Does synchrony promote generalized prosociality?

Abstract

Synchrony—the matching of rhythmic behavior in time—is a common feature of many social practices. Although recent studies have demonstrated that synchrony promotes prosociality, it remains unclear whether prosociality extends to targets outside the synchronous group. Studies on the related phenomenon of mimicry (i.e., the non-conscious imitation of another's behavior) show that matching behavior in form amplifies prosociality to those outside the mimicked pair. While these studies suggest that synchrony might also evoke generalized prosociality, the minimal group paradigm predicts that any increase in prosociality will be confined to synchronous performers. Study 1 investigated the cooperative specificity of synchrony by comparing the effects of synchrony on prosociality directed to co-performers and to non-performers. We found that synchrony-induced prosociality was not restricted to fellow synchronous performers. These findings offer initial support for a generalized prosocial model of synchronous performances. Study 2 investigated whether generalized prosociality occurred when the prosocial target was conceived as another group, rather than another individual. Consistent with the first study, we found that synchronous movements were associated with greater prosociality towards a non-performance group when compared to the level of prosociality observed from the control group activity. Collectively these findings offer initial support that synchrony may amplify prosociality to non-participants, whether conceived as individuals or as groups.

Keywords:

• cooperation
• dance
• music
• prosocial
• rhythm
• ritual

Acknowledgements

We thank Aleece Brady, Christina Janus, Bee Teng Lim, Nora Hellberg, and Hanne Schenk for help with experiments. This study was supported by Victoria University URF Grant 8-3046-108855; by the Religion Cognition and Culture Unit and Interacting Minds Project at Aarhus University; and by LEVYNA: the Laboratory for Experimental Research of Religion (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.048, co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic), Department for the Study of Religions at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.