I hope this doesn't put you to sleep -- it makes me tired all over…
Here's another brilliant finding from those "other" doctors, the psychologists… Some wanna-be genius down at Drexel University's Psych department decided that the world had a burning need to know (using a government grant, no doubt) why that most natural of human involuntary actions, the yawn, is so easily passed from person to person in a group. Really, does anyone care why yawning is contagious? It just IS, end of story! But nooo -- we've got to waste valuable tax dollars (most likely) to figure it out, don't we? Anyway, the finding was that people who scored highest on empathy tests were most likely to yawn when another in close proximity yawned. They yawned because they basically felt sorry for the other sleepyhead. Awww, isn't that special? But does this mean that if you don't yawn contagiously, you're a hard-hearted so-and-so? No. Maybe worse -- the study concluded that the non-contagious yawners were more likely to exhibit schizoid traits that the empathy yawners. That's right: If you don't yawn when others around you do, you're closer to being schizophrenic, in the eyes of Drexel's psychologists! But what if I don't belch or break wind when others do? What would that tell them -- that I'm a homicidal maniac?
Love that junk science! At least we're getting some quality amusement for our money… Letting the sunshine in,
William Campbell Douglass, II, M.D. | 
