Humanities and Social Sciences Colloquium - Wolfgang Tschacher

Nonverbal synchrony – recent findings on social embodiment

Synchrony, the coupling and entrainment of motor behavior and physiology, commonly arises in social interaction of different kinds. Synchrony depends on how strong the therapeutic alliance is (in psychotherapy), on the type of conversation, on the affectivity and personality traits of interlocutors (in everyday conversation). Building on my recent dinner talk, I will present some new aspects of the FRIAS research focus "Synchronization in Embodied Interaction". One new development is that synchrony may shed some light on 'nowness', our experience of the present moment. The duration of synchrony may be interpreted as indicating how much nowness we share in social interaction. Additionally, I will report recent findings concerning physiological synchrony in romantic couples.