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Keller PE, Lee J, König R, Novembre G. Sex-related communicative functions of voice spectral energy in human chorusing. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230326. [PMID: 37935372 PMCID: PMC10645082 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Music is a human communicative art whose evolutionary origins may lie in capacities that support cooperation and/or competition. A mixed account favouring simultaneous cooperation and competition draws on analogous interactive displays produced by collectively signalling non-human animals (e.g. crickets and frogs). In these displays, rhythmically coordinated calls serve as a beacon whereby groups of males 'cooperatively' attract potential female mates, while the likelihood of each male competitively attracting an actual mate depends on the precedence of his signal. Human behaviour consistent with the mixed account was previously observed in a renowned boys choir, where the basses-the oldest boys with the deepest voices-boosted their acoustic prominence by increasing energy in a high-frequency band of the vocal spectrum when girls were in an otherwise male audience. The current study tested female and male sensitivity and preferences for this subtle vocal modulation in online listening tasks. Results indicate that while female and male listeners are similarly sensitive to enhanced high-spectral energy elicited by the presence of girls in the audience, only female listeners exhibit a reliable preference for it. Findings suggest that human chorusing is a flexible form of social communicative behaviour that allows simultaneous group cohesion and sexually motivated competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter E. Keller
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, Australia
| | - Jennifer Lee
- Queensland Aphasia Research Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy
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2
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Varella MAC. Nocturnal selective pressures on the evolution of human musicality as a missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1215481. [PMID: 37860295 PMCID: PMC10582961 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1215481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Human musicality exhibits the necessary hallmarks for biological adaptations. Evolutionary explanations focus on recurrent adaptive problems that human musicality possibly solved in ancestral environments, such as mate selection and competition, social bonding/cohesion and social grooming, perceptual and motor skill development, conflict reduction, safe time-passing, transgenerational communication, mood regulation and synchronization, and credible signaling of coalition and territorial/predator defense. Although not mutually exclusive, these different hypotheses are still not conceptually integrated nor clearly derived from independent principles. I propose The Nocturnal Evolution of Human Musicality and Performativity Theory in which the night-time is the missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle of human musicality and performing arts. The expansion of nocturnal activities throughout human evolution, which is tied to tree-to-ground sleep transition and habitual use of fire, might help (i) explain the evolution of musicality from independent principles, (ii) explain various seemingly unrelated music features and functions, and (iii) integrate many ancestral adaptive values proposed. The expansion into the nocturnal niche posed recurrent ancestral adaptive challenges/opportunities: lack of luminosity, regrouping to cook before sleep, imminent dangerousness, low temperatures, peak tiredness, and concealment of identity. These crucial night-time features might have selected evening-oriented individuals who were prone to acoustic communication, more alert and imaginative, gregarious, risk-taking and novelty-seeking, prone to anxiety modulation, hedonistic, promiscuous, and disinhibited. Those night-time selected dispositions may have converged and enhanced protomusicality into human musicality by facilitating it to assume many survival- and reproduction-enhancing roles (social cohesion and coordination, signaling of coalitions, territorial defense, antipredatorial defense, knowledge transference, safe passage of time, children lullabies, and sexual selection) that are correspondent to the co-occurring night-time adaptive challenges/opportunities. The nocturnal dynamic may help explain musical features (sound, loudness, repetitiveness, call and response, song, elaboration/virtuosity, and duetting/chorusing). Across vertebrates, acoustic communication mostly occurs in nocturnal species. The eveningness chronotype is common among musicians and composers. Adolescents, who are the most evening-oriented humans, enjoy more music. Contemporary tribal nocturnal activities around the campfire involve eating, singing/dancing, storytelling, and rituals. I discuss the nocturnal integration of musicality's many roles and conclude that musicality is probably a multifunctional mental adaptation that evolved along with the night-time adaptive landscape.
