Interpersonal synchrony feels good but impedes self-regulation of affec

The social benefits of interpersonal synchrony are widely recognized. Yet, little is known about its impact on the self. According to enactive cognitive science, the human self for its stability and regulation needs to balance social attunement with disengagement from others. Too much interpersonal synchrony is considered detrimental for a person's ability to self-regulate. In this study, 66 adults took part in the Body-Conversation Task (BCT), a dyadic movement task promoting spontaneous social interaction. Using whole-body behavioural imaging, we investigated the simultaneous impact of interpersonal synchrony (between persons) and intrapersonal synchrony (within a person) on positive affect and self-regulation of affect. We hypothesized that interpersonal synchrony's known tendency to increase positive affect would have a trade-off, decreasing a person's ability to self-regulate affect. Interpersonal synchrony predicted an increase in positive affect. Consistent with our hypothesis, it simultaneously predicted a weakening in self-regulation of affect. Intrapersonal synchrony, however, tended to oppose these effects. Our findings challenge the widespread belief that harmony with others has only beneficial effects, pointing to the need to better understand the impact of interaction dynamics on the stability and regulation of the human self

The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior: The performers-observers gap hypothesis

Religious rituals are found all over the world. Some cultures engage in extreme religious rituals in which individuals take on forms of bodily harm to demonstrate their devotion. Such rituals entail excessive costs in terms of physical pain and effort, but the equivalent societal benefits remain unclear. The field experiment reported here examined the interplay between extreme rituals and moral behavior. Using a die-roll task to measure honest behavior, we tested whether engaging or observing others engaging in extreme ritual activities affects subsequent moral behavior. Strikingly, the results showed that extreme rituals promote moral behavior among ritual observers, but not among ritual performers. The discussion centres on the moral effects of rituals within the broader social context in which they occur. Extreme religious rituals appear to have a moral cleansing effect on the numerous individuals observing the rituals, which may imply that these rituals evolved to advance and maintain moral societies

Action-oriented understanding of consciousness and the structure of experience

The action-oriented approach in cognitive science emphasizes the role of action in shaping, or constituting, perception, cognition, and consciousness. This chapter summarizes a week-long discussion on how the action-oriented approach changes our understanding of consciousness and the structure of experience, combining the viewpoints of philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and clinicians. This is exciting territory, since much of the resurgent activity in consciousness science has so far focused on the neural, cognitive, and behavioral correlates of perception, independent of action. A wide-ranging discussion included questions such as how actions shape consciousness, and what determines consciousness of actions. The specific context of self-experience, from its bodily aspects to its social expression were considered. The discussions were related to specific theoretical frameworks, which emphasize the role of action in cognition, and identified an emerging empirical agenda including action-based experiments in both normal subjects and clinical populations. An intensive consideration of action is likely to have a lasting impact on how we conceive of the phenomenology and mechanisms of consciousness, and on the ways in which consciousness science will unfold in the years ahead.22 page(s