Jorg Massen

Jorg Massen

Jorg Massen appears on this site as first author of the 2017 Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews paper reviewing evidence on contagious yawning and empathy.

Who they are

The work of Jorg Massen reaches this site through the paper listed below. On this site the name is tied to Contagious Yawning, Empathy.

Key papers

Massen, J. J. M., & Gallup, A. C. (2017). Why contagious yawning does not (yet) equate to empathy. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 573-585. What it reports: A systematic review of the evidence linking contagious yawning to empathy. It finds the evidence inconsistent and inconclusive, names attention and social inhibition as confounds, and calls for more objective measures.

Key ideas

Contagious Yawning: The tendency to yawn after seeing, or reading about, another person's yawn, strongest among people who are close.

Empathy: Sharing in or caring about another person's state; here, the concern observers feel on seeing tears.

Sources

  1. Massen, J. J. M., & Gallup, A. C. (2017). Why contagious yawning does not (yet) equate to empathy. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 573-585.