Interpersonal synchrony increases prosocial behavior in infants
Open accessAbstract
Adults who move together to a shared musical beat synchronously as opposed to asynchronously are subsequently more likely to display prosocial behaviors toward each other. The development of musical behaviors during infancy has been described previously, but the social implications of such behaviors in infancy have been little studied. In Experiment 1, each of 48 14‐month‐old infants was held by an assistant and gently bounced to music while facing the experimenter, who bounced either in‐synchrony or out‐of‐synchrony with the way the infant was bounced. The infants were then placed in a situation in which they had the opportunity to help the experimenter by handing objects to her that she had ‘accidently’ dropped. We found that 14‐month‐old infants were more likely to engage in altruistic behavior and help the experimenter after having been bounced to music in synchrony with her, compared to infants who were bounced to music asynchronously with her. The results of Experiment 2, using anti‐phase bouncing, suggest that this is due to the contingency of the synchronous movements as opposed to movement symmetry. These findings support the hypothesis that interpersonal motor synchrony might be one key component of musical engagement that encourages social bonds among group members, and suggest that this motor synchrony to music may promote the very early development of altruistic behavior. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaqWehfDm7c&feature=youtu.be
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In 14-month-old infants, synchronous bouncing while listening to music increased prosocial and altruistic behavior compared to asynchronous or no bouncing.
“In this study, 14-mo-old infants who were bounced synchronously while listening to music were more likely to exhibit prosocial and altruistic behavior compared to infants who were bounced asynchronously or were not bounced at all [123].”
From Benefits of a bedtime routine in young children: Sleep, development, and beyond. (2018) · cites this paper as [123]
The paper reports greater spontaneous helping after synchronous than asynchronous bouncing, and its Discussion describes the helping as an early form of altruism. But the listed experimental conditions all involved bouncing; our copy does not support the claimed comparison with infants who were not bounced. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSynchronous activity increases subsequent prosocial behaviour and feelings of affiliation.
“In addition to the apparent endorphin effect, an expanding body of the literature has consistently shown that synchronous activity increases subsequent prosocial behaviour and feelings of affiliation (e.g. [37–45]).”
From The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding (2015) · cites this paper as [38]
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- Authors
- Cirelli, L. K., Einarson, K. M., & Trainor, L. J.
- Affiliations
- McMaster University (CA)
- Baycrest Hospital (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Trainor, Laurel J.
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-06-12
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1003-1011
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7687
- OpenAlex
- W2157639324
- Cited by
- 565
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 101 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 45.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (197033-2009)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- interpersonal synchrony, prosocial behavior, altruism, infant development, social bonding, helping behavior, music engagement
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Analysis of Variance, Auditory Perception, Female, Humans, Infant, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Movement, Social Behavior, Statistics as Topic, Infant Behavior
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