Unlike regular mirroring, in behavioral mirroring, you match behaviors that have symbolic meaning. They are mostly subconscious. In fact, the more subconscious they are, the better they are to mirror. After all, no one can think you’re imitating him or her if you are imitating something they don’t know they’re doing, can they?
But what about being either masculine or feminine with the opposite sex? I mean, aren’t you supposed to be different? Doesn’t the opposite sex expect this? Well, yes and no. Remember, you are not completely giving up your actual personality. You are just adjusting certain things. Did you know that when men talk to women, many tend to use a somewhat higher voice?
Apparently many people already do a certain amount of mirroring, whether they know it or not. It makes sense that we would evolve with some subconscious rapport-building instincts. After all, these abilities have contributed to our ability to survive and to procreate.
We know that the brain’s neurons that are in charge of empathy and connecting with other feelings are called mirror neurons. Autistic people have difficulty with rapport building because they have less mirror neurons. Autistic people that are high-functioning enough to be concerned about rapport-building have to work extra hard at learning these skills because they are not as good with this kind of sensory acuity on an instinctual level. It has to start out as a much more conscious process.