Do you do this?

[Robbo]

I forgot the name for it but my teacher said i was, the thing i am referring too is i think being socially empathetic e.g. when someone crosses their arms and sits opposite to you to talk the next time you reposition yourself you cross your arms. Also sometimes when i go out with some of my friends who have scouse accents my accent will change slightly and some words will sound scouse.

Or something as simple as walking in rhythm with someone and putting your same foot down at near the same time. I do all of these things, So any of you guys have this Socially empathetic thing?

[the_savior21]

yea i actually noticed that sometimes i do do stuff like that but not all that often but its interesting lol

[smurphy]

I actually noticed myself doing it and now I consciously make sure I am not doing it. For example if I am hanging out with someone and they lean forward in their chair I make sure I sit straight and only lean forward when they change position. This applies to many other situations.

I also used to test if other people were like that if I was bored in school. If it was quiet and there was a large group in a small area( especially if we had to gather and observe something) I would cough or yawn and stretch my arms. Wouldnt you know it everyone else would have done the same within a minute like it was a contagion.

About the accents whenever I speak to anyone english I sort of slip into my native Islington accent with the slang and whenever I speak to Irish people my slight Irish accent becomes full on and this is done subconsciously. I only really use my true bastardised half english/half irish accent when I am with family or close friends or anyone from outside the British Isles.

[Unknown Entity]

The only things I notice it with is when I yawn and with my accent.

If someone else yawns, I'll yawn shortly afterwards, even with the greatest will in the world not to. In my head, I'm like: "Oh, dad just yawned... hopefully I won't yawn! I WON'T YAWN! Okay. I'm not gonna... nuh-uh... oh shiiiit. No! No! NOOOO! *yaaaaaawns* Crap." Heck, I've yawned three times just thinking about someone yawning since I've been writing this (crap... four times >>; ).

With my accent, for the most part, I talk normally. I don't really talk any different over the phone or headset unless it's an important call - I adopt a telephone accent, which is clearer and precise. I don't even notice that I'm doing it. Now, with certain friends, my accent slacks a bit and I become a little bit lazy with words. I have a couple "chav accented" friends, and I ****ing hate it when I catch onto that. When I'm around friends with more "educated" accents, I adopt that, but I hate that too because then I sound like a yuppie.

I yawned about twelve...no, now thirteen times in the making of this post... -_-

[nix]

Changing my voice is something i do randomly all the time every day, i feel i would make a great voice actor? For cartoons and stuff but have no idea of how one would get into work like that

Anyway yes i find myself mimicing people's accents alot, i also do it unconsciously when speaking with foreign people, sometimes they dont take kindly to my efforts

The folding arms or changing posture etc im not too sure on, ill keep an eye out for it.

Another thing to mention is yawning, if you look at someone yawn your almost guranteed to yawn yourself within seconds, i call it the mexican yawn (Mexican wave)


Auh Unknown beat me to it, damn work and my slow ass responses, Your not alone Miss Entity!

[Freya]

I noticed this when I was following my boyfriend through his house one day.
When he talked to his father, he didn't care about grammar. (His dad's grammar is way worse than that of my boyfriend.)
When talking to his mother, his grammar was a bit better.
When talking to his grandma, he spoke more slowly and louder.
When talking to me, he was trying to sound intelligent.

What I want to say is that you eventually, mostly without noticing it, change the way you speak when speaking with people.
I think we also learned that in psychology once... We had to discuss with a partner how we change our way of speaking when talking to different groups of people.

Also, I noticed it in school. Teachers acted differently towards 5th graders than they did towards 10th graders.

Also:

when someone crosses their arms and sits opposite to you to talk the next time you reposition yourself you cross your arms

I have to keep that one in mind... I haven't noticed anyone doing that before, but I'm quite interested if people really do it. I will test it tomorrow

[The Dark Crystal]

I've caught myself doing a few things like these before, but most people laugh at me because I like to stand up with my back against the wall, and one foot on the wall so it looks like I'm a flamingo haha!! I've also been told I pose like a abercrombie model when I'm standing or sitting lol I really don't ever notice it until the shot girl told me at a night club I worked at.


I really just act myself most of the time no matter who I'm around, but their are time's were I stop, and think if I really say or talk like that. I guess we can all have that problem when talking to new, or different races of people.

I never tried to talk like a black person though, I always wanna slap the crap out of those white boy's that act black when around them. In fact I get a lot of black friends because I don't act like that around them.

[Alpha]

I didn't think I did this, until I read UE's post and yawned.

[Sasquatch]

Actually, it's a comfort thing. Studies have shown that people are more comfortable talking to another person when they both have the same posture. It's a tip for dating -- when meeting or conversing with somebody, try to match their position, or somewhat match it. Don't cross and uncross your arms every time they do, for example, but do position yourself similarly. This subconsciously makes people more comfortable.

And yawning ... yeah, that sucks.

[winterborn86]

I've never noticed myself doing anything like that, but now I've read about it, I'm always going to be on the lookout lol. Although, like Alpha I yawned when I read Entitys post.

[xXx Rikku xXx]

Well with your scouse thing I kind of do that, I AM a geordie but don't speak much like one but if i'm with someone who has a strong geordie accent then mine will be noticable, but nothing much else i guess =/

[sayian]

lol i'll speak to som1 whose english is their second language or has a strong accent, and find myself speaking to them as if they were def or like 3 years old or something..... lol

i have to catch myself when i notice it, but i guess its because i just wanna be understood

[Robbo]

Noticed i did this today in Film Studies i was sat in an unusual position that i never sit in my arms behind my head on my neck then wondered why i was sat like this then turned to my left to see a guy 2 chairs down sat in the same position i was just like "Crap i've done it again" then later that day i crossed my arms again... It's becoming annoying.

[cosplay1]

So funny

[Selcopa]

YouTube - The Asch Experiment