CENTER FOR APPLIED
THEORY OF MIND
PERSPECTIVE TAKING, GAINING, SHIFTING & SHAPING
BASIC MENTALIZING MODULE 1
EMBODIED SHARING OF AFFECT AND BEHAVIOR
RECAP
The questions below will help you to remember the key takeaways from the video presentation. The answers can be viewed by hovering the cursor over the colored links.
QUESTIONS ON BASIC MENTALIZING IN GENERAL
What are the three key abilities implicated at this elementary level of mentalizing?
1
The ability to detect and identify social signals and cues of others by monitoring changes in our own affect and behavior.
2
The ability to detect social signals and cues in nonverbal behavior.
3
The ability to recognize the impact of our interoceptive and exteroceptive sensations on the accuracy of our mental state inferences.
Fill in the missing words
Mentalizing on this level is often done and implicitly. This level of mentalization is always , meaning that it remains available throughout our interactions with others. Information sharing on this level is , intuitive and unplanned. The advantages basic mentalizing are that it is , effortless and continuous. The limitations are that it is primitive, restricted and . The fact that basic mentalizing is an economical way of mentalizing comes with a trade-off; the level of accuracy tends to be in complex situations, and it is hard to control.
- 1 -
Unconsciously
- 2 -
Online
- 3 -
Nonverbal
- 4 -
Fast
- 5 -
Inflexible
- 6 -
Low
What are the 6 primary objectives of mentalizing on this level?
6 objectives
-
Making basic mental state inferences to explain and predict straightforward elemental behavior
-
Connecting with others through nonverbal behavior, building rapport and creating a positive ambiance so people feel at ease
-
Facilitating smooth interaction and eliciting prosocial behavior
-
Heightening the accuracy of our higher-level mentalizing inferences
-
Maintaining awareness of possible bias in our explanations and predictions
-
Making us aware of our own susceptibility to being “infected” by the affect or behavior of others.
What are the three components of basic mentalizing?
1
Embodied sharing of affect and behavior
2
Nonverbal social indicator detection
3
Nonsocial sensing and associating
The three components run along two spectra. What are they?
Strongly Weakly
embodied embodied
Social Nonsocial
indicators indicators
QUESTIONS SPECIFIC TO EMBODIED SHARING OF AFFECT AND BEHAVIOR
What is embodied sharing of affect and behavior?
?
The primitive tendency to synchronize our affect and behavior with our social environment
What are the three components that bring about this embodied sharing?
1
Mimicry
2
Affective contagion
3
Behavioral Contagion
We experience embodied sharing as though affective states or behavior originated within ourselves when in fact we are actually "infected" by the
affective states or behavior of others.
Can you describe two challenges we encounter due to this phenominon?
Challenge 1
It can lead to confusion since we don’t automatically consider the possibility that our own affects and behaviors actually originated with others.
Challenge 2
When we aren’t aware of this third-party influence, we miss the opportunity to gain insight into the mental states of others.
What are the benefits of an increased awareness of this embodied sharing?
Benefits
If we are aware of this tendency, we can regulate the degree to which we are influenced by it. We are able to separate our own affects and behaviors from those of others, and mentalize more effectively about others.
Can you think of 4 INTRApersonal factors that influence
our tendency to share in affect and behavior?
F1
Experiences in early life can make us predisposed to be highly responsive to affective and behavioral contagion, or leave us virtually impervious to it.
F2
Our temperament and personality are two additional important factors
F3
People who are temporarily preoccupied with their own problems or negative emotions, are less likely to mimic others. A happy mood, on the other hand, heightens the tendency to mimic others.
F4
In regard to self-construals, individuals who see themselves as interdependent are more inclined to mimic others than are individuals who view themselves as independent.
Can you think of 4 INTERpersonal factors that influence
our tendency to share in affect and behavior?
F1
We are especially likely to mimic those about whom we care, for instance, friends and family members.
F2
We are more inclined to mimic others with whom we share similarities, for instance, a common religious affiliation or social background
F3
The nature of the relationship we have with others is another important factor. A person of lower status tends to mimic a person of higher status more readily than the other way around.