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Rabinowitch TC. Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability. Phys Life Rev 2023; 44:122-36. [PMID: 36638715 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2022.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Joint engagement in music often facilitates positive social interaction, effectively shifting participants' perspective from the individual to the collective. The result is tight coordination and uniformity between participants, but at the same time, also remarkable flexibility and creativity. How does music achieve such a fine balance between the strict alignment necessary for coordination, and the substantial latitude necessary for experimentation? To address this question, I propose to analyze joint music engagement within the tight-loose theoretical framework broadly used in the social sciences. Tight-loose theory was originally developed for distinguishing between two archetypical cultural tendencies. On the one hand, tightness, which denotes stringent adherence to social norms, and on the other hand, looseness, which refers to a more flexible and less restrictive attitude towards norms. I posit that the flexible form of collaboration characteristic of musical interaction is due to a coexistence of tightness and looseness within joint engagement in music. I argue that the tight aspects of music can be attributed to its rhythmic structure, which requires continuous and precise temporal alignment between participants. Indeed, when experienced on its own, outside of a musical context, interpersonal synchrony has been repeatedly shown to enhance diverse positive social capacities such as bonding, collaboration and affiliation between interacting individuals, but at the expense of increasing conformity, blind obedience and even hostility towards non-group members. These effects are consistent with synchrony driving a tight interaction, inducing a sense of common group membership (CGM), which can endow music with necessary rigor and order. In contrast, the loose side of music may pertain to the ambiguity in meaning and intention expressed by music, which leaves ample room for interpretation and improvisation. I thus propose that the combined tight-loose nature of music, can simultaneously enhance positive social behaviors and reduce negative ones, leading to a tolerant form of group membership (TGM).
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4
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Fukui H, Toyoshima K. Testosterone, oxytocin and co-operation: A hypothesis for the origin and function of music. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1055827. [PMID: 36860786 PMCID: PMC9968751 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1055827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the time of Darwin, theories have been proposed on the origin and functions of music; however, the subject remains enigmatic. The literature shows that music is closely related to important human behaviours and abilities, namely, cognition, emotion, reward and sociality (co-operation, entrainment, empathy and altruism). Notably, studies have deduced that these behaviours are closely related to testosterone (T) and oxytocin (OXT). The association of music with important human behaviours and neurochemicals is closely related to the understanding of reproductive and social behaviours being unclear. In this paper, we describe the endocrinological functions of human social and musical behaviour and demonstrate its relationship to T and OXT. We then hypothesised that the emergence of music is associated with behavioural adaptations and emerged as humans socialised to ensure survival. Moreover, the proximal factor in the emergence of music is behavioural control (social tolerance) through the regulation of T and OXT, and the ultimate factor is group survival through co-operation. The "survival value" of music has rarely been approached from the perspective of musical behavioural endocrinology. This paper provides a new perspective on the origin and functions of music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hajime Fukui
- Nara University of Education, Nara, Japan,*Correspondence: Hajime Fukui, ✉
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5
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Charles SJ, van Mulukom V, Saraswati A, Watts F, Dunbar R, Farias M. Bending and bonding: a randomized controlled trial on the socio-psychobiological effects of spiritual versus secular yoga practice on social bonding. Curr Psychol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-04062-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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6
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Dunbar RIM. Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life. Evol Hum Sci 2022; 4:e40. [PMID: 37588930 PMCID: PMC10426039 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Group living is stressful for all mammals, and these stresses limit the size of their social groups. Humans live in very large groups by mammal standards, so how have they solved this problem? I use homicide rates as an index of within-community stress for humans living in small-scale ethnographic societies, and show that the frequency of homicide increases linearly with living-group size in hunter-gatherers. This is not, however, the case for cultivators living in permanent settlements, where there appears to be a 'glass ceiling' below which homicide rates oscillate. This glass ceiling correlates with the adoption of social institutions that allow tensions to be managed. The results suggest (a) that the transition to a settled lifestyle in the Neolithic may have been more challenging than is usually assumed and (b) that the increases in settlement size that followed the first villages necessitated the introduction of a series of social institutions designed to manage within-community discord.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
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7
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Good A, Peets KF, Choma BL, Russo FA. Singing foreign songs promotes shared common humanity in elementary school children. J Applied Social Pyschol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Arla Good
- Department of Psychology Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Ontario Canada
| | - Kathleen F. Peets
- School of Early Childhood Studies Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Ontario Canada
