Why is it that when someone yawns, sometimes if you are near or notice them, you too yawn?

Answer 1

It is a subliminal suggestion to your brain. Most of the time if you or someone around you yawns you are both tired. You know ...someone always says, oh . don't start that. In response to that they are also tired.

Answer 2

This question has taken me a super long time to answer -- I've spent much of the time yawning every time I try to research! It's true! Are you yawning yet? Humans yawn when they see someone else yawn, read about yawning, think about yawning, or even just hear yawning. I can barely keep my hands on the keyboard because once I yawn, I tend to stretch and then rub my face.

The answer is, no one really knows why yawning is "contagious". Or why we yawn at all. One popular explanation is that yawning allows you to get rid of too much carbon dioxide in your system and increase your oxygen supply. This was disproved by Dr. Robert Provine and his research team in 1987.

Now scientists are wondering if yawning is from our deep past -- part of our evolutionary history. Did a yawn signal to the group that it was time for everyone to retire to the trees and snooze? Did a yawn signal that we were all feeling cozy and warm about each other? Did a yawn signal something more like, "Gee, I know how you're feeling, I feel that way too."

Between 40 and 60 percent of the population seems to find yawning contagious. Researchers at the State University of New York conducted a series of yawning experiments. They determined that being self-aware (the ability to recognize oneself) and having the ability to see things from someone else's viewpoint means a person is more likely to find yawning contagious.

Now you're thinking, what humans are not self-aware? Schizophrenics sometimes have trouble with self-recognition so they will not find yawning contagious. Babies won't yawn contagiously until they're more than a year old.

Some birds and reptiles yawn. Most mammals yawn. My dog yawns, but that doesn't make me yawn -- I obviously cannot put myself in her paw prints. (But who can empathize with a creature that sleeps all day, then when she does bother to get up and join you on a walk, suddenly bolts after a squirrel and nearly tears your arm out of your socket? I have no idea what's going on in that dog's mind.)

Chimpanzees yawn too, and in fact, if they watch other chimps yawn, they're more likely to yawn too.

So, I guess the real answer is: who knows?

Answer 3

Some say yawning is a primitive act in the establishment of society. When primitive humans started dividing themselves into social groups women and children went to bed before men. The natural act of yawning subconsciously and in a collective way established that it was bedtime. So now when someone yawns and you do it too it is mostly psychological

Answer 4

The Physiological Theory :Proponents of this theory stated that science has proven that we yawn to get more oxygen into our system or to rid ourselves of excess carbon dioxide. Yawning is contagious because everybody in any given room is likely to be short of fresh air at the same time.

The Boredom Theory: If everyone hears a boring speech, why shouldn't everyone yawn at approximately the same time, wonders this group.

The Evolutionary Theory: Many readers analogized contagious yawning in humans to animals displaying their teeth as a sign of intimidation and territoriality. Larry Rose of Kalamazoo, Michigan, argued that yawning might have originally been a challenge to others, but has lost its fangs as a aggressive maneuver as we have gotten more "civilized".

Answer 5

Last I read about this, "they" were not sure. One theory was that there was low O2 in the room or that if you were tired probably whomever is with you has a similar schedule. That does not explain why I have been yawning the whole time I have been answering this question and why my husband has been matching my yawns one for one. (I didn't mention this to him.)

Answer 6

It has originated from the early days of mammals, when all of them lived in herds and simmilar groups. It was much safer for them to sleep all together, in the same time, than to fall asleep individually, because some memebers of the herd could get lost when awaken. Yawning is the signal that the first member of the group feels sleepy, and that all the rest of the members should fall asleep in the same time.

Answer 7

Supposedly because the person affected the air composition of oxygen and the next person has to compensate by yawning.

Answer 8

Pandiculation is the act of stretching and yawning
-Everyone yawns - babies, kids, teenagers, adults.
-Some birds, reptiles and most mammals also yawn.

Here are a few things that are known about yawns:
1.The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.
2.In humans, the earliest occurrence of a yawn happens at about 11 weeks after conception - that's BEFORE the baby is born!
3.Yawns become contagious to people between the first and second years of life.
4.A part of the brain that plays an important role in yawning is the hypothalamus (Part of the forebrain that regulates the amount of fear, thirst, sexual drive and aggression we feel).
-Research has shown that some neurotransmitters (for example, dopamine, excitatory amino acids, nitric oxide) and neuropeptides increase yawning if injected in the hypothalamus of animals

But WHY do we yawn?
-You know that when we are bored, we yawn.
-Scientists have confirmed this observation by comparing the number of yawns in 17-19 year old students who watched music videos to the number of yawns in students who watched an uninteresting color test bar pattern.
-As you might have expected, people who watched the color test bar pattern yawned more (5.78 yawns in 30 minutes) than those who watched the "MTV-like" video (3.41 yawns in 30 minutes.)
-The average duration of yawns was also slightly longer in the test bar viewing group.
-One unexpected finding was that yawns in male students had a longer duration than those in female students

But WHY do we yawn when we’re bored?
-Many people assume that we yawn because our bodies are trying to get rid of extra carbon dioxide (CO2) and to take in more oxygen (O2).
-According to this theory, when people are bored or tired, they breathe more slowly.
-As breathing slows down, less oxygen makes it to the lungs.
-As carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, a message to the brain results in signals back to the lungs saying, "Take a deep breath," and a yawn is produced.
-The only problem with the excess CO2 theory is that research shows that it may not be true.
-In 1987, Dr. Robert Provine and his coworkers set up an experiment to test the theory that high CO2/low O2 blood content causes yawning.
-Air is normally made up of 20.95% O2, 79.02% N2 (nitrogen), 0.03% CO2 (and a few other gases in low concentrations).
-The researchers gave college students the following gases to breathe for 30 minutes:
Gas #1 100% O2
Gas #2 3% CO2, 21% O2
Gas #3 5% CO2, 21% O2
Gas #4 Normal Air
-Breathing 100% O2 (Gas #1) or either CO2 gas (Gas #2 and #3) did cause the students to breathe at a faster rate.
-However, neither CO2 gas nor 100% O2 caused the students to yawn more.
-These gases also did not change the duration of yawns when they occurred.

The researchers also looked for a relationship between breathing and yawning by having people exercise.
-Exercise, obviously, causes people to breathe faster.
-However, the number of yawns during exercise was not different from the number of yawns before or after exercise.
-Therefore, it appears that yawning is not due to CO2/O2 levels in the blood and that yawning and breathing are controlled by different mechanisms.


So, the question remains - why do we yawn?
-Dr. Provine suggests that perhaps yawning is like stretching.
-Yawning and stretching increase blood pressure and heart rate and also flex muscles and joints.
-Evidence that yawning and stretching may be related comes from the observation that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is somewhat "unsatisfying."
-For some reason, the stretching of jaw and face muscles is necessary for a good yawn.

It is possible that yawns are contagious because at one time in evolutionary history, the yawn served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals.
-When one member of the group yawned to signal an event, all the other members of the group also yawned.
-Yawns may still be contagious these days because of a leftover response (a "vestigial" response) that is not used anymore.

Answer 9

When the other person yawns, you notice that you are tired also, so you yawn automatically. (The brain tells it)

Answer 10

because you have to yawn but you didn't know you had to yawn until someone else did it so that you would not have been uncomfortable doing it