Contagious yawning and psychopathy

Rundle, Brian K.; Vaughn, Vanessa R.; Stanford, Matthew S.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.05.025

Cited by 23 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We acknowledge that yawns appear to vary throughout the day and according to one's chronotype (Zilli et al 2007). Further, we acknowledge that individual differences associated with social awareness or mentalizing also bear upon one's tendency to contagiously yawn (Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014;Demuru and Palagi 2012;Norscia et al 2016;Norscia and Palagi 2011;Palagi et al 2009;Platek et al 2003;Rundle et al 2015). We acknowledge that some existing experimental protocols are used to mitigate the influence of social factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…And yet, perception is a necessary but not sufficient explanation: it is known that yawn contagion is primarily a function of social considerations. We are far more likely to yawn to close family and friends, than we are to strangers or acquaintances (Demuru and Palagi 2012;Norscia and Palagi 2011); indeed, empathy, theory of mind, self-awareness, and psychopathy-related traits are all associated with one's tendency to yawn contagiously (Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014;Norscia et al 2016;Palagi et al 2009;Platek et al 2003;Rundle et al 2015). Contagious yawning has been observed in non-humans, and is typically associated with that species' social abilities (Demuru and Palagi 2012;Gallup et al 2015;Madsen et al 2013;Palagi et al 2009;Romero et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Are Yawns really Contagious? A Critique and Quantification of Yawn Contagion

Kapitány

Nielsen

2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many diverse species yawn, suggesting ancient evolutionary roots. While yawning is widespread, the observation of contagious yawning is most often limited to apes and other mammals with sophisticated social cognition. This has led to speculation on the adaptive value of contagious yawning. Among this speculation are empirical and methodological assumptions demanding re-examination. In this paper we demonstrate that if yawns are not contagious, they may still appear to be so by way of a perceptual pattern-recognition error. Under a variety of conditions (including the assumption that yawns are contagious) we quantify (via models) the extent to which the empirical literature commits Type-1 error (i.e., incorrectly calling a spontaneous yawn 'contagious'). We report the results of a preregistered behavioural experiment to validate our model and support our criticisms. Finally, we quantifybased on a synthesis of behavioural and simulated datahow 'contagious' a yawn is by describing the size of the influence a 'trigger' yawn has on the likelihood of a consequent yawn. We conclude by raising a number of empirical and methodological concerns that aid in resolving higher-order questions regarding the nature of contagious yawning, and make public our model to help aid further study and understanding.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Yawns really Contagious? A Critique and Quantification of Yawn Contagion

Kapitány

Nielsen

2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, a great number of "sexy" and arguably counterintuitive findings have been reported in the psychopathy field. To name only a few recent examples, compared with nonpsychopathic individuals, psychopathic individuals have been reported to be more likely to be night owls (Jonason, Jones, & Lyons, 2013), to use words related to sex and money and less likely to use words related to family and religion (Hancock, Woodworth, & Porter, 2013), to have a poorer sense of smell (Mahmut & Stevenson, 2012), to be less likely to yawn contagiously (Rundle, Vaughn, & Stanford, 2015), to take more selfies (McCain et al, 2016), to exhibit higher face width to height ratios (Anderl et al, 2016), and more likely to be ambidextrous (Shobe & Desimone, 2016). Many of these intriguing results may be genuine.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Plea for Preregistration in Personality Disorders Research: The Case of Psychopathy

Verschuere

Kom

Zelm

et al. 2021

Journal of Personality Disorders

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In response to a crisis of confidence, several methodological initiatives have been launched to improve the robustness of psychological science. Given its real-world implications, personality disorders research is all too important to not follow suit. We offer a plea for preregistration in personality disorders research, using psychopathic personality (psychopathy) as a prominent case example. To suit action to word, we report on a preregistered study, and use it to help refute common misconceptions about preregistration as well as to illustrate that the key strength of preregistration-transparency-outweighs its (perceived) disadvantages. Although preregistration will not conclusively settle the many debates roiling the field of psychopathy and other personality disorders, it can help to verify the robustness of empirical observations that inform such debates.

show abstract

“…[ 20 ] n = 118 (82) laboratory static images self-report (and objective) b binary no effect Rundle et al. [ 21 ] n = 135 (78) laboratory video clips objective binary and continuous no effect Gallup et al. [ 22 ] c n = 105 (79) laboratory video clips self-report binary and continuous no effect a Palagi et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

There is no difference in contagious yawning between men and women

Gallup

Massen

2016

R. Soc. open sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Norscia et al. [1] recently reported the first evidence for a sex bias in contagious yawning among humans. Based on previous research showing an indirect connection between contagious yawning and empathy (e.g. [2-4], but see [5,6]) and that levels of empathy appear to be higher in women compared with men (e.g. [7][8][9]), the authors investigated whether there is also a sex difference in the expression of contagious yawning through an observational study on humans. By examining 92 dyads already showing evidence of contagious yawning, which was a subset of a much larger sample of individuals, Norscia et al. report that both social bond and sex were significant predictors of this response. In particular, contagious yawning was more common if the dyad was strongly bonded and when the individual catching the yawn was female.Here, we call into question these conclusions about a sex difference in contagious yawning. First, we draw attention to more than a dozen previous publications on contagious yawning in humans, many of which were not cited by Norscia et al.showing no difference in susceptibility to yawn contagiously and/or contagious yawning frequency between men and women. Similarly, we do the same for nearly a dozen unacknowledged publications in the comparative literature. Lastly, we challenge the validity of the reported sex difference within the Norscia et al. study itself, based on their analysis of only a restricted subset of documented contagious yawners.A close examination of the empirical literature clearly shows that the sex difference reported by Norscia et al. stands in stark contrast to previous findings on contagious yawning in humans. While Norscia et al. only reference a single publication that did not find a difference in the frequency of contagious yawning between men and women [5], we provide references to an additional 14 papers showing no effect (two of which were in fact written by some of the Norscia et al. authors in question; table 1).

show abstract

Contagious yawning and psychopathy

Cited by 23 publications

References 31 publications

Are Yawns really Contagious? A Critique and Quantification of Yawn Contagion

Are Yawns really Contagious? A Critique and Quantification of Yawn Contagion

A Plea for Preregistration in Personality Disorders Research: The Case of Psychopathy

There is no difference in contagious yawning between men and women

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About