Yawning is considered a social behavior. While fetuses were known to yawn, scientists weren't sure if it was a self-contained ...

Contagious yawning is a widespread phenomenon in which the perception of another individual’s yawn triggers a yawn in the observer. Although yawning itself serves thermoregulatory and arousal ...

Some behaviors -- yawning and scratching, for example -- are socially contagious, meaning if one person does it, others are likely to follow suit. Now, researchers at Washington University School of ...

Like an infectious smile or a mirrored yawn, peeing may be a socially contagious behavior that is overlooked and potentially widespread among primates. A study of 20 captive chimpanzees (Pan ...

The topic of being "contagious" has been top of mind lately. Social and physical distancing and mask-wearing are part of our new normal. What if we thought about how our values, too, spread through ...

While watching a group of captive chimpanzees for her graduate research, Ena Onishi noticed something odd about the primates. "They seemed to have a tendency to urinate around the same time," said ...

If you've ever felt an urge to scratch after witnessing someone else relieve their own itch, you're certainly not alone. Itching can be contagious and the phenomenon is so common it doesn't just ...