We Are All in This Together: Effects of Synchrony in Social Media Videos on Viewers’ Experience of Self-Transcendent Emotions

Synchrony refers to similarity in movement between different actors such as dancing, clapping, or singing together. Prior research demonstrates that synchrony often elicits emotions that may be characterized as aesthetic or self-transcendent (e.g., awe, connectedness). Our research situated the concept of synchrony in media contexts, examining viewers’ affective responses to videos featuring synchronous movement. Study 1 employed an experiment, showing that synchronized videos elicited greater awe, with awe associated with a host of prosocial outcomes reflecting connectedness and motivations to do good. Study 2 employed content analytic procedures to examine how the synchrony present in a large sample of YouTube videos was associated with user comments reflecting self-transcendent emotions, and how these emotions were associated with the salience of moral foundations. The results showed that synchrony was associated with greater feelings of awe, admiration, and elevation. Further, comments reflecting self-transcendence were associated with the salience of moral foundations, and particularly the foundation of care.