New Insights about the Effects of Synchronicity on Creative Thinking, Cohesion, and Positive Affect

By Reneeta Mogan Naidu

Researchers conjecture that rituals have been prevalent in human activities for millennia

due to tacit evolutionary functions of solidarity and cooperation. A key element of

ritualistic behaviours is synchrony, defined as the matching of actions in time with

others. Synchrony has been associated with a range of phenomena, including increased

affiliation, connectedness, and cooperation among group members. However, there have

been a number of failed replications of key studies. Furthermore, synchrony research

has focused mainly on social and affective responses. Synchrony's effects on cognitive

processes remain largely unexamined, even though synchronous actions require social

cognition. In this thesis, I investigate the link between synchrony and creative thinking,

a basic and distinctively human cognitive process. This thesis reports four empirical

studies conducted to investigate two main aims: (1) synthesise existing synchrony

literature to determine synchrony's overall effect on previously studied outcomes; and

(2) investigate the relationship between synchrony and creative thinking. The focus on

creativity is theoretically relevant because both sociological speculations about

synchrony's role on cultural conformity and real-world observations on reduced

decision quality in highly cohesive groups (e.g., groupthink) suggest that synchrony

may have detrimental effects on creativity. To address the first aim, a meta-analysis

(Study 1) of experimentally manipulated synchrony studies showed that synchrony was

positively associated (small to medium effect sizes) with prosocial behaviour, social

bonding perceptions, partner cognition, and positive affect. Three experimental studies

were conducted to address the second aim. Study 2 investigated the direct association

between synchrony and two components of creative thinking - convergent thinking

(i.e., synthesis of ideas toward a single creative solution) and divergent thinking (i.e.,

generation of multiple alternative ideas) - and aimed to replicate shared intentionality

(i.e., shared goal/purpose) on positive social and affective responses.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CNQJLL9Z
• ISBN13: 9798869003102
• Release Date: November 2023
• Publisher: Pradeep Kandimalla
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"