In-group/out-group bias in contagious yawning

J Ryan Porter,Steven Platek

doi:10.1038/npre.2012.6875.1

Abstract

AbstractBias for an in-group is a social phenomenon characterized by an affinity for one’s in-group over a perceived out-group. Activation in the amygdala, which is implicated in social and emotional processes, is increased when humans view other-race faces. This increase in activation is associated with implicit racial bias as indicated by scores on an implicit attitude test. Contagious yawning is a social process that appears to subserve empathic processes enabling the inferential modeling of the mental states of others and is exhibited in few species other than humans, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides), dogs (Canis familiaris), and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). Despite these comparative data, little research has investigated intra-species variation in contagious yawning.

Highlights

Sixty (12 male, 48 female, mean age 21.7 years) undergraduate college students served as participants and received course credit for their participation
Since the stimuli used in this study were only of Caucasian (C) and African American (AA) races, any participants not identifying themselves as belonging solely to one race or the other were excluded from final data analysis
This left us with 43 participants (5 W males, 19 W females; 2 AA males, 17 AA females) suitable for statistical analysis

Summary

Introduction

Sixty (12 male, 48 female, mean age 21.7 years) undergraduate college students served as participants and received course credit for their participation. Individuals were informed that they were participating in a research project investigating perceptions of facial features. All subjects were fully debriefed and informed of the true purpose of the study. The study was approved by the local Institutional Review Board and all participants gave written informed consent.

Results

Conclusion