| | - Becky L. Choma
- Department of Psychology Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Ontario Canada
| | - Frank A. Russo
- Department of Psychology Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Ontario Canada
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Abstract
Abstract
The move to online learning during COVID-19 deprived first-year students of friendships and other sources of social support that could buffer against stress during their transition to university. These effects may have been worse for international students than domestic students as many were subjected to travel restrictions or quarantine in addition to the usual stressors. This study examined the impact of COVID-19 on social connectedness and mental health of first-year students enrolled in a metropolitan university in Australia. The study involved 1239 students (30.4% international) and used a 3 (cohorts: 2019, 2020, 2021) × 2 (enrolment status: domestic and international) between-group design. Results showed that both loneliness and university belonging were significantly worse during the first year of COVID-19 compared to the year before or after. Contrary to expectation, domestic students were lonelier than international students across all cohorts. Multiple-group memberships did not change. As predicted, loneliness was moderately to highly correlated with the number of stressors, psychological distress, and (lower) well-being, whereas university belonging and multiple-group memberships were related to positive mental health outcomes. These findings highlight the need for initiatives that promote student connectedness and mental health as the university sector recovers from COVID-19.
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9
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Leongómez JD, Havlíček J, Roberts SC. Musicality in human vocal communication: an evolutionary perspective. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200391. [PMID: 34775823 PMCID: PMC8591388 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies show that specific vocal modulations, akin to those of infant-directed speech (IDS) and perhaps music, play a role in communicating intentions and mental states during human social interaction. Based on this, we propose a model for the evolution of musicality-the capacity to process musical information-in relation to human vocal communication. We suggest that a complex social environment, with strong social bonds, promoted the appearance of musicality-related abilities. These social bonds were not limited to those between offspring and mothers or other carers, although these may have been especially influential in view of altriciality of human infants. The model can be further tested in other species by comparing levels of sociality and complexity of vocal communication. By integrating several theories, our model presents a radically different view of musicality, not limited to specifically musical scenarios, but one in which this capacity originally evolved to aid parent-infant communication and bonding, and even today plays a role not only in music but also in IDS, as well as in some adult-directed speech contexts. This article is part of the theme issue 'Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan David Leongómez
- Human Behaviour Lab, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia
| | - Jan Havlíček
- Department of Zoology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - S. Craig Roberts
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
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10
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Crossey BP, Atherton G, Cross L. Lost in the crowd: Imagining walking in synchrony with a crowd increases affiliation and deindividuation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254017. [PMID: 34297728 PMCID: PMC8301649 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Moving in time with others-interpersonal coordination-increases affiliation, helping behaviours and gives rise to a host of other prosocial outcomes. Recent research suggests that merely imagining coordination may lead to similar social effects. In the present study, participants were asked to imagine walking with a crowd in a coordinated (versus uncoordinated) way to explore the effects of imagined coordination on individuals' perceptions of themselves and the crowd. Imagined coordination led to greater levels of deindividuation and affiliation. That is, participants were less likely to report seeing themselves as unique individuals, instead viewing themselves as a part of a group (deindividuation) and more likely to report a sense of emotional closeness (affiliation) with the imagined group. Deindividuation partially mediated the effect of imagined coordination on affiliation. This work establishes that imagined synchrony can be employed online to foster prosocial attitudes towards groups of people, and that a process of deindividuation might mediate this effect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gray Atherton
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Liam Cross
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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11
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Dunbar RIM, Pearce E, Tarr B, Makdani A, Bamford J, Smith S, McGlone F. Cochlear SGN neurons elevate pain thresholds in response to music. Sci Rep 2021; 11:14547. [PMID: 34267302 PMCID: PMC8282857 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93969-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The C-tactile (CLTM) peripheral nervous system is involved in social bonding in primates and humans through its capacity to trigger the brain’s endorphin system. Since the mammalian cochlea has an unusually high density of similar neurons (type-II spiral ganglion neurons, SGNs), we hypothesise that their function may have been exploited for social bonding by co-opting head movements in response to music and other rhythmic movements of the head in social contexts. Music provides one of many cultural behavioural mechanisms for ‘virtual grooming’ in that it is used to trigger the endorphin system with many people simultaneously so as to bond both dyadic relationships and large groups. Changes in pain threshold across an activity are a convenient proxy assay for endorphin uptake in the brain, and we use this, in two experiments, to show that pain thresholds are higher when nodding the head than when sitting still.
