Mimicry is Everywhere.
The Mimicker and The Mimickee.
Mimicry is manifested in various ways and often the mimicker neither intends to mimic nor is consciously aware of doing so.
Are humans born to mimic?
It is tempting to interpret the discovery of the mirror neuron system as a complete answer to the question of how we mimic.
The presence of a mirror system in the human brain implies that we are born to imitate and that mirroring is the only automatic behavioral response to perceived action?
A casual glance at humans interacting at an office, restaurant, bar, park or at home will reveal many manifestations of our proclivity to mimic others.
We often aren’t trying to imitate the other human and we aren’t aware of mimicking them.
Is the function of mimicry to signal to others that we understand and empathize with them?
And do we mimic because we want to signal this?
Humans are intensely social animals and research suggests mimicry is a critical part of human social interactions.
It is intimately tied to relationships, liking and empathy, functioning both as a signal of rapport and as a tool to…
