Whether it’s laughing at a classic comedy or watching a horror film from behind a pillow, movies can evoke many feelings. Now researchers say that experiencing intense emotions with others makes people feel more connected – provided you can see it.
It has long been known that experiencing emotional events together can strengthen bonds between people, with a previous study finding that watching emotional films with another person made people feel more connected.
But it was unclear whether individuals needed to experience intense emotions, similar emotions, or both to produce a greater bond. It was also unclear whether the effect was seen when people watched both happy and sad films, or whether it only occurred when individuals could see each other.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Victor Chung of the École Normale Supérieure in France and colleagues report how they investigated the matter by inviting strangers to watch videos together in same-sex pairs.
The pairs were each shown three five-minute videos in a random order while wearing a face mask and headset. These videos were either positive (a comedy), negative (a film showing the suffering of animals in captivity) or neutral (material from a university library). While half of the pairs watched the films with an open curtain between them, the other half had the curtain closed.
For each participant, the team also recorded an electrocardiogram as well as respiratory activity and skin conductance to track physical statistics indicating how the strength of their emotions changed.
At the beginning of the experiment, the researchers asked each participant whether they would like to meet the other member of their pair again, and whether they identified with them.
After watching each video, participants reported their emotions and feelings of connectedness, and after viewing all three videos, they were again asked about their feelings toward the other participant.
The results from 39 pairs revealed participants’ self-reports and their measures of heart rate, respiratory rate and skin conductance showed the emotional films generated stronger responses than the neutral film. In addition, couples who could see each other while watching the films rated their emotions as more intense.
In particular, the team says that participants’ feelings of connectedness within the pairs were enhanced when they experienced more intense emotions, as recorded by skin conductance measures which, Chung noted, are the easiest to interpret physiological measure of emotional arousal. However, this was only the case when participants watched the films with the curtain open between them.
The researchers said that whether or not the couples could see each other had no impact on how positively or negatively they felt about the films.
“We found that watching emotional films in silence with another individual is associated with social bonding, even when this person is a stranger and without any verbal communication,” Chung said.
However, Chung noted that the study cannot prove social bonding results from intense emotions, and does not rule out the possibility that similar emotions increase social bonding in other contexts.
“Our findings suggest that the experience of intense emotions with others, even during brief interactions with strangers, plays a role in the emergence of social relationships and the formation of social groups,” he said.
