Toward a Theoretical Model of Behavioural Synchrony

• Start date: 01 January 0001
• End date: 01 January 0001

"Behavioural synchrony" occurs when two or more people move together in time and space. The importance of behavioural synchrony lies in its ability to support the formation and maintenance of social bonds: Being "in synch" with others boosts interpersonal rapport, connectedness, trust and cooperation; being out of synch with others thwarts these outcomes. To date, most research on synchrony has been directed toward documenting its outcomes (eg, liking, perceived similarity, cooperative success).

The funded research will provide insight into when and why synchrony promotes these outcomes, yielding the first comprehensive account of synchrony. Synchrony will be manipulated and measured in a variety of ways: manipulated, for example, by having multiple participants nod in time to musical rhythms, tap their fingers in time to visual "pulses" presented on a computer screen, or march in time to auditory pulses; and measured, for example, by recording the relative timing of participants' finger taps or by tracking the timing and trajectories of participants' movements.

The research will demonstrate that behavioural synchrony imbues even neutral targets (concepts, people) with positivity; facilitates attention, perception, and memory; and changes individuals’ representations of themselves and others to be more similar and more closely linked in memory.