The Effect of Synchronizing the Movement of the Human Body with the Movement of the Plant on the Sense of Unity

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of the sense of unity on the plant on the likeability. To evaluate the effect on the sense of unity, experiment was conducted on the sense of body ownership, sense of agency, psychological distance, and likeability. In the experiment, three conditions were tested: Condition in which experimental participants move but plant do not (No Movement: NM), Condition under which the plant also move in synchronization with the movements of the experiment participants (Synchronous Movement: SM), and Condition that the plant behaves randomly regardless of the behavior of the experimental participant (Random Movement: RM). Participants in the experiment were asked whether they were currently growing plants, and were divided into two groups: those who were growing plants and those who were not. The results of the experiment confirmed that, regardless of whether the plants were cultivated or not, the movement of the plant in sync with the movement of the human body increased the sense of agency, likeability, and brought the participants closer psychologically to the plant. However, the effect on the sense of body ownership was limited.