Contagion also introduces the subject of mimicry or the copying of another’s actions. When people converse they inadvertently copy and synchronize each other’s movements, expressions, and qualities which creates an “emotional convergence” between them (Arizmendi, 2011). The idea is that people tend to “catch” each other’s emotions on a regular yet natural basis (Yoon, 2010).
The cliché phrase “Be yourself” comes to mind when researching contagion. It is ironic to think that people naturally mimic others for an emotional connection. For example, contagion plays a huge rule in the practice of therapists (Hofelich, 2012). It is important that a therapist not detach himself from his own emotions while at the same time finding a balance between personal judgments. In Arizmendi’s article on contagion, the author introduces the presence of “mirror neurons”. This subset of multimodal neurons activates the same area of the brain as they would if the person were performing the action or perceiving it. In essence, the neurons in one person are activating in the same motion and time as the neurons in the other person of whom they are mirroring (Hofelich, 2012). Mimicking and connecting on an emotional level is an important component to design a video specific to making participants yawn. Emotions involve empathy which is another aspect that is important to this research.
Empathy
Empathy is a common emotion where one person perceives the emotion of another and then interprets it to the other’s perspective. Empathy is key component in establishing a yawn inducing video for the purpose of the desired experiment. According to Arizmendi (2011), the author refers to a book about empathy as a process. Empathy is: “(1) emotional resonance; (2) empathic knowledge gained from that resonance; (3) use of this knowledge to form an empathic response; and (4) temporary role identification with the other”.
Empathy also influences the contagious behavior of yawning in people. At ages 4-5, children begin to identify emotion in others which is also when contagious behaviors begin (Norscia, 2011). Children that suffer from empathy disorders or that develop late also show less correlation in contagious behaviors. Neuro-imaging studies support the connection between empathy and contagious yawning. In a study done by Norscia (2011), the researcher explains the physiological concept between contagious yawning and empathy:
Posterior cingulate and precuneus activations when viewing someone yawning suggest that contagion involves empathy networks. The negative covariance between amygdalar activation and subjective yawn susceptibility supports the relationship of yawn contagion and the face-processing-related emotional analyses during social interactions.
Furthermore, emotional contagion is based upon the early development between the mother and the infant. This means that a degree of empathy can be established with a degree of closeness which follows in this order, “pattern of kin > close friends > acquaintances > strangers” (Norscia, 2011). For the purpose of the video, that is why it was necessary to establish a degree of empathy between students attending Clemson University. If the content of the video was able to make a connection with the participants, then yawns could be induced. However, it was also discovered that empathy is at its highest degree when situations are most sincere and occur in a natural frame of the world (Norscia, 2011). Even the though the video was designed to induce yawns, it will still lack genuine effects of empathy. The video was made to replicate and induce a natural human action and emotion. The sincerity of the designed video will decrease the degree of empathy due to the artificiality of the content.
The actors in the designed video portrayed themselves as hard-working yet tired Clemson students while also exhibiting yawns at the same time. This not only reinforces the idea of contagious yawning, but also changes the degree of closeness as mentioned above. It was impossible for every single participant in the chosen experiment to be related or close friends. However, by making the focus of the video between Clemson students, the degree of closeness/empathy was able to shift from strangers to acquaintances. Therefore, yawn contagion is established by the social-emotional bond between individuals (Norscia, 2011).
A study was conducted where subjects were observed in their natural social settings. Data collection was blind and the participants were oblivious to the researchers observing them. All data recorded was anonymous to the participants that were observed. The researchers went to public places/work areas and observed a mixture of acquaintances and close friends and also used cell phones and laptops to disguise their act of recording (Norscia, 2011). These yawns were observed at three different blocks of time. Morning from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and 7:00 pm to 1:00 am. Two researchers recorded during each block of time. Yawns can be evoked up to five minutes after they have been perceived (Norscia, 2011). With that in mind, the researchers recorded yawns within 3 minute peaks of each other in order to reduce the probability of spontaneous yawns. The researchers were only observing for contagious yawns.
In Norscia’s study on yawning/contagion, the researchers coded contagion as followed:
1 = presence, 0 = absence; trigger's and observer's sex were labeled as: 1 = male, 2 = female; trigger's and observer's country of origin were coded at the dyadic level: 1 = same country; 2 = different country. Sensory modality was coded as: 0 = auditory cue only, 1 = visual cue only, 2 = visual and auditory cues. Observer's position was defined as: 0 = no visual contact; 1 = frontal to the trigger; 2 = diagonal, requiring a 45° head rotation to reach the frontal vision of the trigger; 3 = lateral, requiring a 90° head rotation to reach the frontal vision of the trigger.
