Abstract
It has been proposed that singing evolved to facilitate social cohesion. However, it remains unclear whether bonding arises out of properties intrinsic to singing or whether any social engagement can have a similar effect. Furthermore, previous research has used one-off singing sessions without exploring the emergence of social bonding over time. In this semi-naturalistic study, we followed newly formed singing and non-singing (crafts or creative writing) adult education classes over seven months. Participants rated their closeness to their group and their affect, and were given a proxy measure of endorphin release, before and after their class, at three timepoints (months 1, 3 and 7). We show that although singers and non-singers felt equally connected by timepoint 3, singers experienced much faster bonding: singers demonstrated a significantly greater increase in closeness at timepoint 1, but the more gradual increase shown by non-singers caught up over time. This represents the first evidence for an ‘ice-breaker effect’ of singing in promoting fast cohesion between unfamiliar individuals, which bypasses the need for personal knowledge of group members gained through prolonged interaction. We argue that singing may have evolved to quickly bond large human groups of relative strangers, potentially through encouraging willingness to coordinate by enhancing positive affect.
Highlights
Creating and maintaining positive social relationships is essential for human physical and mental health and well-being (e.g. [1,2,3,4])
Overall our results indicate that compared with individuals participating in craft or creative writing classes, singers experience a greater increase in both self-reported closeness to their group and positive affect
Negative affect decreased and pain thresholds increased during classes, there was no difference in these changes between the conditions: 7 participants could withstand more pain and reported lower negative affect after class compared with beforehand, but, contra our hypotheses, this effect occurred irrespective of the activity that they had performed
Summary
Creating and maintaining positive social relationships is essential for human physical and mental health and well-being (e.g. [1,2,3,4]). Creating and maintaining positive social relationships is essential for human physical and mental health and well-being Social support enhances the survival of an individual’s children, meaning that being part of a supportive social network may increase reproductive success [5,6]. Social networks provide practical and emotional support as well as providing a means of gaining new information and disseminating the cultural knowledge crucial for human survival [7,8,9,10,11]. Group living brings costs as well as advantages, for instance, competition for resources and an elevated risk of cuckoldry
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