Mirror Mirror

I’ve been thinking recently about physical mirroring. I was having a beer with a friend the other day, and I readjusted my posture because I was getting uncomfortable. She’s a very empathetic person, and she instinctively did the same thing. The difference between us was that I adjusted because I was genuinely uncomfortable, but she only did because she felt some odd social pressure to do so. What resulted was I knew what position to go to because I knew what needed to be adjusted so I’d be comfortable. She, however, only changed because she thought she should, so the position she found herself in was the most awkward-looking posture I’ve ever seen. Like, her right elbow was resting on the back of the couch over her head, and her head was pushed out like a chicken when it’s pecking at the ground. I was talking and had to stop because it was just so funny to me watching her try to act like she was comfortable in this pretzel that she tied her body into at that point. I’ve thought about the way we mirror one another before, even recognizing when I switch to a less comfortable position than the one I was in. But this struck me as a really good example of how mirroring works socially. For no conscious reason, we feel a pressure to change our physical postures when others do so, and it’s cool how it builds your trust with that person. I really don’t have any new, earth-shattering information on the topic. It was just fun to watch that work in my own life.