Furthermore, social bond labels were given in order to distinguish between the closeness of researchers and subjects. The scores were as follows: 0 = strangers, 1 = acquaintances, 2 = friends and 3 = kin/partners. The contexts of what the subjects were doing were coded as follows: 1 = work, 2 = feeding time, 3 = spare time and 4 = confined space (transportation) (Norscia, 2011). These observations were performed over 1 year period with a total of 109 adults which consisted of 56 males and 53 females.
Results were recorded when a subject yawned. Each person was given a code based on the above scores. The initial yawner was coded as the trigger and then the rest of their stats were coded as necessary. Results showed that the strongest correlation between the categories of the trigger, observer gender, and degree of social bond. Norscia (2011) states that, “The importance of social bond in shaping yawn contagion demonstrates that empathy plays a leading role in the modulation of this phenomenon”. The replication of one’s feelings from another solidifies the emotional link shared between the two which is why yawning has such a powerful interaction between individuals (Norscia, 2011).
Empathy between genders is also an important component for designing a video. Genders can trigger more or less empathy in individuals. Capturing the highest degree of empathy was important in creating a video to induce participants to yawn. In general, women are more empathetic than men to both genders and men are more empathetic to just women (Toussaint, 2005). This concept was taken into account for the creation of the video. More clips of women yawning were shown to achieve greater empathy from participants. According to Toussaint (2005), self-reports on empathy were highly favored to the gender of women. It was assumed that men scored lower on self-report tests due to ideas of social norms and gender stereotyping (Toussaint, 2005). Furthermore, a test was conducted for the gender differences amongst right brain hemisphere activation and empathy. The participants in this study were asked to choose the happier of two chimerical faces which is also known as the Levy Chimeric Face Task (Walsh, 1912).
The right side of the brain is more susceptible to emotions that are given from the left-side of a person’s face. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was conducted on the participants during the showcase of these faces. The activation of mirror neurons was stronger in the females in the right frontal cortex of the brain. This suggests that females naturally locate regions of mirror neurons that activate empathy which create the difference between males and females. It also concluded that females have natural strategies for assessing situations that are greater in empathy then that of males (Toussaint, 2005). While empathy is important in establishing a concept of yawn contagion, visual and auditory mediums also affect yawn contagion as well.
Visual Medium
As discussed earlier, three different technical mediums were chosen for the desired experiment. Therefore, it was essential to understand the relationship between visual and auditory mediums and how they affect yawn contagion. The visual concept of observing a yawn is important because it deals with mimicry which was mentioned earlier. Imagery is also an emotional linking tool that allows people to connect on a deeper level (Arizmendi, 2011). The imagery of empathy involves inputs from the five basic senses and a map of our internal world which allows for greater visual continuity (Yoon, 2011).
A person’s ability to visualize another person’s situation and actually imagine and create vivid images is important for the concept of empathy and yawn contagion. There are three types of neural mappings in the brain that control three types of images. These images are: 1) images that are received and perceived in explicit form 2) patterns of images of the body being disturbed by an object and 3) images in dispositional space (Arizmendi, 2011).
According to Arizmendi (2011), “When we react to a stimulus in the external world, the brain creates not only the image of the object, but also a description of our body reacting to it or being disturbed by the perception of that object. An image is generated from this description”. The visual concept was employed in the designed video of the experiment by not only relating the participants with the actors in the video, but also attempting to create a natural setting and comfort ability with them. This idea not only influences yawn contagion, but also increases the degree of empathy through a visual medium.
An example of a person smiling was used to put this concept into perspective. When a person sees someone smiling, this image is an external event in that person’s mind. “The person’s brain first created a description of the body-in-reaction followed by the creation of an image of it” (Arizmendi, 2011). That person is then able to connect the imagery of warmth and a smile to create visual empathy. This example greater supports the experimenter’s use of these components to explore yawning through the aforementioned technical mediums.
