Difference in contagious yawning between
            <i>susceptible</i>
            men and women: why not?

Norscia, Ivan; Demuru, Elisa; Palagi, Elisabetta

doi:10.1098/rsos.160477

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…For example, it has been argued that both the tendency for children with ASD to be less prone to contagious yawning [83] and the familiarity bias [37,84,85] can be explained in terms of differences in attending to yawners rather than differences in empathetic response. Similarly, the gender bias reported in humans [29] is not straightforward to interpret and there is debate over whether it simply reflects a false positive in the literature [33,34]. By contrast, proponents of the contagious yawning-empathy hypothesis argue that the familiarity bias continues to be found even when controlling for differences in subjects' attention [40,41] and that the negative results for the gender bias in previous studies reflects methodological issues with prior experiments [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Similarly, the gender bias reported in humans [29] is not straightforward to interpret and there is debate over whether it simply reflects a false positive in the literature [33,34]. By contrast, proponents of the contagious yawning-empathy hypothesis argue that the familiarity bias continues to be found even when controlling for differences in subjects' attention [40,41] and that the negative results for the gender bias in previous studies reflects methodological issues with prior experiments [34]. Furthermore, although alternative hypotheses such as the attentional hypothesis could explain the presence of a single bias such as the familiarity bias, only the contagious yawning-empathy hypothesis predicts the presence of all three biases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, although both men and women are equally likely to engage in contagious yawning, women who do engage in contagious yawning yawn more frequently than men who engage in contagious yawning [29]. While this provides some evidence of a gender bias in human contagious yawning, there is currently much debate surrounding this finding [33,34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Contagious yawning is not a signal of empathy: no evidence of familiarity, gender or prosociality biases in dogs

et al. 2020

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Contagious yawning has been suggested to be a potential signal of empathy in non-human animals. However, few studies have been able to robustly test this claim. Here, we ran a Bayesian multilevel reanalysis of six studies of contagious yawning in dogs. This provided robust support for claims that contagious yawning is present in dogs, but found no evidence that dogs display either a familiarity or gender bias in contagious yawning, two predictions made by the contagious yawning–empathy hypothesis. Furthermore, in an experiment testing the prosociality bias, a novel prediction of the contagious yawning–empathy hypothesis, dogs did not yawn more in response to a prosocial demonstrator than to an antisocial demonstrator. As such, these strands of evidence suggest that contagious yawning, although present in dogs, is not mediated by empathetic mechanisms. This calls into question claims that contagious yawning is a signal of empathy in mammals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Contagious yawning is not a signal of empathy: no evidence of familiarity, gender or prosociality biases in dogs

et al. 2020

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“…Moreover, in Hominini the yawning response can vary depending on the sex of the responder or the trigger. For example, women may respond more to others' yawns (Chan & Tseng, 2017 ; Norscia et al, 2016a , 2016b ), although this does not occur in all cohorts (Bartholomew & Cirulli, 2014 ; Norscia & Palagi, 2011 ). Moreover, in the Pan genus yawning response can vary in relation to the trigger's sex, possibly depending on the social role that each sex has in different species (Demuru & Palagi, 2012 ; Massen & Gallup, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yawn contagion in bonobos: Another group, another story

Norscia

Caselli

Meo

et al. 2022

American J Primatol

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In primates, yawn contagion (the yawning response elicited by others' yawn) is variably influenced by individual (e.g., sex, age) and social factors (e.g., familiarity) and possibly linked to interindividual synchronization, coordination, and emotional contagion. Two out of three studies on yawn contagion in bonobos (Pan paniscus), found the presence of the phenomenon with mixed results concerning the effect of familiarity and no replication on its modulating factors.To address this puzzling issue, we recorded all occurrences data on yawn contagion in a captive bonobo group (March-June 2021; 18 individuals; La Vallée des Singes, France). Contrary to chimpanzees and humans, the number of triggering yawns increased contagion, possibly owing to a higher stimulus threshold. This aspect may explain the interindividual variability observed in yawn contagion rates. In subjects under weaning, we did not detect yawn contagion and, as it occurs in certain human cohorts, yawn contagion declined with age, possibly due to reduced sensitivity to others. Females responded more than males and elicited more responses from females when showing sexual swelling. As reproductive females are central in bonobo society, our results support the hypothesis that-as in other Hominini-the most influential sex can influence yawn contagion. The relationship quality (measured via grooming/ play) did not affect yawn contagion, possibly due to bonobos' xenophilic nature.Overall, this study confirms the presence of yawn contagion in bonobos and introduces new elements on its modulating factors, pointing toward the necessity of cross-group studies.

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“…However, the IRI shows clearly higher values for women. Hence, we also conclude that women are more empathetic than are men, presumably because women are “hard-wired for maternity and parental care” (Norscia et al, 2016b, p. 1; for a detailed discussion of the gender effect, see also Norscia, Demuru, & Palagi, 2016a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Contagious yawning, empathy, and their relation to prosocial behavior.

Franzén

Mäder

Winter

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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Humans express facial mimicry across a variety of actions. This article explores a distinct example, contagious yawning, and the links to empathy and prosocial behavior. Prior studies have suggested that there is a positive link between empathy and the susceptibility to contagious yawning. However, the existing evidence has been sparse and contradictory. We present results from 2 laboratory studies conducted with 171 (Study 1) and 333 (Study 2) student volunteers. Subjects were video-recorded while watching muted videos of individuals yawning, scratching, or laughing. Empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Although subjects imitated all facial expressions to large extents, our studies show that only contagious yawning was related to empathy. Subjects who yawned in response to observing others yawn exhibited higher empathy values by half a standard deviation. However, we found no evidence that the susceptibility to contagious yawning is directly related to prosocial behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

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Difference in contagious yawning between susceptible men and women: why not?

Cited by 9 publications

References 38 publications

Contagious yawning is not a signal of empathy: no evidence of familiarity, gender or prosociality biases in dogs

Contagious yawning is not a signal of empathy: no evidence of familiarity, gender or prosociality biases in dogs

Yawn contagion in bonobos: Another group, another story

Contagious yawning, empathy, and their relation to prosocial behavior.

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