关键词: 同步动作, 集体欢腾, 团队规模, 社会联结

Abstract:

Throughout human evolution, human beings have faced the challenge of establishing and maintaining social bonds in their gradually expanding groups. However, little is known about the mechanisms of maintaining social bonds in large social groups. Therefore, we must find effective ways to establish social intimacy simultaneously with several people and not just through one-on-one interactions. Synchronized movements are crucial for large-scale social groups to maintain social relations and are of great significance to group survival and social development. Despite being the core element of collective rituals and an integral part of social life, the influence and mechanisms of synchronized movement on social bonding remain unclear. Our study draws on the affective theory and Durkheim’s viewpoint to propose that synchronized movement can promote social bonding, with collective effervescence as the intermediary mechanism and group size playing a regulatory role. We conducted three experiments to test our hypotheses by using the silent disco paradigm to manipulate synchronized movements. In Experiment 1, 64 participants each were randomly assigned to a synchronized movement group and a no-movement group. Four participants in each group performed synchronized movement tasks as a team, after which the participants filled in data for the synchronization validity operation test, interpersonal familiarity test, social bonding scale, and collective effervescence scale. In Experiment 2, 128 senior high school students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions (4-person small team × synchronized movement, 4-person small team × no movement, 16-person large team × synchronized movement, and 16-person large team × no movement). After completing the synchronized movement task test, the participants completed the synchronization validity operation test, interpersonal familiarity test, social bonding scale, and collective effervescence scale. Experiment 3 was based on the design of Experiment 2 but included adult participants to improve the external validity of the conclusions. The participants in Experiment 3 were selected from two newly established project departments in a construction enterprise’s branch in Guizhou Province. Participants in each team were randomly selected from different departments of the two project departments to reduce the familiarity of participants within a team. The key findings were as follows. (1) Synchronized movement can promote social bonding. Compared with the non-movement group, the synchronized movement group observed a stronger social bonding effect. In addition, collective effervescence played an intermediary role in the relationship between synchronized movement and social bonding. (2) The interaction between synchronized movement and group size had a significant impact on social bonding. Compared with the small group, the social bonding effect of synchronized movement on the large group was stronger. Collective effervescence in the large group was higher, which further produced stronger social bonding. (3) Group size had a moderating effect on the prediction of social bonding through collective effervescence. The results of Experiment 3 supported the conclusions of this study and enhanced the robustness of the results. Our findings contribute to the literature in several ways. First, this study used the silent disco paradigm to manipulate synchronized movement, which proves for the first time that synchronized movement can promote social bonding even outside a music background. This also distinguishes the common influence of music and synchronized movement on social bonding as identified in previous studies. Second, this study enriches the existing literature on the collective effervescence effect of large-scale group synchronization and verifies the hive hypothesis and related viewpoints proposed by previous researchers. Third, this study confirms the collective effervescence effect of synchronized movements in social life and provides the emotional mechanism of the social bonding effect of synchronized movements.

Key words: synchronized movement, collective effervescence, group size, social bonding