Auditory Medium
The auditory component of yawn contagion is also equally important in determining degrees of empathy. A study was conducted to analyze brain activity of auditory yawning through Functional Magnetic Resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were presented with sounds of people yawning/breathing while they lay in the MRI setup. The participants pressed buttons correlated with a four point scale: “1 = in no way felt like yawning, 2 = felt like yawning a little, 3 = strongly felt like yawning, 4 = actual/stifled yawn)” (Arnott, 2009).
Results showed that the auditory components of yawns were just as likely to influence contagious yawning as visual components do (Arnott, 2009). Yawn sounds were given higher ratings and showed enhanced activities in the right posterior cortex of the brain which both correlated with each individual’s measure of empathy. The studies showed that hearing someone yawn activates brain areas that are connected with hearing and executing mouth actions are important for familiarizing the actions of others (Arnott, 2009).
Rationale/Hypothesis
All the research elements discussed were used in designing a video specific enough to induce yawns from participants. As mentioned before, there is no solid proof on the occurrence of yawning and any aspect of it. However, it is known that yawning does contain both physiological and psychological cues. On the basis of the research that was done for visual and auditory mediums, I predict that there will be no significant difference in the average number of yawns between technical mediums. It was noted that both audio and visual mediums work the same in inducing yawn contagion. Taken that into account, I believe that my experiment will have no significance between each technical medium. It was also noted in Norscia’s research that greater sincerity in situations results in higher degrees of empathy. I believe my video was successful in imitating the necessary elements, but also lacked in sincerity due to its artificiality. The research led to an organized method of experimentation.
Method
Participants
A goal of 45 participants was set to sample. The social networking device known as Facebook was used as a recruitment method. Facebook invites were sent out and potential participants responded to times that were at their best convenience. Obtaining a fair, if not equal amount of males and females was kept in mind. Many of the participants were people that I knew or were familiar with. All participants were age 18 and up and all were students at Clemson University ranging in different academic years. By the end of the experiment only 30 participants were able to be obtained and of those 30 participants were 18 males and 12 females.
Materials
The designed video was the main tool of the experiment. Participants watched the video on my personal laptop and listened with headphones. The video was approximately 3 ½ minutes long. In the contents of the video there were 2 actors (1 male and 1 female) that I asked about their day and workload at Clemson University. They responded to the questions and also followed a script to yawn at certain points. Also, six other scenes were taken of six different females yawning. Each of these clips were 3-4 seconds long and were randomly shown throughout the video. More females were chosen on the research basis that females generated more empathy. All of the scenes were recorded around Clemson University and its housing.
Procedure
There were 3 sessions opened for each technical medium in the experiment. Rooms were rented out in a 2 hour block periods in Hendrix located on Clemson University. There was also an extra session done for participants who had scheduling problems or who couldn’t meet at their prior time slot. Each session was done on a different day. Participants signed up for 10 minute spans of time for each 2 hour block of time. The participants were observed one at a time and those that came in groups waited outside. The participant would enter the room, sit at a table with a laptop and use the headphones to listen. The video was set on full screen to eliminate other distractions on the laptop. In the “Only Visual” group the volume was muted so that they could only see the video. In the “Only Auditory” group the laptop was partially closed so that they could only hear the video and their view was obstructed to a wall to eliminate any other distractions. In the “Auditory/Visual” group the video was delivered with both components being shown. I sat and observed to the left of each participant sitting about 10 feet away from them while recording each yawn with notebook and paper. By the end of each session, the current participant would leave the room and I would ask the next participant to enter and start the experiment.
Results
The results showed that the “Visual Only” group had a total of 6 yawns. The “Auditory” only group had a total of 3 yawns. The “Visual/Auditory” group had a total of 7 yawns. There were only 2 participants that yawned more than once in the experiment and each one was in the “Visual Only” and “Visual/Auditory” groups. There were many participants that did not yawn at all. A total of 7 women yawned out of the overall total of 12 females. A total of 9 men yawned out of the overall total of 18 females. A one-way ANOVA test was conducted to evaluate the average mean of yawns between each technical medium group. An F(2,28) score of 1.10 was achieved which shows that there was significant range of scores between the “Only Visual” group and the “Both Auditory and Visual” group vs. the “Only Auditory” group. A P-value of .346 was achieved which was greater than .05. The R-squared score was 7.56. Refer to “Table 1:One-way ANOVA test for means of yawns between “Visual Only”, “Audio Only”, and “Both Visual and Audio” groups” for scores.
