Mirroring

[1] Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family, often going unnoticed by both parties.

Mirror neurons react to and cause these movements, allowing the individuals to feel a greater sense of engagement and belonging within the situation.

[1] Mirroring is common in conversation, as the listeners will typically smile or frown along with the speaker, as well as imitate body posture or attitude about the topic.

[5] Within a study conducted by Word, Zanna and Cooper, interviewers were instructed to follow specific types of body language in different experimental conditions.

Individuals with autism or other social difficulties may be less likely to exhibit mirroring, as they may be less unconsciously and consciously aware of the actions of others.

[9] Mirroring has also been shown to allow non-autistic children to understand what the intentions of an action are before seeing the entire sequence.

It has been shown that children with autism lack this motor chain reaction and are thought to use other senses, such as visual or somatosensory, to accomplish similar tasks.

According to Kohut's theories of self-psychology, individuals need a sense of validation and belonging in order to establish their concepts of self.

The process of mirroring may help infants establish connections of expressions to emotions and thus promote social communication later in life.

Mirroring helps to facilitate empathy, as individuals more readily experience other people's emotions through mimicking posture and gestures.

Mirroring may be more pervasive in close friendships or romantic relationships, as the individuals regard each other highly and thus wish to emulate or appease them.