Stuff You Should Know - How Contagious Yawning Works

Episode Date: June 3, 2008

Yawning is contagious, but why? Check out the leading theories on contagious yawning and empathy in this HowStuffWorks podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid work. Be sure to listen to The War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hi and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, a staff writer here at HowStuffWorks.com. With me are two of my favorite editors, Chris Palette and Candice Gibson. How are you guys today? Doing all right? Candice, what about you?

That was a yawn from Candice. And actually, I strangely feel like yawning right now, which reminds me of an article I wrote once. It's called, Does Contagious Yawning Mean You're Nice? Are you guys familiar with this? Yeah, it's pretty amazing to think that something we don't know much about like yawning could actually be passed on because you see somebody yawn and you have an empathetic feeling toward that person. Yeah, and this is kind of amazing. Candice? Yeah, and not only is yawning a strange phenomenon, empathy is pretty strange too, depending on how it's expressed. And empathy, just to bring you up to speed, is just essentially the way that you're relating to another person that shows that you're trying to experience the feelings

that they're experiencing. Be them positive or negative. Empathy just shows that you're in tune with what the other person's doing. You can identify with them. You can put yourself in their shoes. In a nutshell. Perfect nutshell. That's pretty much the link that people, well, researchers have concluded that we yawn contagiously or we're susceptible to contagious yawning because we feel empathy. But that's pretty much where the solid explanations go. And Candice is actually yawning at this point. I'm still yawning. I can't get over it. I'm just that nice. But, you know, I did want to tell you guys a little bit about yawning and some of the theories that are floating around out there about it. You know, it doesn't just mean you're, what,

sleepy, bored, all the above. That's true. It could be a number of things. Some researchers have even gone so far as to suggest that it could be a little bit like your teeth, not your teeth, your dog's teeth when he or she is burying their teeth to show anger or, you know, they're being defensive. They're saying, you know, maybe you are doing this, you know, subliminal response that you are going, you know, don't mess with me. Yeah, don't mess with me, exactly. And, you know, people have even said that they can yawn at their dog and their dog will yawn back. So maybe the, maybe it's something there to that theory. So have they found in studies that people yawn when their dogs bear their teeth at them? You know, I didn't see anything

suggesting that, to be honest with you. But, but it is interesting to know. And I mean, I think you were saying earlier that it may actually be linked to a fight or flight response. And that, you know, when you put it that way, that it's not so, not so strange. Sure. We're talking about the African Savannah, the fight or the fight or flight response, you mean? Right. Well, yeah, there's a theory that contagious yawning. Well, since you yawn, maybe to make yourself more alert, which would be helpful when you feel fear. Yeah, because it carries blood to your brain, right now kicks on that alert. Exactly. And if you feel fear, say, because the lion's approaching and you yawn a response through empathy, a fellow

member of your species could pick up that yawn and pass it along. And before you know it, there's no one there for the lion to eat because they've all skinaddled. They got out of there. Yeah, out of dogs. Another theory has to do with the eyes as cues. Have you guys heard about this? The eyes have it. Actually, a researcher that I read about did a study to try and, since yawning is contagious, he wanted to try and find a yawn that would get everybody. And the best he could do was about 55%. People who, when he'd cover up the mouth, the eyes still made people yawn because he assumed that it was the big wide open mouth and the stretch that made people want to yawn. But when he covered up the eyes and just showed the mouth by itself,

he got a slightly less response. And he never could find a yawn that was the perfect storm yawn that would have always made people yawn. So it seems like it's the eyes or combination. I find that because it's not like the parts of your face don't work in conjunction with each other. When I smile, my eyes crinkle, you know, when I sneeze, my nose scrunches up, everything sort of works in conjunction with each other. So I totally buy that. And another theory I buy is that people yawn because their bodies aren't getting enough oxygen. And that's a quick way to gulp a whole lot of air right in. It's just open your mouth as wide as it can go and get it inside. And if others see you doing this, they might take a cue that their environment

isn't supplying them with enough oxygen either. So they yawn just when you do. Apparently, the fact that the eyes serve as a cue for contagious yawning, it's supported by a study of autistics or people with autism that they showed slides of people yawning, but they were shown just the mouths. And apparently, people with autism get their cues from people's eyes, and they had no reaction to it whatsoever. Which is interesting. Yeah, which is interesting. And we know just sort of general science that people with autism have a little bit less of an understanding of people's verbal or nonverbal cues and said, it's interesting that they didn't get both parts working in conjunction to have an empathetic response,

but that they just responded to the eyes. Well, it's going to require more study. And if you're interested in studying this for yourself, what we suggest that you start with, does contagious yawning mean you're nice? That's available on HowStuffWorks.com. We're all going to go take naps. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit HowStuffWorks.com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at HowStuffWorks.com. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? On the new podcast, The Turning Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Ballinger. He used to say,

what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you, only I can see you. What you're doing is larger than yourself, almost like a religion. Like he was a god. Listen to The Turning Room of Mirrors on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to The War on Drugs on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.