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Affiliation(s)
- R I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford, OX1 6GG, UK.
| | - Eiluned Pearce
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford, OX1 6GG, UK.,Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, WC1A 4AA, UK
| | - Bronwyn Tarr
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PE, UK
| | - Adarsh Makdani
- Research Centre Brain and Behaviour, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK
| | - Joshua Bamford
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PE, UK
| | - Sharon Smith
- Research Centre Brain and Behaviour, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK
| | - Francis McGlone
- Research Centre Brain and Behaviour, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK.,Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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12
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Kalinowski K, Kozłowska A, Malesza M, Danel DP. Evolutionary origins of music. Classical and recent hypotheses. Anthropological Review 2021; 84:213-31. [DOI: 10.2478/anre-2021-0011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to review recent hypotheses on the evolutionary origins of music in Homo sapiens, taking into account the most influential traditional hypotheses. To date, theories derived from evolution have focused primarily on the importance that music carries in solving detailed adaptive problems. The three most influential theoretical concepts have described the evolution of human music in terms of 1) sexual selection, 2) the formation of social bonds, or treated it 3) as a byproduct. According to recent proposals, traditional hypotheses are flawed or insufficient in fully explaining the complexity of music in Homo sapiens. This paper will critically discuss three traditional hypotheses of music evolution (music as an effect of sexual selection, a mechanism of social bonding, and a byproduct), as well as and two recent concepts of music evolution - music as a credible signal and Music and Social Bonding (MSB) hypothesis.
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Manrique HM, Marín A, Nieto-Alemán PA, Read DW, Hernández-Jaramillo J, García-Palacios A, Zeidler H. Behavioural mimicry as an indicator of affiliation. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250105. [PMID: 33939734 PMCID: PMC8092663 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that behavioural mimicry fosters affiliation, and can be used to infer whether people belong to the same social unit. However, we still know very little about the generalizability of these findings and the individual factors involved. The present study intends to disentangle two important variables and assess their importance for affiliation: the matching in time of the behaviours versus their matching in form. In order to address this issue, we presented participants with short videos in which two actors displayed a set of small movements (e.g. crossing their legs, folding their arms, tapping their fingers) arranged to be either contingent in time or in form. A dark filter was used to eliminate ostensive group marks, such us phenotype or clothing. Participants attributed the highest degree of affiliation to the actors when their subsequent movements matched in form, but were delayed by 4–5 seconds, and the lowest degree when the timing of their movements matched, but they differed in form. To assess the generalizability of our findings, we took our study outside the usual Western context and tested a matching sample of participants from a traditional small-scale society in Kenya. In all, our results suggest that movements are used to judge the degree of affiliation between two individuals in both large- and small-scale societies. While moving in different ways at the same time seems to increase the perceived distance between two individuals, movements which match in form seem to invoke closeness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Héctor M. Manrique
- Department of Psychology and Sociology, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Antonio Marín
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
- Valencian International University, Valencia, Spain
| | | | - Dwight W. Read
- Department of Anthropology and Department of Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | | | - Azucena García-Palacios
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain
- Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Henriette Zeidler
- Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Abstract
