Mimicking and sharing emotions: a re-examination of the link between facial mimicry and emotional contagion

Abstract

Facial mimicry has long been considered a main mechanism underlying emotional contagion (i.e. the transfer of emotions between people). A closer look at the empirical evidence, however, reveals that although these two phenomena often co-occur, the changes in emotional expressions may not necessarily be causally linked to the changes in subjective emotional experience. Here, we directly investigate this link, by testing a model in which facial activity served as a mediator between the observed emotional displays and subsequently felt emotions (i.e. emotional contagion). Participants watched videos of different senders displaying happiness, anger, or sadness, while their facial activity was recorded. After each video, participants rated their own emotions and assessed the senders' likeability and competence. Participants both mimicked and reported feeling the emotions displayed by the senders. Moreover, their facial activity partially explained the association between the senders' emotional displays and self-reported emotions, thereby supporting the notion that facial mimicry may be involved in emotional contagion.

The Mimicry Among Us: Intra- and Inter-Personal Mechanisms of Spontaneous Mimicry

“…First, individuals could suffer direct and indirect social consequences from dysregulated mimicry production. For example, impaired mimicry may reduce emotional contagion and shared social affect (for recent evidence from typical individuals, see Olszanowski et al 2019). Furthermore, not demonstrating the expected social mimicry in context could fuel negative perceptions of the ASC individual, as mimicry is one way that individuals establish affiliation (Kavanagh and Winkielman 2016).…”

Observational learning of fear in real time procedure

“…Additionally, we decided to recruit pairs of friends expecting that it may increase learning efficiency, which has been shown to be enhanced when the learning model is perceived as similar, for example as he or she belongs to the same social group 10,11 . Moreover, it has been shown that interpersonal liking increases emotional mimicry 18 , which is yet another factor involved in emotional contagion 19 . It has also been suggested that behaviors and emotional expressions of social ingroup members are mimicked preferentially, playing a role in social learning 20 .…”

Towards an integrated model for the transference of environmental responsibility

“…Emotional contagion is “the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize movements, expressions, postures, and vocalizations with those of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally” (Gilal, Zhang, Gilal, & Gilal, 2018a, p. 93). Studies conducted under the theoretical notion of emotional contagion suggest that people imitate emotions and actions of others (e.g., body movements, facial expressions, and postures) consciously and unconsciously (Davis, 1985; Gilal, Zhang, Gilal, & Gilal, 2018a; Han, Sichterman, Maria, Gazzola, & Keysers, 2020; Olszanowski, Wróbel, & Hess, 2020). An extensive body of research stresses that during social interactions, people mimic the positive emotions of others (Hasford, Hardesty, & Kidwell, 2015; Ustrov, Valverde, & Ryan, 2016).…”