Beberapa penelitian telah menunjukkan bahwa persepsi kemiripan dapat dibentuk tanpa ada interaksi antara pengamat dan target, termasuk teori pengambilan perspektif. Efek ini ditemukan karena pengambilan perspektif dapat membuat pelaku memproyeksikan identitasnya terhadap target. Penelitian ini berusaha memahami cara untuk meningkatkan persepsi kemiripan tanpa melakukan interaksi. Dalam dua eksperimen, peneliti menguji pengaruh pengambilan perspektif dan kontak imajiner terhadap persepsi kemiripan. Pengambilan perspektif merupakan sebuah proses kognitif sedangkan kontak imajiner mempengaruhi proses afektif. Studi pertama yang berfokus pada pengambilan perspektif dilakukan dengan 95 partisipan dan merupakan eksperimen between-subjects. Studi pertama juga merupakan replikasi dari studi ketiga Brown, Young & McConnel (2009). Studi kedua menguji pengaruh kontak imajiner dan memiliki 59 partisipan (76% perempuan). Kedua eksperimen ini menunjukkan bahwa pengambilan perspektif tidak meningkatkan persepsi kemiripan, sedangkan kontak imajiner dapat meningkatkan persepsi kemiripan. Studi ini menunjukkan pentingnya melakukan replikasi studi, dan memberi indikasi awal bahwa kontak imajiner dapat mempengaruhi persepsi kemiripan, bukan hanya efek keakraban (familiarity) terhadap target.

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Several studies have shown that perceived similarity can be elicited without any interaction taking place between observers and their targets. One such study highlights the effects of perspective taking on perceived similarity. Perspective taking is found to increase perceived similarity by increasing self-other overlap between observer and target. This study seeks to understand ways to increase perceived similarity without any interaction taking place. In two experiments, we tested the effects of taking perspective taking and imagined contact on perceived similarity. These two methods were chosen because perspective taking is a cognitive process whereas imaginary contact affects affective processes. The first study focused on perspective taking and was done with 95 participants with a between subjects design. The first study was also a replication of the third study by Brown, Young & McConnel (2009). The second study examined the effect of imaginary contact and had 59 participants (76% women) with a within-subjects design. These experiments show that perspective taking does not improve perceived similarity, whereas imaginary contact does increase perceived similarity. This study demonstrates the importance of conducting replication studies and provides initial evidence that imagined contact can influence perceived similarity, not just the effect of familiarity towards a target.