When a circle falls into step, do its members grow closer, more conforming, or both?
Synchrony can bind a group, and it can also make people more compliant and less able to steady their own feelings. A circle asks for closeness and independence together, so it needs both effects measured.
Builds on five works
Bodies in synchrony asks whether synchrony tracks felt connection. In a group the question changes: the coordination that binds members may also make them less independent. Circling asks for both at once, closeness to the others and owning one’s own experience.
On the binding side, three-person groups who drummed together fell into physiological step, and the more in step their hearts and drumming, the closer they felt to the group (Gordon et al. (2020)). People who felt in emotional synchrony with the crowd at folk marches and protests came away with a stronger collective identity and sense of belonging (Páez et al. (2015)), and a sense of togetherness during psychedelic ceremonies went with later gains in reported social connection (Kettner et al. (2021)).
On the other side, strangers whose movements synchronised felt better afterwards but regulated their own feelings less well (Galbusera et al. (2019)), and people who had walked in step behind a leader agreed more readily to kill sow bugs when he asked (Wiltermuth (2012)).
Record heart rate and movement from every member of a circle and compute synchrony for the whole group. Afterwards measure cohesion and also independence: how far members keep to their own judgement when the group or the facilitator leans the other way. Compare circles with matched discussion groups, and test whether synchrony predicts closeness, conformity or both.
Groups that like each other also move together, so synchrony and closeness can each be cause or effect; only assigning synchrony, as Gordon et al. (2020) did, separates them. A conformity task can feel like a test and break the atmosphere of a circle, so pilot it with practitioners.
Cautions: No later follow-up
Three-person groups drummed in or out of sync: drumming brought their heartbeats into step, members felt closer to the group the more in step their hearts and drumming were, and heart synchrony alone predicted their later improvisation.
Cautions: Self-report only · Self-selected participants
Taking part in folk marches and protests strengthened participants’ collective identity and sense of belonging and raised their self-esteem and positive feeling, most for those who felt in emotional synchrony with the crowd.
Cautions: Self-selected participants · Self-report only
A prospective survey linked a stronger sense of togetherness during psychedelic ceremonies with later gains in reported wellbeing and social connection.
Cautions: No later follow-up
Strangers held a five-minute ‘conversation without words’ in movement: the more their movements synchronised, the better they felt afterwards, and the less able they were to regulate their feelings for themselves.
Cautions: No later follow-up
After walking in step behind a leader, people said they felt closer to him and agreed more readily to his request to kill sow bugs, in what they believed was an unrelated experiment.