Great article in the New York Times today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/health/12mimic.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=14e4efc0e2d86811&ex=1202965200
It talks about the art of persuasion - what con men and good salespeople have known for some time. It turns out that mimicking others' posture with a slight time delay causes them to favor you much more than they would normally. They did experiments to bear this out and participants who were mimicked were 2-3 times as likely to help a stranger than the non-mimicked participants.
Mimicry increases good will towards the mimicker and also promts good will in general. There's speculation that it is so effective because it activates an empathetic part in our brains. It tends to work if the delay is about 4 seconds or longer. If you directly mimic someone, they pick it up and generally get upset.
Well worth reading if you're interested!
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