Why are yawns contagious?

Question

When someone yawns, usually everybody else in the room yawns, too. Why is that?

Answer 1

The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[2] The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.[3] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This phenomenon has been observed among various primates. The threat gesture is a way of maintaining order in the primates' social structure. The contagion of yawning is interspecific (i.e., try yawning in front of your dog). Yawning in public is generally regarded as impolite in the West, but came into fashion in polite French society for a brief period in the late 18th century. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the word "yawn".

Answer 2

This is what I found at Wikipedia:
The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[2] The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.[3] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This phenomenon has been observed among various primates. The threat gesture is a way of maintaining order in the primates' social structure. The contagion of yawning is interspecific (i.e., try yawning in front of your dog). Yawning in public is generally regarded as impolite in the West, but came into fashion in polite French society for a brief period in the late 18th century. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the word "yawn".

P.S. As I was reading your question and the article I kept yawning...

Answer 3

nobody is quite sure, but here is one theory:

"...whatever yawn-inducing conditions prevail for you also apply to your friends.

If you're out late in some crowded dive, you're probably all tired, all warm under the collar, and all breathing the same stale air. You're probably all on the verge of a yawn, too, and the power of suggestion from seeing one person do it is enough to push everybody else over the edge.

Adults rarely catch a case of the yawns from a child or animal, which tends to corroborate this idea."

sounds plausible....

Answer 4

yawns are contages because once some one yawns it sends brain wave patterns to the other people which are a sign that things are boring and if the others brain patterns accept this boring pattern the other persons brain send s a signal to yawn and if it doesn't they just dont yawn and also yawns are to get more air or to signal to stay awake or your allowing yourself to go to sleep.

Answer 5

1. People who yawn are bored.
2. Yawning is contageous.
3. Therefore: Boredom is contageous.

Answer 6

Really it's just the power of suggestion, however it can also happen in a room when you have breathed too much Carbon Dioxide and you need to exhale it. It is something physiological. But they really are not contagious.

Answer 7

the clarification we yawn is because our respiratory slows causing a lack of oxygen and so we yawn to soak up a deep breath, it really is why we yawn after we are drained-our respiratory slows down. And after we see somebody else yawn our respiratory slows down somewhat back so we yawn :)

Answer 8

You just made me yawn while reading that question.......I hope someone has the answer!!

Answer 9

it has something to do with looking at their eyes when they yawn...notice if you're not looking at them, you wont yawn.

Answer 10

Monkey see, Monkey do. Watch the Mythbusters (Discovery Channel) on Saturday, they have an episode that tests this theory.