In two studies based on Stanley Milgram's original pilots, we present the first systematic examination of cyranoids as social psychological research tools. A cyranoid is created by cooperatively joining in real-time the body of one person with speech generated by another via covert speech shadowing. The resulting hybrid persona can subsequently interact with third parties face-to-face. We show that naïve interlocutors perceive a cyranoid to be a unified, autonomously communicating person, evidence for a phenomenon Milgram termed the "cyranic illusion." We also show that creating cyranoids composed of contrasting identities (a child speaking adult-generated words and vice versa) can be used to study how stereotyping and person perception are mediated by inner (dispositional) vs. outer (physical) identity. Our results establish the cyranoid method as a unique means of obtaining experimental control over inner and outer identities within social interactions rich in mundane realism. to suit their social goals. Fiction though they may be, these stories illuminate the power façade has over how we are perceived by ourselves and by others, and how we and others in turn behave in accordance with these perceptions. Stanley Milgram, perhaps best known for his obedience to authority experiments (Milgram, 1974), operationalized the Cyrano de Bergerac paradigm in a series of pilot studies conducted shortly before his death. In these pilots, he explored constructing hybrid social agents, whom he called "cyranoids" (in reference to Cyrano), via a vocal technique known as "speech shadowing," a procedure in which a person immediately repeats auditory stimuli originating elsewhere. Milgram's idea was to have one person (the "shadower") replicate the spontaneous speech of another (the "source") via a covert audio-relay apparatus while socially engaging with research subjects (the "ineractants") naïve to the subterfuge, and CYRANOIDS 3 his findings suggest that interactants will fail to detect that their interlocutor is a cyranoid.This "cyranic illusion" persisted in cases of extreme identity incongruity between source and shadower, such as when he sourced for child shadowers being interviewed by groups of teachers, none of whom believed following these interactions that they had been talking to anything other than an autonomous (albeit unusually bright) child. Milgram never formally reported the results of these studies, though descriptions of them can be found in a speech he prepared for an APA convention in 1984(Milgram, 1992 as well as in a biography authored by Blass (2004). In his APA speech, he expressed optimism that the cyranoid method could evolve into a powerful means of researching the social self and person perception. Despite this enthusiasm, no experimental validation of the method has to-date been reported, rendering cyranoids a largely dormant part of Milgram's legacy.Our goal in the present work is to resurrect the cyranoid method by exhibiting its utility as a social psychological research tool. In two stu...
