Recently, I watched a discussion program on TV and one of the participants shrugged. I found that, not only did I do the same, but I seemed to do it in synchrony the speaker. I didn't want to do this, why would I?It's easy to find popular discussions online about contagious yawning but I haven't found any about shrugs.It occurs to me that there may be other such involuntary imitative movements - raising eyebrows for example.QuestionsIs there a technical name for this type of involuntary imitation? I have tried searching online but either I haven't found the right search terms or there is nothing to find.What explanation can we give? In what way might this be adaptive behaviour?
What explains involuntary imitation of behavior such as shrugging?
social psychology;motor;evolutionary psychology