Sacred Harp singers the world over gather weekly to sing out of The Sacred Harp, a collection of shape-note songs first published in 1844. Their tradition is highly ritualized, and it plays an important role in the lives of many participants. Following the implementation of lockdown protocols to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, groups of Sacred Harp singers quickly and independently devised a variety of means by which to sing together online using Zoom (“zinging”), Jamulus (“jamzinging”), and Facebook Live (“stringing”). The rapidity and creativity with which Sacred Harp singers developed ways to sustain their activities attests to the strength and significance of this community of practice, and in this article I describe each modality and provide an account of how it came to be developed and widely used. As a participant-observer, I completed extensive fieldwork across these digital sites and conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 other singers. I found that online singing practices have reshaped the Sacred Harp community. Many singers who did not previously have the opportunity to participate now have access, while others have lost access due to technological barriers or lack of interest in online activities. At the same time, geographical barriers have disintegrated, and singing organizers must make an effort to maintain local identity. A stable community of singers has emerged in the digital realm, but it is by no means identical to the community that predated the pandemic. I also identify the ways in which online singing has proven meaningful to participants by providing continuity in their personal and communal practice. Specifically, online singing allows participants to access and celebrate their collective memories of the Sacred Harp community, carry out significant rituals, and continue to grow as singers. While no single modality replicates the complete Sacred Harp singing experience, together they function “like pieces in a puzzle” (as one singer put it), allowing individual participants to access many of the elements of Sacred Harp singing that are most meaningful to them.
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15
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Charles SJ, van Mulukom V, Brown JE, Watts F, Dunbar RIM, Farias M. United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0242546. [PMID: 33503054 PMCID: PMC7840012 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Religious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants attending Christian rituals. We assessed levels of social bonding and affect before and after the rituals. Results showed the increase in social bonding taking place in secular rituals is comparable to religious rituals. We also found that both sets of rituals increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, and that the change in positive affect predicted the change in social bonding observed. Together these results suggest that secular rituals might play a similar role to religious ones in fostering feelings of social connection and boosting positive affect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J. Charles
- Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Valerie van Mulukom
- Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer E. Brown
- Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Fraser Watts
- International Society for Science and Religion, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Robin I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Miguel Farias
- Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom
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16
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Kato M, Kitagawa N, Kimura T, Takano Y, Takagi T, Hirose H, Kashino M. Walking and talking independently predict interpersonal impressions. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 210:103172. [PMID: 32980633 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
When walking alongside someone, you may feel that your legs move in synchrony with theirs. Recent studies have shown that walk-in-synch behaviour observed in natural settings occurs at a rate significantly greater than would be expected by chance, and that the amount of this synchrony is related to interpersonal impressions. However, in such natural settings, the existence of verbal conversations between paired walkers should affect the interpersonal impressions and the effect is not distinguished from the effect of walk-in-synch on the impressions so far. In the current study, we used the analysis of conversation and path analysis to discriminate these two effects (i.e., the effects of synchronization of walking and conversation on interpersonal impressions). Analysis of conversation during the walk revealed that the amount of utterance overlap and the number of turn-takings between two walkers as well as the synchronization of steps predicted their positive interpersonal impression, while synchronization of steps and these two conversational indices were not correlated with each other. We propose that interpersonal synchronization of body movements, such as synchronization of steps itself in paired walking, plays a role in fostering the development of interpersonal relationships.
