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

Abstract

This review explores spontaneous mimicry in the context of three questions. The first question concerns the role of spontaneous mimicry in processing conceptual information. The second question concerns the debate whether spontaneous mimicry is driven by simple associative processes or reflects higher-order processes such as goals, intentions, and social context. The third question addresses the implications of these debates for understanding atypical individuals and states. We review relevant literature and argue for a dynamic, context-sensitive role of spontaneous mimicry in social cognition and behavior. We highlight how the modulation of mimicry is often adaptive but also point out some cases of maladaptive modulations that impair an individuals' engagement in social life.

The neuroethology of spontaneous mimicry and emotional contagion in human and non-human animals

“…Research on humans offers evidence that is consistent with the simple direct matching process as well as more complex (i.e. affect-based) simulation processes (Arnold and Winkielman, 2019).…”

“…Psychological research shows that spontaneous mimicry is sensitive to social cues such as prosociality (Leighton et al, 2010), group membership (Bourgeois and Hess, 2008;Bagnis et al, 2019), attitudes (Likowski et al, 2008), and competition (Weyers et al, 2009). Thus, the broader social context comprises both individual states and traits that modulate the presence and intensity of spontaneous facial mimicry (for reviews, see Arnold andWinkielman, 2019: Duffy andChartrand, 2015;Hess and Fischer, 2013;Kavanagh and Winkielman, 2016;Seibt et al, 2015). As discussed in the literature, some of such social modulation can be explained by the role of simple variables such as attention, familiarity, learning context, or general motivation (Heyes, 2011).…”

Right Temporoparietal Junction Plays a Role in the Modulation of Emotional Mimicry by Group Membership

“…Of particular interest, we would like to link the current study to prior research regarding the rTPJ's role in embodiment, a typical social cognition that is closely related to emotional mimicry (Arnold and Winkielman, 2020 ). Substantial brain stimulation studies have confirmed the link between the rTPJ and embodiment (Wang et al, 2016 ; Martin et al, 2019a , 2020 ).…”

Are Positive Interventions Always Beneficial?

“…In sum, careful consideration of the thoughts that are likely to be validated by inductions of happiness and affirmation is critical for specifying when these inductions are likely to work or to lead to boomerang effects. Although for illustrative purposes we focused our examples on happiness and affirmation, other positive inductions could be potentially analyzed from the same point of view, including approach behaviors (Price & Harmon-Jones, 2016), touching (Jakubiak & Feeney, 2017), laughing (Martin, 2001;Provine, 2004), and using nodding, mimicry, synchrony, and warmth (e.g., Arnold & Winkielman, 2020;Guyer et al, 2019;Reich et al, 2014;Roscoe, 2017, van der Wal & Kok, 2019. Next, we examine one of these possibilities as an additional illustration.…”