During the experiment, participants rated the interviewees who mimicked the behavior of the unfriendly interviewer as less competent than those who didn’t mirror him. CREDIT: Piotr Winkielman | University of California, San Diego View full size image

While imitating another may be a sincere form of flattery, such mirroring can get you into trouble socially if you’re copying the wrong person, new research shows.

When participants in the study mirrored (or copied the mannerisms of) an unlikeable person, they were also judged as less competent and likeable by others, the researchers found.

Mirroring happens all the time and has been shown to involve mirror neurons, which are the cells in the brain that activate when we watch someone else perform a particular action that we also perform ourselves.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15332-mirroring-behavior-downside.html