The Washington Post

“Empathy can be defined by the ability to understand, share and be affected by the states or emotions of others. So, if seeing someone yawn makes you yawn in response, this action could be placed within a category of empathy,” says Andrew C. Gallup, assistant professor of psychology at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York. Some studies have tried to see whether people and animals with more empathy are more likely to catch yawns. But Gallup, who has researched yawning for more than 10 years, says more study is needed to know for sure."

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