Applause

Empty your magazines and give them a round of applause.

Clapping is like high-fiving yourself. Clapping is the most common sound that we, as humans, use without our voice chords. We do it as a social gesture to show approval and admiration in groups and crowds.

But what is the reason behind why we clap? Did you know that the average speed of our claps ranges from 2.5-5 claps per second? The meaning of clapping is recognisable by all cultures in the world. And one of the most universal means of communication. Applause can even evolve into higher gestures of approval, standing ovation anyone?

By studying applause from a social contagion perspective. Focusing on recruitment of applauding individuals in time instead of collective behaviour rules. New actions can emerge first in a few individuals, spreading to all other members.

One individual clapping serves as a signal for the others to begin. The feedback loop builds upon itself since it’s self reinforcing. This happens regardless of their spatial proximity. Both the onset and the cessation of clapping follow a sigmoidal curve. A slow adoption of the new behaviour followed by a phase of rapid change and eventual saturation.

However, unlike the infection model, the people stop clapping send a signal to stop. Which leads to a faster recovery rate to the norm compared to other network spreading models.

The spark

The start of the applause is chosen by an individual and independent of others. At each moment, each individual member of the audience must decide. Whether to applaud at what has been done or to defer judgement.

Applause is a risky action. If an individual claps but no one joins in, they suffer some negative social cost.

Clapping is easier, louder, and more anonymous especially in crowds. Especially when In comparison to vocalising approval through speech. You can’t tell much about a person through their clap. Whether they’re male or female, or where they’re from, there’s that generic noise. But there is an inherent risk that remains.

The game is to judge from their own interpretation. Whether the rest of the audience will applaud at the same time they do.

The role of the Claquer introduced by theatres to ease this tension. They would clap, cry, or laugh at the right moments. With the purpose of influencing the audience’s reactions. They would be able to bear the brunt of the possible social cost as they have financial compensation.

In the 4th century Athens, competition was fierce between comedians.

Claquers became a common way to sway the decision of the judges.

In the Roman Empire, the practice of using applause to influence applied to politics.

Claquers were found in both courts of law and private art demonstrations.

In the modern form they exist as the paid influencer, pushing the latest product or lifestyle to you.

The mob

We can also study of social identity perspective. Crowd psychology looks at how and why people change their behaviour. Both as the driver of the action as well as the receiver.

Rules of interaction between individuals in groups. Inferred from measurements of individual behaviour. Confirmed by demonstrating their ability to reproduce group level effects. Complex systems governed by simple rules.

The emergence of collective synchrony among interacting units. Observed in an array of natural phenomena.

Firing of pacemaker cells of the heart.

Neural networks governing rhythmic human behaviours.

Fireflies flashing in unison.

The mathematical framework of coupled oscillators to study these processes. Focusing on the conditions and specific interactions that permit synchrony to emerge.

One natural group setting is in audience applause. It is easy to quantify collective behaviour of humans. Humans clapping together in unison is a familiar example of emergent synchrony.

What is usually observed is asynchronous applause, sparks beginning to form. Followed by a temporary synchronous applause.

Humans are both copycats and creatures of habits. This results in a tendency to repeat the previous interval. Since we are observing the collective, variability in response time can cause instability. To counteract this instability, individuals average information over some of the previous periods. These two drivers are to acting in parallel to explain synchrony. Also influencing with phase and period correction mechanisms.

There is a collective desire of the audience to increase the average noise intensity. More claps per unit time produces more total sound. Leading to members speeding up the rhythm. There’s a spread of natural clapping frequencies in the group. After reaching the volume threshold, the audience shifts its priority to quality.

By switching to a low frequency mode of clapping, they are able to synchronise. The faster clappers slow down, and the slower ones catch up. Converging to the shared frequency.

Audible harmony.

The culture

In Western etiquette, the clap of an individual has nothing to do with their opinion. It has more to do with the feeling of belonging in the group that shared the experience. This leads to somewhat inauthentic interactions.

Haven’t you ever heard someone say that they’re “just clapping to be polite”? Or when you applaud because everyone else is clapping. Even if you’re not sure what’s going on yourself?

The problem an audience must solve is not how and when to start a round of applause. That’s taken care of at the individual level. The group’s responsibility is how to coordinate its end. The stop is group mediated and also controlled by reluctance to clap too many times.

Like how it started, it’ll start to end when an individual decides to stop clapping. This usually occurs before the last person starts to clap. The recovered person will start their own signal that competes paves the way for others to stop.

It is interesting to note as well that there are appropriate times and places for every applause. It is normal to applaud a politician as they take the stage before they even give a speech. Interpreted as a sign of approval and in recognition of past accomplishments. In a religious setting, however, applauding is very rarely heard.

So, it can be said that clapping has now evolved into an expectation and standard of behaviour. It’s no longer only a biological or sociological reaction. It’s a instrument to influence the masses and for the masses to influence themselves.

The act of applause and clapping along with other people following a performance.

Is a performance in itself.