What is mirroring?
Mirroring is a naturally occurring phenomenon of behaviour. It occurs when one person reflects or enacts the same behaviour as another. This is in the way we are standing, in our body language, in hand movements, eye contact, the pace of walking, gestures etc. It can be in words used, opinions voiced, agreement on positions. It can be in our clothing, our overall style or in specific items such as colour of clothes.
We can mirror in the speed of walking, cheering, singing, laughing, smiling, agreeing, protesting, in fact any behaviour can be mirrored.
Understanding how we mirror each other is very useful in being aware of how we influence each other and how we are accepted by others. The more we dress and behave like those we wish to influence the more they will be open to being influenced.
Mirroring is literally reflecting what we see and we can use it both consciously and unconsciously to influence those around us. If we walk into a meeting wearing similar clothes to others we are accepted. If we wear very different clothes there is a conscious or unconscious questioning of our approach.
Mirroring is a part of human behaviour we can use to our advantage to be more accepted or to influence.