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[Yawn sound.] Oh sorry. Well, now that I’ve yawned, you might be yawning, too. Right?
Studies have linked contagious yawning in humans to our capacity for empathy. In fact, scientists have found that those who exhibit empathy easily and often also do more yawning because someone else yawned.
If contagious yawning is indeed a sign of empathy, then we should probably do it more with friends and acquaintances. Because we have an empathetic connection with them that we don’t have with strangers. An Emory University research team decided to test that idea—with chimpanzees, who also yawn contagiously.
Researchers Matthew Campbell and renowned primatologist Franz de Waal, studied 23 chimpanzees who live in two separate groups. Each chimp watched 20 minutes of videos of others chimp either yawning or just resting. Chimps who saw yawning chimps from their own group yawned 50 percent more than when they watched yawning chimps from the stranger group. The research is published in the journal "Public Library of Science One".
Interestingly, chimps paid more attention to the videos of unfamiliar chimps. Because unfamiliarity breeds concentration. Whereas familiarity apparently breeds [Yawn sound.]
—Christie Nicholson
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6 Comments
Add CommentMy cats yawn contagiously. I can trigger a set of yawns by starting one myself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor chimps I not know, but for humans yawn in that manner is fault of education.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYawn in the presence of another human being can mean you are tired (bored) of something or someone, or is indicative of over tiredness.
Demonstrate annoyance (boredom) for someone is something like an insult.
Yawning demonstrating excessive fatigue is something that can be forgiven if you have the politeness to beg excuse for that.
I think so!
*[Yawn sound.] Oh sorry. Well, now that I’ve yawned, you might be yawning too. Right? *
_ Wrong! I say to you Christie Nicholson.
Eh, let’s leave that habit of yawn to the chimps?!
You express the notion, “If contagious yawning is indeed a sign of empathy, then we should probably do it more with friends and acquaintances.” Excuse me but not necessarily! One could say (in somewhat parallel manner), we should have more “empathy” for those around us; therefore, we should pick our “friends and acquaintances” from our “own group” not some “stranger group”. How about the endlessly looped PSA, “our strength is our diversity”; of course, if that propaganda were true & we carried it way out there, each of us should strive to have his, her, & its own language & culture = unstoppable strength ? No, maximum weakness! One big reason the Japanese people will get themselves out of that nightmare over there is because they still have a definable and unifying language & culture. They are not a bunch of sub groups fighting for advantage over the next. They pull together as one family with shared “empathy” and common cause.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this“Empathy”, is not what some research teams seem to think it is. It is not so free standing; it is an artifact, a manifestation of the hard wired and totally necessary survival component of biasing sympathies toward those of your gene pool, your tribal and family group. To get more specific about yawning, yawning is a nonverbal communication jester! The purpose of which is to synchronize group sleeping behavior and communicate the idea that it is safe to do so. A “stranger group”, may not be safe to nod off with – and, it is a good idea to pay more attention to the odd group. “Unfamiliarity breeds” WORRY– they might turn on you, etc.
R. Carlson
Another difference between me and the chimps. I don't need to be around friends to catch a yawn. I caught a yawn just reading the title of this article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMight mirror neurons play a role?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYawning has been so contagious to me I just did so as I wrote the word in this message. I remember reading that spies used a yawn to see who else yawned back to tip them off as to their being watched or followed.Any comments re same ?
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