F4
Finally, in any social interaction, clearly expressed feelings and goals can exert a powerful influence on the direction and character of affective and behavioral contagion.
Can you think of 2 EXTRApersonal factors that influence
our tendency to share in affect and behavior?
F1
Cultural differences in self-construals and attitudes toward affective expression, and distinct behavioral customs can account for disparities in the tendency to spontaneously share in affective states and behavior.
F2
Context can invite the copying of affect and behavior, for example, in the area of artistic expression (dance or sing-along). Likewise, mutually experiencing a disturbing event can make people more inclined to copy each other’s affect and behavior reflexively.
What is mimicry?
Mimicry
Mimicry is the act or skill of imitating someone or something. It covers a wide spectrum of different reactions (facial, verbal, emotional and behavioral) through which we imitate others.
Can you name three beneficial functions of mimicry?
2
It helps to strengthen our connection with others
1
Mimicry facilitates the learning of new behaviors and skills from others
3
Mimicry functions as a source of social information.
With which social benefit is mimicry strongly associated?
?
Mimicry is strongly associated with success in social interaction, which relies on synchronization of actions
Which of the following are suggested by the absence of mimicry?
Affiliation?
INCORRECT:
Social distancing
Dominance?
CORRECT
Dependence?
INCORRECT:
Independence
Can you think of two situations where people display the same emotion or behavior, but not on account of mimicry?
Situation 1
When two or more people witness a car accident, they may experience the same emotion (distress) and act in the same way (interrupt what they were doing and focus on the accident), known as a parallel elicitation.
Situation 2
A person may use the emotional or behavioral expression of another person as a guide for appropriate action in a particular social situation, a mechanism known as social referencing.
When consciously using mimicry as a tactic to connect with others, it is important to....
?
Appropriately modulate the degree of imitation and seamlessly match the demands of the social situation.
Conscious mirroring serves the following important function:
Function
With regard to early childhood development, parental mirroring of an infant’s expressions, if done in an appropriate way, is considered a critical, intuitive parenting response, essential for the development of a secure attachment relationship between caregivers and infants. Moreover, it facilitates the infant’s development of a healthy sense of self and good self-regulation abilities.
What is affective contagion?
A form of social contagion involving the spontaneous embodiment of the emotions and related behaviors of others.
Affective contagion
What are the differences between affective contagion and mimicry?
Affective contagion
vs.
Mimicry
Unlike the temporary behavioral response associated with mimicry, the emotion, feeling or mood elicited by affective contagion can persist even after the triggering event has passed. Moreover, the same affect can resurface if we later find ourselves in similar circumstances. In the case of affective contagion, affects are transferred not only by direct interaction with, and observation of, other people, as is the case with mimicry, but also via third-party accounts or triggered memories of an event. Finally, with regard to mimicry, a response will never be complementary (opposite; for instance, feeling angry when the other feels sad) as can be the case with affective contagion.
Affective contagion can manifest itself in the following two ways:
1
As a similar response – for example, aggression by one person triggers aggression in another
2
As a complementary response – for example, the display of anger by one person triggers a fearful response in another
With regard to affective contagion, Hatfield et al. (1994) went so far as to propose that,
Quote
“to gain the best insight into another person’s affective state one might better focus on one’s own feelings than to try to infer it via reasoning.”
What is behavioral contagion?
Behavioral contagion
The subconscious, spontaneous, unsolicited and uncritical adoption of the behavior of other people.
As with affective contagion, behavioral contagion can
manifest itself in the following two ways:
2
As a complementary response, for instance, when one person dresses in a certain way, the other person may choose to accentuate a different clothing style preference as a reaction to the other
1
As a similar response – for example, dressing in a certain way may induce a similar clothing style preference in others that “infectiously” spreads through the population
When dealing with someone we dislike, our natural inclination is....?
?
...to behave in a complementary way so as to socially distance ourselves from them
©2018-25 by Center for Applied Theory of Mind
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