is a basic human habit, but most studies have tested people in Western countries. A new study now suggests that the habit is shared across many very different cultures.

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当有人抬起手或露出微笑时，旁边的人常常会不经意地做出同样的动作。心理学家把这称为“自动模仿”。许多人长期认为这是人类的一种基本习惯，但大多数研究测试的都是西方国家的人。一项新研究表明，这种习惯在许多差异很大的文化中都普遍存在。

The research was led by Oliver Genschow of Leuphana University Lüneburg in Germany, with partners at the University of Cologne, FernUniversität in Hagen and other institutions. It was published in Communications Psychology on October 14, and the science news site Medical Xpress reported on it on October 23.

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这项研究由德国吕讷堡洛伊法纳大学的奥利弗·根肖领导，合作者来自科隆大学、哈根远程大学等机构。研究于 10 月 14 日发表在《通讯·心理学》上，科学新闻网站 Medical Xpress 于 10 月 23 日对此进行了报道。

The team wanted to test a clear idea. Some cultures are more collectivistic, which means they pay more attention to the group and to shared goals. Others are more individualistic and place more value on personal independence. Because people in group-focused cultures may watch others more closely, the researchers expected them to copy others more strongly.

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研究团队想检验一个明确的设想。有些文化更偏向集体主义，也就是更关注群体和共同目标；另一些文化更偏向个人主义，更看重个人独立。由于在重视群体的文化中，人们可能会更仔细地观察他人，研究人员预计这些人模仿他人的倾向会更强。

To check this, they used a simple online task. On a computer screen, people saw a picture of a hand lifting either its index finger or its middle finger. At the same time, a number told them which of their own fingers to lift. Sometimes the finger on the screen matched the one they had to move, and sometimes it did not. People usually answer more slowly when the two do not match, so the size of that delay shows how strongly they tend to copy.

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为了验证这一点，他们使用了一个简单的在线任务。参与者在电脑屏幕上看到一只手抬起食指或中指的图片，同时屏幕上的数字告诉他们该抬起自己的哪根手指。有时屏幕上的手指与他们要动的手指一致，有时则不一致。当两者不一致时，人们通常反应更慢，因此这种延迟的大小可以显示他们模仿倾向的强弱。

The first study compared about 400 adults from the United States and Vietnam. The second included more than 4,400 adults from 22 countries, from strongly individualistic ones such as the United States to strongly collectivistic ones such as Colombia. In every country, people were slower when the hand on the screen did something different. However, the team found no convincing evidence that people from group-focused cultures copied others more.

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第一项研究比较了来自美国和越南的约 400 名成年人。第二项研究纳入了来自 22 个国家的 4400 多名成年人，这些国家从美国这样个人主义很强的国家，到哥伦比亚这样集体主义很强的国家都有。在每个国家，当屏幕上的手做出不同动作时，人们的反应都更慢。然而，研究团队没有找到令人信服的证据，证明来自重视群体文化的人更爱模仿他人。

The researchers do not say culture has no effect at all. They found a smaller pattern linked to where the hand appeared on the screen, but they say it is only a first result that needs more study. They also did not directly measure how much each person focused on others.

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研究人员并没有说文化完全没有影响。他们发现了一个与手在屏幕上出现位置有关的较小规律，但表示这只是初步结果，还需要进一步研究。他们也没有直接测量每个人对他人的关注程度。

Next, Genschow’s team plans to ask whether people copy members of their own group more, and whether they react differently to the movements of robots and humans. For now, the results suggest that this quiet habit of copying is something people around the world share.

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接下来，根肖的团队计划研究人们是否会更多地模仿自己群体中的成员，以及他们对机器人和人类动作的反应是否不同。目前，研究结果表明，这种悄然模仿他人的习惯是世界各地的人所共有的。

新闻来源

• Medical Xpress · The tendency to imitate others is shared across 22 countries, study finds (23 Oct 2026)
• Communications Psychology · Little evidence for cultural differences in automatic imitation (14 Oct 2026)

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