This is a natural phenomenon: in a talking circle or when interacting with another person, we have a tendency to indulge in mimicry.
Our interlocutor just has to cross their legs or arms for us to do the same ten seconds later, without even realizing it.
Ditto for our way of speaking: words, intonations, language tics, manias.
We are real sponges.
In writing an email or texting conversation too, punctuation, emojis, and the choice of turns of phrase depend on who we interact with!
Most of the time, this mimicry is not voluntary ... But in the office, there is a comrade in whom the act of miming is a strategy of seduction.
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It is a performance worthy of a corporate Nicolas Canteloup. The best mime in the office is able to imitate the approach of any collaborator. To take the same voice as him and to copy the slightest of his reactions. If, like the aforementioned imitator, this can cause laughter in his comrades, this talent also allows him to be
"well seen"
by people who matter more than him in the office. The bias is well known and recognized by Science: without realizing it, human beings have an unfortunate tendency to trust and love what resembles them more easily. And not just physically: in the way of reasoning, of reacting in different situations, and of expressing oneself in society.
In a meeting, the mime is a real star, the perfect double of the person who leads the meeting: it is enough for the latter to nod or nod his head so that in the following second, the mime accompanies his gesture. When he does intervene, he is also able to act exactly as his boss would and to speak down to the word as he would. The mime exasperates his comrades as much as he amuses them. The job interview is a great time to find out if you have a mime in front of you: if the moment is going exactly the way you want it to, without the slightest surprise, and the candidate ticks absolutely all the boxes you have. planned - consciously or not! - is that there is eel under the rock ...
For the sake of this column, please feel free to share your own experience of important people by writing to qperinel@lefigaro.fr.
