Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2021 Jan 18;16(1-2):177-184. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaa116.
Synchronized movements are often key elements in activities where social bonding and emotional connection are a shared goal, such as religious gatherings, sporting events, parties and weddings. Previous studies have shown that synchronous movements enhance prosocial attitudes and affiliative behaviors. Similarly, observers attribute more social closeness to people moving synchronously together than people moving asynchronously. The mechanisms by which synchrony modulates these attributions are not well understood. In the present study, we ask whether viewing synchronous activities influences physiological arousal as measured by skin conductance and whether group size impacts this effect. Undergraduates viewed a series of short videos depicting people moving either (1) in or out of synchrony with each other and (2) in a large or small group. Participants' skin conductance was measured. Change in skin conductance levels and response counts were attenuated while watching synchronous movement, but only in the large-group condition. Post-hoc analyses suggest that viewer enjoyment/interest in the large-group synchronous videos mediated this association for phasic skin conductance responses, but no evidence of mediation was found for tonic skin conductance levels. Results extend previous research on affiliative effects of first-person interpersonal synchrony and demonstrate that watching others moving synchronously has an attenuating effect on observers' physiological state.
同步运动通常是社交联系和情感联系等活动的关键元素，例如宗教集会、体育赛事、派对和婚礼。先前的研究表明，同步运动可以增强亲社会态度和亲和行为。同样，观察者会认为同步运动的人比异步运动的人更亲近。然而，同步调节这些归因的机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们想知道观看同步活动是否会影响皮肤电导率测量的生理唤醒，以及群体规模是否会影响这种效果。大学生观看了一系列短片，短片描绘了人们彼此之间（1）同步或（2）在大或小组中运动。同时测量了参与者的皮肤电导。当观看同步运动时，皮肤电导率水平和反应计数的变化减弱，但仅在大组条件下减弱。事后分析表明，观众对大组同步视频的享受/兴趣介导了这种关联，对于皮肤电导率的紧张反应没有发现证据。结果扩展了关于第一人称人际同步的亲和效应的先前研究，并表明观看他人同步运动对观察者的生理状态有减弱作用。