Discussion
My results showed that there was a slight difference between technical mediums. However, in my research I discovered that auditory and visual cues affect yawn contagion similarly if not equally. My results showed that there more induced yawns from the two control groups that had visual components in them. While there was a difference in the average number of yawns recorded, I believe the results were miniscule and having had more participants would have had greater effect. In my experiment I rejected the null hypothesis. I hypothesized that there would be no difference in average yawns of each groups. My results showed that there were slight differences.
My sample goal was not achieved and I believe that was a potential reason why there were not as many yawns. My sample goal was small to begin with, but having more participants would have created a greater significant outcome. I also realized how difficult it was to recruit participants even with the aid of Facebook. Participants signed up for a time slot and some had to reschedule or cancel for whatever reason. Participants also came in large groups which could have affected their empathetic perspectives before they entered into the experiment.
I also noted that there were 12 females and 18 females that participated in my experiment. Having slightly more males could have skewed my results because as discussed in my research women are naturally more empathetic to situations. However, it was noted that out of the overall total for each gender, more women yawned then men.
I believe that there were some initial problems with the experiment before it began. I would have liked to use more deception with the participants. I believe the less that they knew could have heightened significant results. The participants knew that they were being observed and that could have changed their perspective while watching the video. Deception also would have been an advantage to use in making the participants unaware of yawning as the focus of the experiment. If I could have deceived the participants into thinking that the experiment was about Sleep Deprivation, for example, I could have gained more significant results.
Another concept that could have improved experiment is that the video I designed was not powerful enough to induce yawns. I could have looked into more theatrical actors or scenes in order to make people yawn. I believe that the “Auditory Only” group was flawed because the visual component outshined it. I believe my video depended mostly on the visual component therefore neglecting the auditory component. My reasoning for this is because once I took away the visual component the auditory seemed lack luster and not powerful enough to induce a yawn. The research I did on yawn contagion and auditory cues showed that there was strong correlation between hearing someone yawn and actually yawning. I think I could have taken those concepts into designing my video more apparent. The content of my video could have altered the degree of empathy from my participants because of the artificiality of the video. As discussed earlier, degrees of empathy depends on levels of sincerity. I did not use professional actors when designing my video so that could have changed degrees of empathy when inducing yawn from participants.
I believe a reasonable amount of circumstance could have changed certain aspects of empathy and the creation of my video. Through this experiment I learned a lot about yawn contagion and empathy. I believe there is still not enough information to gather any true thesis on yawn contagion and my experiment barely tapped the vastness of information necessary on deducing a specific reason for yawn contagion. However, this experiment was challenging and interesting to embark on and designing the video most entertaining part.
References
Arizmendi, T. G. (2011). Linking mechanisms: Emotional contagion, empathy, and imagery. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 28(3), 405-419.
Arnott, S.R., Singhal, A., & Goodale, M. A. (2009). An investigation of auditory contagious yawning. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 9(3), 334-342.
DeNoon, D. (2011). Why we yawn. WebMD, 2(3), 113-123. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20110923/why-we-yawn
Gallup, A.C., & Gallup, G.r. (2007). Yawning as a brain cooling mechanism: Nasal breathing and forehead cooling diminish the incidence of contagious yawning. Evolutionary Psychology, 5(1), 92-101.
Hofelich, A. J., & Preston, S. D. (2012). The meaning in empathy: Distinguishing conceptual encoding from facial mimicry, trait empathy, and attention to emotion. Cognition And Emotion, 26(1), 119-128.
Norscia, I., & Palagi, E. (2011). Yawn contagion and empathy in Homo sapiens. Plos ONE, 6(12).
Sarnecki, J. (2008). Content and contagion in yawning. Philosophical Psychology, 21(6), 721-737.
Toussaint, L., & Webb, J.R. (2005). Gender Difference in the relationship between empathy and forgiveness. The Journal Of Social Psychology, 145(6), 673-685.
Walsh, J. J. (1912). Psychic contagion. In J. J. Walsh (Ed.) , Psychotherapy: Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease (pp. 688-693). New York, NY US: D Appleton & Company.
Yoon, J. D., & Tennie, C. (2010). Contagious yawning: A reflection of empathy, mimicry, or contagion. Animal Behaviour, 79(5), e1-e3.
Table1
Table 1:One-way ANOVA test for means of yawns between “Visual Only”, “Audio Only”, and “Both Visual and Audio” groups.
by
cjacob (student)
