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Automatic mimicry reactions as related to differences in emotional empathy

Sonnby-Borgström, Marianne LU (2002) In Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 43(5). p.433-443
Abstract
The hypotheses were based on conceiving of automatic mimicking as involved in emotio¬nal empathy. Mimicry reactions (EMG) in high- and low-empathy subjects were studied when subjects were exposed to pictures of angry or happy faces. The degree of corre¬sponden¬ce between subjects’ facial EMG reactions and their self-reported feelings was compared. The comparisons were made at different stimulus exposure times in order to elicit reactions at different levels of information processing. The high-empathy subjects were found to have a higher degree of mimicking behavior than the low-empathy subjects at short exposure times (17 – 40 milliseconds) and they showed a higher correspondence between facial expressions and self-reported feelings.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Empathy, emotional contagion, facial expression, automatic reactions, microgenesis, unconscious processing
in
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
volume
43
issue
5
pages
433 - 443
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000179710500009
  • pmid:12500783
  • scopus:0036884832
ISSN
1467-9450
DOI
10.1111/1467-9450.00312
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ed7900a5-31e9-410d-839d-67fbd82f61f5 (old id 758333)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 07:13:01
date last changed
2025-10-14 13:14:36
@article{ed7900a5-31e9-410d-839d-67fbd82f61f5,
  abstract     = {{The hypotheses were based on conceiving of automatic mimicking as involved in emotio¬nal empathy. Mimicry reactions (EMG) in high- and low-empathy subjects were studied when subjects were exposed to pictures of angry or happy faces. The degree of corre¬sponden¬ce between subjects’ facial EMG reactions and their self-reported feelings was compared. The comparisons were made at different stimulus exposure times in order to elicit reactions at different levels of information processing. The high-empathy subjects were found to have a higher degree of mimicking behavior than the low-empathy subjects at short exposure times (17 – 40 milliseconds) and they showed a higher correspondence between facial expressions and self-reported feelings.}},
  author       = {{Sonnby-Borgström, Marianne}},
  issn         = {{1467-9450}},
  keywords     = {{Empathy; emotional contagion; facial expression; automatic reactions; microgenesis; unconscious processing}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{433--443}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Psychology}},
  title        = {{Automatic mimicry reactions as related to differences in emotional empathy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9450.00312}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1467-9450.00312}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2002}},
}