Social effects of interpersonal synchronization during listening to music compared to a metronome: What can we learn from implicit measures?

2016

Interpersonal coordination, such as simultaneous rhythmic movement, is a fundamental way to form socioemotional connections. The social and emotional power of music might further strengthen such interpersonal bonds. Here, we tested if interpersonal synchronization (synchronous vs. asynchronous finger-tapping) affects sympathy and helpfulness more strongly when listening to music compared to a metronome. We tested 40 participants and used an explicit and an implicit measure to assess their social orientation toward a tapping partner (i.e., one of two experimenters). Participants directly rated the friendliness of the experimenter on a 9-point Likert scale. As a more indirect or implicit meas…