As title says! Also, Is it really contagious, and if so, why?
In: Biology
Yes, yawning is contagious. It has been proven to be “contagious” in many studies, and Mythbusters even did an episode demonstrating it.
As for why, there’s several reasons. First, it’s a form of nonverbal communication. Humans (and our ancestors) existed for a long time without conventional language. Nowadays, if we’re in a group, we can tell people “hey I’m tired,” and go from there. We didn’t have that ability to communicate explicitly for a long time. So if a Cro-Magnon was walking with a group, they might yawn to show they’re tired. Other CMs in the group would see that yawn and then also yawn to pass along that message to any who didn’t see it, and that would express that maybe everyone should stop and sleep soon. Someone is tired and we need to stop soon or they might be in danger of being left behind.
Humans also tend to mirror behaviors. We’re deeply empathetic by nature. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “laughter is contagious.” We mimic behaviors that we see. If someone is smiling, we tend to smile. If someone is sad, we get sad. Even thinking about certain behaviors or actions will cause us to act them out. There are studies that show that just thinking about yawning will induce yawning in people.
Mirroring is also a way to learn. We have specific neurons in our brain that mirror behaviors as a way to learn them. We learn language by mirroring what we see and hear. So it’s not just a form of empathy, mirroring is vital to learning.
Latest Answers