I was very vaguely aware that studies had shown this. I probably
should have said something about it before.
>This suggests that emotions may be as much a
>result of feedback from the body as from the mind. This would make
>mimicry a tool for the transference of emotional states from person to
>person (empathy). So that if you saw someone smiling and you smiled back
>and felt a little better for it, it could be seen as empathy at work.
Absolutely! Though, just to be clear, I'd emphasize that this
could work either way: feeling better because you smile, or smiling
because seeing someone else smile makes you feel better. I'd
guess very often the smiling and the feeling better would be
simultaneous, with the feedback probably going both ways at once.
(Giving a positive feedback loop that is probably damped by
other factors.)
But developmentally, again, mimicry would come first and the
emotional accord later, with association between other's smiles
and feeling good eventually allowing emotional accord without the
mimicry being required.
>Is that close to your point, or did I just murder it completely?
You supported it very nicely, thank you!
(The check's in the mail.)
Robin