Collective synchrony increases prosociality towards non-performers and out-group members

Journal article

Previous research has found that behavioural synchrony between people leads to greater prosocial tendencies towards co-performers. In this study we investigated the scope of this prosocial effect: does it extend beyond the performance group to an extended in-group (extended parochial prosociality) or even to other people in general (generalized prosociality)? Participants performed a simple rhythmic movement either in time (synchrony condition) or out of time (asynchrony condition) with each other. Before and during the rhythmic movement, participants were exposed to a prime that made salient an extended ingroup identity. After the task, half the participants had the opportunity to help an extended ingroup member; the other half had the opportunity to help an out-group member. We found a main effect of our synchrony manipulation across both help targets suggesting that the prosocial effects of synchrony extend to non-performers. Furthermore, there was a significantly higher proportion of participants willing to help an out-group member after moving collectively in synchrony. This study shows that under certain intergroup contexts synchrony can lead to generalized prosociality with performers displaying greater prosociality even towards out-group members.

Authors: Reddish, P; Tong, E; Jong, J; Lanman, J; Whitehouse, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: British Journal of Social Psychology
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 722–738
• Publication date: 2016-09-29
• Acceptance date: 2016-09-08
• DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12165
• EISSN: 2044-8309
• ISSN: 0144-6665
• Keywords: prosocial; identity; ritual; synchrony; cooperation; helping; dance