The Rhythm of Connection: Individual Traits, Relationship, and Situation Shaping Interpersonal Synchrony

Description of the granted funding

Relationships are vital for well-being and health, with bodily synchrony – where people's reactions align – playing a key role in forming and maintaining social bonds. This research examines how individuals synchronize nonverbally through autonomic nervous system responses, movements, and facial expressions. It explores how individual traits, relationship types, and situational factors influence synchrony. The study focuses on six relationship types: couples, friends, siblings, parent and adult child pairs, colleagues, and strangers. Participants engage in paired discussions where emotional climate, cognitive alignment, sense of connection, and the level of cooperation vary. Electrodermal activity, heart rate measures, and video recordings of facial expressions and body movements are analyzed to study synchrony. The research deepens our understanding of nonverbal human connection and produces new resources, including open data for synchrony research.
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Starting year

2025

End year

2029

Granted funding

Anu Tourunen Orcid -palvelun logo
673 509 €

Funder

Research Council of Finland

Funding instrument

Academy research fellows

Decision maker

Scientific Council for Social Sciences and Humanities
17.06.2025

Other information

Funding decision number

367895

Fields of science

Psychology

Research fields

Psykologia

Identified topics

psychology