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Behavioural synchrony

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The term behavioural synchrony refers to the ability of a group of agents to coordinate collective action efficiently, a concept originally introduced by a series of empirical animal and human studies, and modelling papers in animals, and humans. The agents are trying to coordinate collective action on a social network in which the communication is restricted to dyadic information flows. Behavioural synchrony is also a concept utilized in the field of developmental psychology.

Research background[edit | edit source]

The behavioural synchrony model universe relies on two key sets of assumptions. The first set of assumptions concerns the structure of the network: it is assumed that (a) the agents form a social network in a way that the network is connected, i.e., all agents have some direct or indirect connection to every other agent, and sparse, i.e., the network the agents form is not fully connected; and (b) all agents have the same network degree, i.e., every agent is connected to the same number of other agents. In network science terms, the assumption is that the agents form a k-regular n-sized connected graph, where k is the degree of the agents, and n is the number of agents. The second set of assumptions concern the nature of coordination: it is assumed that the content of the coordination is not important (independent of whether it is a linguistic cue, cultural identity, or simple compass direction), but is set up in a way that the agents cannot guess the location of the final convergence point of the group from any individual information exchange. These assumptions cause coordination to slow, where the speed is dependent on the network structure, and the agents need to think hard during the coordination process.

The behavioural synchrony approach introduced behavioural realism into social network coordination, via assuming that the network structure is similar to actual human groups, and by making the coordination process not-trivial, and thus making the modelled group processes reflect human behaviour. The behavioural synchrony approach has led to a range of human application, especially concerning the human evolutionary past:

·      Synchronisation of physical activity, especially of exertion, contributes to group bonding.

·      Social hierarchy can be beneficial for collective action, but can lead to stratification and elite delineation that is harmful for collective action.

·      Supernatural beliefs, especially when mediated by a priestly cast, can increase the efficiency of large but not small groups.

·      Increased brain size during human evolution only leads to increased cooperation efficiency if associated with increased complexity of communication, in particular with language.

·      All lasting human societies must have found a solution to regulate social inequality.

Behavioural synchrony or attunement is also more concretely applied in the field of developmental psychology, which is the study of how humans change over the course of their lifetime. Most research in this domain is oriented towards child and adolescent development, with the goal of understanding and preventing psychopathology or disabilities.

Studies have demonstrated that behavioural synchrony can develop between a mother and child (Ruttle et al., 2011): synchrony in this case would represent the matching of behaviors in an interaction between the mother-child pair. A mother offering support and encouragement to her child during an activity with the child being responsive, engaged and open to their mother’s support is an example of behavioural synchrony between the two. This synchrony may occur in cyclical fashion, as the child’s positive response to their mother’s supportive actions in turn may increase the likelihood of the mother offering support. In this manner, behavioural synchrony is thought to be a bidirectional effect brought about by a shared social environment throughout childhood.

Research into understanding the effects of behavioural synchrony in the context of child development is still in it’s infancy. Multiple studies have linked behavioural attunement to synchronization of cortisol, the body’s major stress hormone between two individuals. This suggests synchrony may have biological effects or may be caused by biology.