why does watching people yawn make you feel like yawning?

Answer 1

post hypnotic suggestion.

Answer 2

yawning is just another example of "catching" acts - things we do out of sheer imitation, like mimicking other people's gestures, intonation, or singing a song picked up in the air a few minutes ago.

Imitation is a consequence of a fundamental characteristic of brain function: when we observe or imagine actions or objects, our brain calls into action, among others, the same circuits activated when we actually perform or perceive. This means that as we watch someone for instance screw the lid off a jar, our brain circuits responsible for that movement are activated, and we imitate that action observed in our thought - even if unconsciously. (In fact, it is possibly by mentally imitating other's actions that we manage to interpret them and guess people's intentions.)

If we do not act out the movements we observe it is because powerful systems act to stop a final command from being issued to the muscles. When these systems are damaged, the results are drastic: the person affected cannot help imitating others' gestures and grimaces!

By analogy, watching a yawn develop might activate the same circuits that trigger a yawn. However, contrary to the circuits leading to voluntary actions, the yawn-controlling reflex circuits may not be subject to the same inhibitory control. And the result we all know: yawning's more catching than a cold!

Answer 3

its a natural bodily function...

if you SEE someone yawn, then you'll yawn and usually wont unless you see them yawning.

This is because when you yawn, your body is taking extra oxygen to take it to the brain so it can function properly. Brain's function decreases when you are tired, bored and to continue being active requires more energy for the brain, hence you yawn to take in extra oxygen.

Whne you see some one yawn, they are taking up oxygen and so you body thinks, he/she getting all the oxygen so i better suck up before there is less of it. Bit like, how kids will grab chocolate when they see other taking their share from the pile...

Answer 4

I think it goes way back to when we were still evolving from chimps. We would be at our most vulnerable when asleep. (No doors or walls to lock out the bad guys) So, I think, that just before going to sleep we would open our mouths and show our teeth in a show of strengh and aggression, as if to say "stay away from me" But the "anything you can do I can do better" thing took place, and all the others responded in the same manner. So now it is like a genetic thing :-)

Answer 5

I've heard it called "pacing". Like when someone else smiles, you smile.

Deep inside we know that people like people that are like them. When someone yawns, the subconcious causes us to yawn so that we can "socially bond" closer with that individual.

Answer 6

survival, apparently. A yawn means your brain isn't getting enough oxygen - so you see someone else yawning and your brain thinks, eep too little oxygen...

Answer 7

because that was you feel too,deep inside your body recalls all the sleeps you lost and react in that yawning situation.

Answer 8

Its like you are unconsciously in sympathy with them it triggers something in our response

Answer 9

social biomimicry

if i fart u fart

no its just posthypnotic suggestion

Answer 10

apparently its all to do with empathy.