Psychopaths and people with antisocial disorders are statistically much less likely to do what common bodily function?

Why a yawn can spread from person to person

Seeing, hearing, or even reading about a yawn can prompt someone else to yawn. This is called contagious yawning. It differs from an ordinary yawn, which can happen when a person is tired or shifting between states of alertness: the contagious kind is triggered by another person’s yawn.

Researchers have found that people with stronger psychopathic traits are, on average, less likely to catch yawns. One proposed explanation is that contagious yawning can be influenced by sensitivity to other people’s cues. Psychopathy is associated with differences in some aspects of empathy—the ability to recognize or respond to another person’s feelings—which could help explain the pattern. But the precise mechanism is not settled, and yawning is not a simple empathy test.

A tendency, not a diagnosis

“Psychopathy” describes a cluster of traits; it is not interchangeable with antisocial personality disorder, a clinical diagnosis based on persistent patterns of behavior. The two can overlap, but neither label means that a person never yawns contagiously. The reported difference is statistical, not a rule about individuals.

That distinction matters because contagious yawning also varies for ordinary reasons, including attention and how readily a person notices the cue. A missed yawn may reflect a moment’s distraction—not a verdict on someone’s character.