what are yawns contagious?

Question

WHAT ARE THEY?????

Answer 1

The yawn reflex is often described as contagious but the reasons for this are unclear. Recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct. 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, for example a human yawning in front of a pet dog can incite the dog to yawn as well. 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

Try a realistic looking "fake" yawn when your around a bunch of other people and see what happens.

Just thinking about the word makes me yawn (no kidding).

Good luck!

Answer 3

This is a remnant of our pre-language selves. The yawn was one of the first methods of communication among tribes of early humans...The message it sent was, "I'm tired, let's hit the hay!", and the reciprocation of the message was agreement.

So, you yawn to say, "time for bed", and I yawn back to say, "yep, did you let the dog out?".

Answer 4

I don't know why they are contagious, but I have heard that you yawn when you have not got enough oxygen in your body.

Answer 5

a scientific test found that even saying the word yawn to someone could make them yawn , but also nobody knows why we do it !

Answer 6

It's purely a psychological phenomenon. Power of suggestion.