Yawwwwn!...I Love You?
Contagious Yawn 'Sign of Empathy'
“A susceptibility to contagious yawning may actually be a sign of a high-level of social empathy.
"Contagious yawning is a very interesting behaviour," said Dr Catriona Morrison, a lecture in psychology at the University of Leeds, who is leading the work.
"You don't need a visual cue, you don't even need an auditory cue - you can just read about it or think about it and it gets you going.
"We believe that contagious yawning indicates empathy. It indicates an appreciation of other people's behavioural and physiological state," she added.
Recent neuro-imaging has shown that the same area of the brain is involved when reacting to yawning and when considering others….
Psychology students were more susceptible to contagious yawning, and scored significantly higher on the empathy test than did the engineering students.
Catriona Morrison said: "We thought that psychology students would be highly empathetic and that engineering students would be more systemised, more interested in numbers and formulas."
The results of the experiment appear to back this up, she added.”
bbc : contagious yawn 'sign of empathy'
Before you make it a point to yawn more often to indicate your ‘empathy’, consider the following.
I’ve underlined portions of the aforequoted article to highlight the possibility that ‘an appreciation of other people’s behavioural and physiological state’, and, ‘when considering others’, are not necessarily signs of greater social empathy. Rather, these may be seen as instrumental. That is, ‘a tool used for the purpose of’. In other words, the propensity to yawn-with-the-mob may just as well indicate, not one’s ability to ‘empathise’, but one’s being susceptible to ‘following trends’, ‘conforming to the norm’, ‘going for what is popular’, etc. This is another, and far inferior variant of ‘empathy’ as opposed to being quintessentially empathetic.
However, the researchers producing the above conclusions ought not to be faulted. They are, quite predictably, superimposing their (British) cultural norms – which exhibits a relatively laudable degree of social empathy, as opposed to instrumental empathy, when compared to, say, China or Singapore – and thus view, analogously, the ‘joining of hands’ as a sign of ‘empathy’, as opposed to being evidential of mindless and fearful ‘regimentation’. Both, whilst observably similar, may indicate the workings of diametrically opposite social perspectives. Hence, we must remember that whilst two people may do the same thing (i.e. yawning) whilst taking into consideration the same stimuli (i.e. others’ yawning), the reason for doing it can be entirely different albeit founded on the same generic ‘empathetic’ foundation. We must remember that empathy can be either instrumental (i.e. for the purpose of conforming) or altruistic (i.e. for the purpose of doing good) when conducting such studies and arriving at preliminary conclusions.
ed-infinitum
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Comments
Wow, in my case it is compulsive. I just yawn. I don't often have a choice. :(
I think it might be more a sign of awareness. Maybe the patterns are the same "When considering others..." because, we're still in some sort of examining mode. The reaction could just be physiological. (Sort of like certain female conditions can become caused by one another.) I would hate to think that I chose to get my monthly visitor to conform to some social norm.
I do recognize that I am following a trend (even against my will sometimes, but that is a natural part of life. Have to stay competitive for that whole childbearing thing.)
Unfortunately, you can't completely wipe the slate clean.
personally, i prefer the concept that 'contagious' yawning is simply your mind reacting to the information provided. When someone mentions coughing, for example, you may suddenly get an urge to cough and clear your throat; your mind, after hearing the words 'cough' or 'clear your throat' deems them as beneficiary actions, and subsequently does them.
I suppose just about anything is 'compulsive'. I think the researchers are attempting to identify the motivation behind this compulsive behaviour. The idea of the 'individual', unfortunately, leads many to think that they do what they do because they want to. This detracts us from appreciating the influential significance of the subconscious mind - which is the 'backdoor' The Corporation accesses to get us to think we are doing what we think we are doing.
Sorry Nicole, i was a bit slow in getting the 'monthly visitor' quip;) Good one:)
Hi Kev,
Yes, generally, 'contagious yawning is simply your mind reacting to the information provided.' Many might be inclined to discount the significance of the statement you made. However, i believe that it does prod the mind to think about what sort of information makes the mind react in one way or another, and what prior propensities (i.e. empathy) makes these minds more susceptible to such information.
My observations are an attempt to argue for the existence of other propensities that can encourage such behaviour (i.e. instrumental empathy vs altruistic empathy...i don't know if these terms or similar ones are in use, or have been considered by academics.) In other words, the character traits that are seen to be the cause must themselves be scrutinised. This is where sociology, history, amongst others, come in to fill in the blanks.
Cheers, Nicole and Kev, for your observations....or else i may not have considered that which has to be considered for the above response to be written. :)
I do agree that we have some 'trendy' knee-jerk reactions, though. I would like to think that maybe empathy could become compulsive, but I think it is more likely to be a response that was manipulated by someone else. :(
"I would like to think that maybe empathy could become compulsive, but I think it is more likely to be a response that was manipulated by someone else."
Now that's a great one! Making empathy 'compulsive'! I wish! But, as you stated, 'it is more likely to be a response that was manipulated by someone else." That is what makes 'empathy', 'instrumental' as opposed to 'altruistic' and 'effective'.
Thanks for the thought Nicole.
ed