Question: Why is yawning infectious

Paul Brack answered on 19 Jun 2015:

Infectious yawning is often thought to be related to our innate desire to show empathy – we yawn to show that we feel the same as someone else. It has also been found that we are likely to catch yawns off people we feel close to, so it seems it’s how emotionally bonded you are to someone, rather than how close you are to someone, that determines whether you wil catch a yawn off them.