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Atherton G, Cross L. Walking in My Shoes: Imagined Synchrony Improves Attitudes Towards Out-groups. Psychol Stud 2020; 65:351-9. [DOI: 10.1007/s12646-020-00568-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractPeople are prone to dividing others into the categories of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This can be particularly detrimental to minorities who may experience social exclusion, prejudice, and reduced access to equal opportunities. One method of improving intergroup relations is to create opportunities for contact. Common contact interventions have members of different groups meet and engage in conversation. There are also non-verbal embodied intergroup activities that produce the same effects. Previous work has shown that the pro-social effects of coordination may be linked to whether co-actors are classed as in or out-group members. The current study explored whether imagining walking in synchrony with in- or out-group members changed majority members’ attitudes towards those individuals. Imagining walking in synchrony fostered greater increases in empathy and decreases in negative attitudes only towards minority group members following imagined coordination (not in-groups). Implications and future directions are discussed.
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18
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Abstract
Music comprises a diverse category of cognitive phenomena that likely represent both the effects of psychological adaptations that are specific to music (e.g., rhythmic entrainment) and the effects of adaptations for non-musical functions (e.g., auditory scene analysis). How did music evolve? Here, we show that prevailing views on the evolution of music - that music is a byproduct of other evolved faculties, evolved for social bonding, or evolved to signal mate quality - are incomplete or wrong. We argue instead that music evolved as a credible signal in at least two contexts: coalitional interactions and infant care. Specifically, we propose that (1) the production and reception of coordinated, entrained rhythmic displays is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling coalition strength, size, and coordination ability; and (2) the production and reception of infant-directed song is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling parental attention to secondarily altricial infants. These proposals, supported by interdisciplinary evidence, suggest that basic features of music, such as melody and rhythm, result from adaptations in the proper domain of human music. The adaptations provide a foundation for the cultural evolution of music in its actual domain, yielding the diversity of musical forms and musical behaviors found worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel A Mehr
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, ; https://; https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
- Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington6012, New Zealand
| | - Max M Krasnow
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, ; https://; https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
| | - Gregory A Bryant
- Department of Communication, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095, ; https://gabryant.bol.ucla.edu
- Center for Behavior, Evolution, & Culture, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Edward H Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA98686, USA. ; https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen
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Laakasuo M, Rotkirch A, van Duijn M, Berg V, Jokela M, David-Barrett T, Miettinen A, Pearce E, Dunbar R. Homophily in Personality Enhances Group Success Among Real-Life Friends. Front Psychol 2020; 11:710. [PMID: 32431638 PMCID: PMC7212830 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Personality affects dyadic relations and teamwork, yet its role among groups of friends has been little explored. We examine for the first time whether similarity in personality enhances the effectiveness of real-life friendship groups. Using data from a longitudinal study of a European fraternity (10 male and 15 female groups), we investigate how individual Big Five personality traits were associated with group formation and whether personality homophily related to how successful the groups were over 1 year (N = 147-196). Group success was measured as group performance/identification (adoption of group markers) and as group bonding (using the inclusion-of-other-in-self scale). Results show that individuals' similarity in neuroticism and conscientiousness predicted group formation. Furthermore, personality similarity was associated with group success, even after controlling for individual's own personality. Especially higher group-level similarity in conscientiousness was associated with group performance, and with bonding in male groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Laakasuo
- Department of Digital Humanities, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Rotkirch
- Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Max van Duijn
- Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Venla Berg
- Population Research Institute, Väestöliitto, Helsinki, Finland
- Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Jokela
- Department of Digital Humanities, Cognitive Science Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tamas David-Barrett
- Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
- Trinity College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Väestöliitto Population Research Institute, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Eiluned Pearce
- Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robin Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Irons JY, Sheffield D, Ballington F, Stewart DE. A systematic review on the effects of group singing on persistent pain in people with long-term health conditions. Eur J Pain 2019; 24:71-90. [PMID: 31549451 PMCID: PMC6972717 DOI: 10.1002/ejp.1485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Revised: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Background and Objectives Singing can have a range of health benefits; this paper reviews the evidence of the effects of group singing for chronic pain in people with long‐term health conditions. Database and Data Treatment We searched for published peer‐reviewed singing studies reporting pain measures (intensity, interference and depression) using major electronic databases (last search date 31 July 2018). After screening 123 full texts, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria: five randomized controlled trials (RCTs), seven non‐RCTs and one qualitative study. Included studies were appraised using Downs and Black and the Critical Appraisals Skills Programme quality assessments. Results Included studies reported differences in the type of singing intervention, long‐term condition and pain measures. Due to the high heterogeneity, we conducted a narrative review. Singing interventions were found to reduce pain intensity in most studies, but there was more equivocal support for reducing pain interference and depression. Additionally, qualitative data synthesis identified three key linked and complementary themes: physical, psychological and social benefits. Conclusion Group singing appears to have the potential to reduce pain intensity, pain interference and depression; however, we conclude that there is only partial support for singing on some pain outcomes based on the limited available evidence of varied quality. Given the positive findings of qualitative studies, this review recommends that practitioners are encouraged to continue this work. More studies of better quality are needed. Future studies should adopt more robust methodology and report their singing intervention in details. Group singing may be an effective and safe approach for reducing persistent pain and depression in people with long‐term health conditions. Significance This systematic review assesses research evidence for the effectiveness of group singing on chronic pain in people with long‐term health conditions. Narrative syntheses revealed that there is partial support for singing effects on some pain outcomes based on the limited available evidence of varied quality. Qualitative data provided additional support of physical, psychological and social benefits. The review highlights implications for practice and future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Yoon Irons
- Health and Social Care Research Centre, University of Derby, Derby, UK.,Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
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Atherton G, Sebanz N, Cross L. Imagine All The Synchrony: The effects of actual and imagined synchronous walking on attitudes towards marginalised groups. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0216585. [PMID: 31086399 PMCID: PMC6516656 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Stereotyping is a pervasive societal problem that impacts not only minority groups but subserves individuals who perpetuate stereotypes, leading to greater distance between groups. Social contact interventions have been shown to reduce prejudice and stereotyping, but optimal contact conditions between groups are often out of reach in day to day life. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a synchronous walking intervention, a non-verbal embodied approach to intergroup contact that may reduce the need for optimal contact conditions. We studied attitude change towards the Roma group in Hungary following actual and imagined walking, both in a coordinated and uncoordinated manner. Results showed that coordinated walking, both imagined and in vivo, led to explicit and implicit reductions in prejudice and stereotyping towards both the Roma individual and the wider Roma social group. This suggests that coordinated movement could be a valuable addition to current approaches towards prejudice reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gray Atherton
- Department of Psychology, Health and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, United States of America
| | - Natalie Sebanz
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Liam Cross
- Department of Psychology, School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Selangor, Malaysia
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Grebosz-Haring K, Thun-Hohenstein L. Effects of group singing versus group music listening on hospitalized children and adolescents with mental disorders: A pilot study. Heliyon 2018; 4:e01014. [PMID: 30582039 PMCID: PMC6299041 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2018] [Revised: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background There is an emerging view that music-related interventions (MuRI) may play an important role for youth with mental disorders. Here, we assessed the potential neuroendocrine (cortisol), immune (IgA) and psychological (mood state, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), well-being) efficacy of a brief program of MuRI (group singing versus group music listening) in children and adolescents with mental disorders in a clinical setting. Methods We performed this observational pilot study with 17 patients (aged 11-18; 11 female) admitted to the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/PMU Salzburg, Austria between March 2015 and April 2016. Patients participated in either a singing program or a music listening program, delivered through five daily, consecutive 45-minute sessions in one week. Outcomes Saliva samples for cortisol and IgA, and subjective measures of mood were taken daily, pre- and post-MuRI. HRQOL and well-being were measured pre- and post-5-day-program of MuRI. The program in singing led to a significantly larger mean drop in cortisol