Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate?
There is increasing scientific interest in elucidating the biological mechanisms underlying cooperative behaviors. Humans have developed a high degree of complexity in their cooperativity, which has been defined as hyper-cooperativity. An interesting biological marker to study how two individuals ar...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/9/10/282 |
| _version_ | 1819098924532629504 |
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| author | Ángel Romero-Martínez Alejandro Rodríguez Luis Moya-Albiol |
| author_facet | Ángel Romero-Martínez Alejandro Rodríguez Luis Moya-Albiol |
| author_sort | Ángel Romero-Martínez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is increasing scientific interest in elucidating the biological mechanisms underlying cooperative behaviors. Humans have developed a high degree of complexity in their cooperativity, which has been defined as hyper-cooperativity. An interesting biological marker to study how two individuals are emotionally linked when they cooperate is their psychophysiological synchronization (the overlapping of signals as indicators of Autonomous Nervous System activation). Hence, the main aim of this study was to explore participants’ psychophysiological synchronization, based on electrocardiograms (ECG) and galvanic skin response (GSR) signals in a sample of strangers who were set up to cooperate (<i>n</i> = 29 pairs of same sex strangers; mean age = 20.52 ± 1.72), compared to participants who were forced to compete (<i>n</i> = 22 pairs of same sex strangers; mean age = 20.45 ± 1.53) in a laboratory setting. Moreover, the roles of the participants’ gender and the outcomes (positive or negative) obtained in the cooperation were examined as potential moderators of this psychophysiological synchronization. Results showed a progressive increase in ECG and GSR signal synchronization in participants who cooperated, reaching the highest levels of synchronization during the recovery period. Moreover, cooperation induced higher GSR synchronization in comparison with competition. Finally, although gender played an important role in the psychophysiological synchronization during cooperation (women presented the highest overlapping of GSR signals), feedback about the participants’ performance was not significantly associated with their psychophysiological synchronization. Therefore, research in this field would help us to understand more about the body’s physiological responses to different types of social interactions, such as cooperation and competition, providing an opportunity to establish interaction strategies that would be physiologically desirable. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:38:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7521067b01ac4b3c9177e9a171e031cb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:38:43Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-7521067b01ac4b3c9177e9a171e031cb2022-12-21T18:44:45ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252019-10-0191028210.3390/brainsci9100282brainsci9100282Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate?Ángel Romero-Martínez0Alejandro Rodríguez1Luis Moya-Albiol2Department of Psychobiology, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, SpainBiomedical Imaging Research Group (GIBI230), La Fe Health Research Institute, 46026 Valencia, SpainBiomedical Imaging Research Group (GIBI230), La Fe Health Research Institute, 46026 Valencia, SpainThere is increasing scientific interest in elucidating the biological mechanisms underlying cooperative behaviors. Humans have developed a high degree of complexity in their cooperativity, which has been defined as hyper-cooperativity. An interesting biological marker to study how two individuals are emotionally linked when they cooperate is their psychophysiological synchronization (the overlapping of signals as indicators of Autonomous Nervous System activation). Hence, the main aim of this study was to explore participants’ psychophysiological synchronization, based on electrocardiograms (ECG) and galvanic skin response (GSR) signals in a sample of strangers who were set up to cooperate (<i>n</i> = 29 pairs of same sex strangers; mean age = 20.52 ± 1.72), compared to participants who were forced to compete (<i>n</i> = 22 pairs of same sex strangers; mean age = 20.45 ± 1.53) in a laboratory setting. Moreover, the roles of the participants’ gender and the outcomes (positive or negative) obtained in the cooperation were examined as potential moderators of this psychophysiological synchronization. Results showed a progressive increase in ECG and GSR signal synchronization in participants who cooperated, reaching the highest levels of synchronization during the recovery period. Moreover, cooperation induced higher GSR synchronization in comparison with competition. Finally, although gender played an important role in the psychophysiological synchronization during cooperation (women presented the highest overlapping of GSR signals), feedback about the participants’ performance was not significantly associated with their psychophysiological synchronization. Therefore, research in this field would help us to understand more about the body’s physiological responses to different types of social interactions, such as cooperation and competition, providing an opportunity to establish interaction strategies that would be physiologically desirable.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/9/10/282competitioncooperationgenderpsychophysiologysynchronization |
| spellingShingle | Ángel Romero-Martínez Alejandro Rodríguez Luis Moya-Albiol Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? Brain Sciences competition cooperation gender psychophysiology synchronization |
| title | Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? |
| title_full | Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? |
| title_fullStr | Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? |
| title_short | Is It Easy to Synchronize Our Minds When We Are Forced to Cooperate? |
| title_sort | is it easy to synchronize our minds when we are forced to cooperate |
| topic | competition cooperation gender psychophysiology synchronization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/9/10/282 |
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