The Many Faces of Mimicry: Mimicry Patterns Across Various Facial Expressions Reflect Attitudinal Agreement

We investigated whether mimicry of multiple facial expressions depends on the interpersonal agreement between conversation partners (Democrats, Republicans, or a mix) and found mimicry of all facial expressions in all agreement conditions, albeit with a different pattern. We successfully classified agreeing Democrats, agreeing Republicans, and disagreeing partners based on the mimicry pattern of their facial expressions. Our results suggest that not only positive interpersonal communication is characterized by mimicry, but also negative one. This implies that mimicry may be a tool to understand others and successfully communicate, regardless of the positivity of the social interaction.