Researchers say they learned this by watching chimps yawn when they see people yawn.Elaine Masden and her colleagues at Lund University in Sweden base their conclusions on studying the primates in a sanctuary.It’s a really peculiar effect. It’s such a small thing, but that nonetheless most of us experience.Most of us when we see or hear others yawn or just think about yawning or read about yawning then we ourselves begin to yawn.So it’s something that most people are familiar with.”Dr. Madsen -- an evolutionary psychologist -- says not everyone reacts the same way.About half of people tested do not respond to contagious yawning.“It begs the question, why? If it’s something that we find all over the world, why do only roughly half of us do it?Not that she’s pointing fingers, but among those who generally do not respond to contagious yawning…There are two types of empathy that researchers usually operate with.One is cognitive empathy, which is a very high level of empathy where you sort of imagine how someone else must be feeling or thinking.And then there’s the more simple kind of empathy, which is more immediate and we see that in animals.The kind of empathy where, for example, if you see someone caught their hand you instantly feel in in your stomach. It hurts.
