December 2014
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4,473 Reads
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250 Citations
Interpersona An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Recently, scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, using a variety of scientific techniques, have begun to study the influence of attention, facial mimicry, and social context on emotional contagion. In this paper we will review the classic evidence documenting the role of attention, facial mimicry, and feedback in sparking primitive emotional contagion. Then we will discuss the new evidence which scholars have amassed to help us better understand the role of facial mimicry in fostering contagion and the ability to “read” others’ thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Finally, we will briefly speculate as to where future research might be headed.