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100 Things You Should Know About People: #32 — Synchronous activity bonds the group

Susan Weinschenk

Posted

April 15, 2010

What do members of a marching band, fans at a college football game, and people at Sunday church have in common? They are all engaging in “synchronous” activity.

What is synchronous activity? — It is when you take action with others, where everyone is moving, singing, chanting, in time together.

What happens when we engage in “timed” behavior together? — Anthropologists have long been interested in rituals among certain cultures. Many rituals in a culture involve singing, chanting, drumming, dancing, or moving together. A recent study (see below for full reference) shows that when people take part in synchronous activities they then are more cooperative with each other when participating later in different activities.

You’ll make more personal sacrifices — In the research the people who were involved in synchronous behavior with other people were then more cooperative in subsequent activities, and ended up making more personal sacrifices in their decisions.

Not just about feeling good — The research also shows that you don’t have to feel good about the group or the group activity in order to be more cooperative. Just the act of doing the synchronous activity seems to strengthen social attachment among the group members.

Here’s my list of synchronous activities I can think of:

Singing together
Cheers at sporting events
Drumming or dancing together
Pledge of allegiance
Shouting slogans at rallies or marches
Tai chi
Yoga

Can you think of other examples?

The reference — Scott S. Wiltermuth and Chip Heath, Synchrony and Cooperation, Psychological Science, Volume 20 Issue 1, Pages 1 – 5

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Comments

12 responses to “100 Things You Should Know About People: #32 — Synchronous activity bonds the group”

Tom

April 16, 2010

How about a religion? I think its most synchronous activity in the world.

Reply
Brian Sullivan

April 16, 2010

Hi Susan,

Here are a few other examples (some may be a stretch):

1. Praying at church (especially, when you kneel together and pray)
2. Public rituals (marriages, funerals, voting, Black Friday sales)
3. Shared events (theater performances, waiting in line for latest gadget or movie)
4. Big private events (going to a conference, hanging out at SxSW)
5. Social media tweetups (spur of the moment, but people move together to a location)

And last but not least…getting a WAVE started at a sports event.
.-= Brian Sullivan´s last blog ..Get a Feel for Big Design 2010 With This Video =-.

Reply
Susan Weinschenk

April 16, 2010

Brian and Tom — thanks for writing in.

Tom — It’s not a religion per se that would provide the synchronizing, but the activities that the religious group might do together, such as singing, chanting, or praying.

Brian — some of your examples I agree with, but the thing to keep in mind is that the research is talking about actual activities that are performed together to a time sequence. Going to a conference together is a social experience, but it’s not synchronous — however, if everyone is listening to the keynote speaker and then applauds together, applauding together is synchronous… praying together at a church is synchronous. Public rituals are not synchronous unless there is something that everyone does at the same time in a sequenced way. I thought about the wave — I’m not sure, since it’s not exactly synchronous! It’s a subtle difference, but I think it’s important. I suspect the power of the synchronous activity might be related to mirror neurons (see my blog about imitation for more about mirror neurons).

Reply
Shannon

April 16, 2010

I also agree with the religious connotations, praying to Mecca comes to mind, as a very good example of this synchronous theory in practice; or the chanting and rhythmic movements in Jewish Temples….

This is one of the main underlying theories in live experiential marketing, the field I’m in. Nice to see this article to validate my techniques and research I’ve used in my work. Keep up the good work Susan, LOVE IT! :D

Reply
Bill

April 27, 2010

The one that comes to mind for me, though it may be debatable, is watching a TV drama series when it airs. For some weird reason I feel more engaged in the show (Lost, for example) if I am in syncopation with, what I perceive is, the rest of the world.

Why is it that when I watch the show later on (abc.com or Hulu) that I just don’t feel the same experience?

Reply
Adelle Frank

April 28, 2010

Does this effect work in an online environment? Does the effect of synchronous activity only apply when it occurs in person?

Reply
Susan Weinschenk

April 29, 2010

Shannon — good examples…
Bill — In some ways watching a TV series at the same time is synchronous. It isn’t as strong though for 2 reasons: a) you may not be physically there with the other participants and b) you aren’t taking an overt action.
Adelle — I think it’s weaker in an online environment. Being in person changes the hormonal release in the brain.

Great comments everyone! Thanks!

Reply
Jasper Norton

April 29, 2010

Very informative, thank you

Reply
Scot B.

November 22, 2010

It’s endemic in the military – PT, formations, parades, call and response cadence – they even eat together.

Reply
Mary Baum

May 7, 2011

This is exactly the appeal of FriendFeed for those of us who are still there in a big way – and the big mystery to the FriendFeed-is-dead crowd.

If you’re there at the same time as people you know, or you’re willing to comment on the posts of people you don’t know, who happen to be there when you are, and therefore are open to the possibility of getting to know them, you have a synchronous experience that gets very satisfying very fast.

Reply
M.B

August 5, 2011

What about concerts where everybody’s jumping togheter to the beat? (or headbanging at the same time; anybody who’s been at a j-rock/visual-kei concert knows what I’m talking about :P )

Reply
lynn

January 19, 2016

How about those ritual readings and chantings and prayers that take place during an Al-anon or AA meeting? This seems like a classic example of what you’re talking about.

Reply