Moving From Me to We: Interpersonal Coordination’s Effects on Self-Construal

We all move in time together throughout our lives, and doing so leads us to display more pro-social behaviours towards co-actors and think of them in more pro-social ways. However, little research has investigated how coordinated movement affects how individuals feel about themselves. This mixed-methods study took self-generated qualitative responses of how participants construe their own identities after either coordinated movement or a carefully matched control task. Responses were analysed qualitatively using thematic analyses, and quantitatively using content analysis. Four themes were identified from thematic analysis, and inferential statistical testing shows significant differences in how participants construe their identities post coordination (cf. control). Participants in the coordinated condition generated a higher proportion of interdependent (social) than independent (personal) self-construals, driven by differences in broad social structures/constructs rather than close specific social relations. Furthermore, participants in the coordinated condition reported less mental state items, and more sexual/romantic items. These findings may explain how and why coordinated movement leads to prosociality amongst those who take part by leading individuals to think of themselves and each other in group terms.