You Yawn, I Yawn, Remember?

Have you ever attended a lecture or a movie so boring that you cannot stop yawning? Even better, imagine yourself at work on a dull Wednesday afternoon, when you are already tired after working for two whole days and Friday still seems like a distant mirage. You can definitely see yourself yawning in such a situation. Yawning is generally associated with tiredness, boredom, sleepiness, or sometimes even hunger. However, one thing that we all have experienced without even giving it a thought is how when you see some other person yawn, there is a very high chance that you yourself will follow the lead and yawn.

Many researchers have claimed that yawning is indeed contagious. This is not something that has been noticed exclusively among humans, but also among chimpanzees, dogs, cats, and surprisingly even birds. In 2013, a study was conducted wherein the behavior of students who were kept waiting in a reception area was monitored. It revealed that there existed a relationship between the empathetic ability of students and yawning. In a behavioral study conducted in 2011, various factors like nationality, gender, yawn characteristics, etc. were taken into consideration in order to see their effect on yawn contagion. However, out of all of those, only social bonding was able to predict the frequency and occurrence of a yawn.

As with other measures of empathy, the rate of yawn contagion was the highest in response to kin, then friends and acquaintances and lastly strangers. Strangers and acquaintances exhibited a longer delay in their yawn response compared to friends and family. While some studies try to suggest a relation between empathy and yawning, some suggest other things too. Gordon Gallup, an American psychologist suggests that yawning might be a way to relax yourself, but he also suggests that contagious yawning might be a survival instinct. His idea is that in human evolutionary history, when we were subject to danger, then if the whole group yawns in response to seeing someone else yawn, then this makes everyone much more aware and vigilant of the danger around them.

Something so simple and ordinary as a yawn is perceived by various species in different ways. In animals, yawning generally serves as a warning signal. Even more interestingly, Adelie penguins yawn as a part of their courtship ritual. The ever-so-gentle and friendly guinea pigs are found yawning to display their dominance and anger.

Even though the debate about whether yawning and empathy are related still remains a heated one, further research in the field never fails to disappoint us. It might be a bit awkward but maybe next time when you wish to see how close you are to your friend, you can try yawning in front of them to see whether they yawn back or not :)