than in music listening (mean difference: -0·32; 95% CI -0·57 to -0·07), while listening led to a significantly higher mean positive change in the dimension calmness (mean difference: -2·66, 95%CI -4·99 to -0·33) than singing. Moreover, singing was associated with an improvement in HRQOL, and listening with an improvement in well-being. Interpretation Our preliminary findings suggest that MuRI may provide benefits for children and adolescents with mental disorders. The differences in psychobiological responses to singing and music listening invite further investigations. A larger, suitably powered study is now needed to provide a precise estimate of the effects of MuRI for mental health promotion, both on psychological and biological experiences. Funding: Salzburg Festival, Austria, and Focus Area 'Science and Art', Salzburg, Austria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Grebosz-Haring
- Department of Art History, Musicology and Dance Studies, University of Salzburg, Austria.,Focus Area 'Science and Art', University of Salzburg and University Mozarteum Salzburg, Bergstrasse 12, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| | - Leonhard Thun-Hohenstein
- University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Christian-Doppler-Klinik Salzburg - Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Ignaz-Harrer-Straße 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
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Abstract
Music performance is inherently social. Most music is performed in groups, and even soloists are subject to influence from a (real or imagined) audience. It is also inherently creative. Performers are called upon to interpret notated music, improvise new musical material, adapt to unexpected playing conditions, and accommodate technical errors. The focus of this paper is how creativity is distributed across members of a music ensemble as they perform these tasks. Some aspects of ensemble performance have been investigated extensively in recent years as part of the broader literature on joint action (e.g., the processes underlying sensorimotor synchronization). Much of this research has been done under highly controlled conditions, using tasks that generate reliable results, but capture only a small part of ensemble performance as it occurs naturalistically. Still missing from this literature is an explanation of how ensemble musicians perform in conditions that require creative interpretation, improvisation, and/or adaptation: how do they coordinate the production of something new? Current theories of creativity endorse the idea that dynamic interaction between individuals, their actions, and their social and material environments underlies creative performance. This framework is much in line with the embodied music cognition paradigm and the dynamical systems perspective on ensemble coordination. This review begins by situating the concept of collaborative musical creativity in the context of embodiment. Progress that has been made toward identifying the mechanisms that underlie collaborative creativity in music performance is then assessed. The focus is on the possible role of musical imagination in facilitating performer flexibility, and on the forms of communication that are likely to support the coordination of creative musical output. Next, emergence and group flow–constructs that seem to characterize ensemble performance at its peak–are considered, and some of the conditions that may encourage periods of emergence or flow are identified. Finally, it is argued that further research is needed to (1) demystify the constructs of emergence and group flow, clarifying their effects on performer experience and listener response, (2) determine how constrained musical imagination is by perceptual experience and understand people's capacity to depart from familiar frameworks and imagine new sounds and sound structures, and (3) assess the technological developments that are supposed to facilitate or enhance musical creativity, and determine what effect they have on the processes underlying creative collaboration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Bishop
- Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI), Vienna, Austria
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Abstract
From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical) phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic adaptation) e.g., as a tool of social consolidation, our predecessors started to spend a lot of time and energy on music. In such circumstances, accidentally one individual was born with the genetically controlled development of new neural circuitry which allowed him or her to learn music faster and with less energy use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Podlipniak
- Institute of Musicology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
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Robertson C, Tarr B, Kempnich M, Dunbar R. Rapid partner switching may facilitate increased broadcast group size in dance compared with conversation groups. Ethology 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Cole Robertson
- Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
| | - Bronwyn Tarr
- Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
| | - Mary Kempnich
- Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
| | - Robin Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology; University of Oxford; Oxford UK
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Reddish P, Tong EMW, Jong J, Lanman JA, Whitehouse H. Collective synchrony increases prosociality towards non-performers and outgroup members. Br J Soc Psychol 2016; 55:722-738. [DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Revised: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Harvey Whitehouse
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology; University of Oxford; UK
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