– why do we yawn after seeing someone else yawn?
In: Biology
There is no scientific consensus for why we yawn at all, let alone why yawning seems to be “contagious.” We know that it is, that’s been proven through a number of studies, including several that involved people merely looking at pictures of yawning. But there’s still no explanation for it.
From Psychology today :
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-online-secrets/201508/why-psychopaths-are-immune-contagious-yawning%3famp
You are sitting at home, watching TV. You yawn. Your partner tries to resist, but can’t, and soon he or she yawns, too. It’s not just in your head: Yawning is contagious, not just in humans but in many species. It’s even contagious between us and our dogs. [1]
Empathy is one of the core psychological factors that leads to catching yawns [2], a critical point underpinning a new study [3] indicating that psychopaths may be immune to contagious yawns. Psychopathy is defined, in part, by a lack of empathy. Could this make people with the trait impervious to their peers’ yawns?
Life is tiring. Since our body is constantly working 24/7, it is the way of our subconscious brain tricking our conscious brain to take a big amount of oxygen thus promoting better blood circulation throughout our body. But that’s just me.
The foremost theory is that it is a form of subconscious communication. You don’t yawn usually while under stress. If you see members of your group yawning, it is a good sign that no one sees an immediate danger, and that you can relax and rest
Multiple theories –
One of the latest ones (my favorite) is that since before primates, all animals used evolutionary signals to warn each other of any danger…
So essentially when someone yawns, its giving signals to our brain of some sort of danger or prewarning our 6th sense to take actions, like sleep.
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