Some degree of unconscious personality mirroring is almost inevitable and no cause for concern. But if attempts to mimic others are labored, extreme, or have a negative effect, it's possible that some change is in order. Suppressing our own traits to mimic others' too much or too often may be unhealthy.
Imitating others' actions or gestures can be a natural human behavior, but when it happens frequently and involuntarily, it could be echopraxia. Mimicking or mirroring someone else's actions can be a natural part of the human socialization and learning process.
Congenital mirror movement disorder is a condition in which intentional movements of one side of the body are mirrored by involuntary movements of the other side. For example, when an affected individual makes a fist with the right hand, the left hand makes a similar movement.
Poor social communication including the capacity to convey one's emotional state non-verbally and to mirror others' facial expressions may be affected in BPD.
Mirroring as a sign of trust
In these case's imitating someone is a sign of comfort and trust and it shows that people are in sync. The whole point of mirroring is that it's a way to better understand others and connect with them. Being able to mirror someone is the same as being able to listen to someone.
Narcissistic mirroring is a mirroring behavior that narcissists use consciously to manipulate others. It is a calculated and intentional act of mimicking another person's body language, gestures, and speech patterns so as to make them empathize and feel connected to the narcissist.
Related. For others, mirroring is a manipulative tactic for achieving selfish, devious or damaging purposes. People with Machiavellian traits may use it to improve their social status or align others with their purposes.
In other words, you're not always being a pessimist when you feel something isn't right or is too good to be true. “Mirroring” is an abuse tactic and an example of one of the above situations. It's when someone acts as though they're “just like you” and “just what you need” in order to manipulate you as they please.
Some degree of unconscious personality mirroring is almost inevitable and no cause for concern. But if attempts to mimic others are labored, extreme, or have a negative effect, it's possible that some change is in order. Suppressing our own traits to mimic others' too much or too often may be unhealthy.
Extraverted Feeling and Mirroring
The personality types most likely to practice mirroring on a regular basis are those that possess an Extraverted Feeling (Fe) function.
The mirror neuron system is a group of specialized neurons (nerve cells) that automatically trigger us to mimic the actions and behaviors of other people. So simply perceiving someone else's behavior increases the likelihood that we will unconsciously do the same behavior.
As the two individuals in the situation display similar nonverbal gestures, they may believe that they share similar attitudes and ideas as well. Mirror neurons react to and cause these movements, allowing the individuals to feel a greater sense of engagement and belonging within the situation.
It's also how young children learn. Mirroring can be a type of ADHD masking since it suppresses ADHD behaviors and replaces them with more socially acceptable alternatives.
Echopraxia (which might also be called echokinesis or echomotism) is an involuntary imitation or repetition of someone else's actions. While echolalia is the involuntary repetition of language and sounds, echopraxia is the same but with actions. The word itself comes from Ancient Greek.
For most people, talking to yourself is a normal behavior that is not a symptom of a mental health condition. Self-talk may have some benefits, especially in improving performance in visual search tasks.
"Underneath that, there's a sense of inferiority and incompleteness," Dr. Oldham explained. People with BPD may even copy others' actions and behaviors because "their ability to be independent and autonomous is very impaired."
Mirroring, also known as mimicking or Gauchais Reaction, is a nonverbal technique where a person copies the body language, vocal qualities, or attitude of another person. It is usually done subconsciously and can indicate interest or even attraction.
For someone with this type of BPD relationship, a “favorite person” is someone they rely on for comfort, happiness, and validation. The relationship with a BPD favorite person may start healthy, but it can often turn into a toxic love-hate cycle known as idealization and devaluation.
You're sat there thinking “Oh my god, I have so much in common with this person!”, but in reality, it's a facade. Narcissistic mirroring often involves non-verbal communication too. Whether you lean forward, back, or to the side, they mirror that. If you talk fast and loud, they talk fast and loud.
The mirror effect in recognition memory refers to the fact that, with several different classes of stimuli, performance on new items from each class mirrors (is correlated with) performance on the corresponding classes of old items.
Narcissists do enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror. They may spend more time grooming themselves to bolster their grandiose self-images. In this way, narcissists may be more prone to self-objectify—and identify with and to base their self-worth on their external appearance, instead of their character.
Echopraxia (also known as echokinesis) is the involuntary repetition or imitation of another person's actions.
It can be as simple as smiling when someone else smiles, or frowning when they do. It builds an emotional connection between two people. Someone may be subconsciously influenced by your mirroring, and will be more inclined to like you or may like you better without realising why.
Some common synonyms of imitate are ape, copy, mimic, and mock.