Social contagion of time perception

Abstract To test the hypothesis that the perception of time’s passage converges towards consensus in interactive groups, 38 participants completed a “word puzzles” task in groups of four to six. Four groups performed the task interactively (Interactive Condition) and four groups performed it without interacting (Control Condition). Both intraclass correlations and within-group variance measures revealed, as predicted, that more within-group consensus emerged in the Interactive Condition (versus the Control Condition) for measures of perceived time speed and mood. Alternatives to an explanation based on the dynamics of interaction are discussed, and the results are placed in the larger scope of recent theory and research on socially shared cognition.

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