Psychopaths Not Yawning? How Is This Possible?

Researchers from a Texas-based university has found that people with psychopathic tendencies will be less affected by contagious yawning. 

According to Psychology Today, psychopathy is one of the most difficult mental disorders to pinpoint and diagnose. While psychopaths may visibly appear normal and even quite charming, deep down they do not really reciprocate feelings or guilt. 

The researchers from Baylor University characterized psychopaths as being antisoical, selfish, fearless and callous. In addition, people with psychopathy have the tendency of being volatile, manipulative, domineering and impulsive.

The most common trait that psychopaths have is lack of empathy, which is why Baylor researchers decided to test the effects of contagious yawning. According to How Stuff Works, previous studies have noted that yawning is closely related to our ability to empathize with people. 

Put into simple terms, empathy is the ability to understand and connect with other people's emotions. Reciprocating a yawn on some level can reflect the feeling of fatigue or tiredness other peope feel. 

For the study, the Baylor researchers had 135 people view several video clips, which depicted people with different facial expression and most notably yawning, reports Daily Mail UK. 

According to the study's abstract, the male and female participants were exposed to a paradigm known as the Psychopathis Personality Inventory - Revised (PPI-R), which was made to induce yawning. 

The results revealed that the participants who scored very high on the cold-heartedness scale were particularly less likely to yawn, states the Daily Times.

Even if these participants were impervious to the effects of yawning, it does not mean that they are psychopaths but may rather exhibit antisocial tendencies. In fact, Psychology Today noted that it is important to know the difference between being antisocial and being a psychopath since both have similar social reactions

Brian Rundle, a PhD student from Baylor who was involved in the study, explained to The Times:  

"One of the biggest lines of evidence is that [contangious yawning is] very much related to empathy. There's some evidence that show in baboons or dog or chips that the alpha male tends to yawn first. [Also,] If you're sitting around the campfire it cues everyone else to yawn, and instead of going to bed at separate times they all do it at [the] same times"  

"While this is a really interesting finding, it doesn't mean that if you're not affected by a contagious yawn there's something wrong with you," Rundle added. 

According to Fox 8, this study was published in Personality and Individual Differences.