{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T04:52:04Z","timestamp":1791348724526,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Social isolation and difficulties in self-related processing have been linked to a range of psychological challenges. While shared experiences (from collective grief to celebratory events) are known to strengthen social bonds, the mechanisms through which they may beneficially influence self-related cognition and promote prosocial responding remain underexplored. This study investigates perceived emotional synchrony (PES)\u2014the subjective sense of emotional convergence with others during collective events\u2014as a key socioemotional process linking shared experiences to prosocial responding and shaped by self-other overlap (SOO), a core indicator of relational-cognitive connection between the self and others. Across four progressive studies involving both positive and negative emotional contexts, we investigated how shared experiences related to changes in self-perception and subsequent prosocial responding (as an indicator of social function). The results indicated that: (1) sharing an emotional event was associated with greater prosocial responding than individual experience across both positive and negative contexts; (2) in negative emotional contexts, SOO may function as an upstream relational-cognitive state associated with higher levels of perceived emotional synchrony; (3) this cognitive-affective pathway partially accounted for the prosocial effects of shared negative experience. Additional analyses were more consistent with the proposed serial model in which SOO preceded PES than with the reversed serial model. Together, these findings provide a refined account of how shared experiences may promote prosocial responding through cognitive-affective processes that shape the relationship between the self and others.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1763805","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T04:49:03Z","timestamp":1791348543000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Shared experiences and prosocial responding: the roles of self-other overlap and perceived emotional synchrony"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xiaodi","family":"Xue","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junkai","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, School of Public Policy and Management, Nanchang University","place":["Nanchang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yueying","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Business and Management Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University Zhuhai","place":["Zhuhai, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Song","family":"Tong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bay Area School of Applied Psychological Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai","place":["Zhuhai, China"]},{"name":"5 Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kaiping","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.97.1.129","article-title":"A variance explanation paradox: when a little is a lot","volume":"97","author":"Abelson","year":"1985","journal-title":"Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"596","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.63.4.596","article-title":"Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness","volume":"63","author":"Aron","year":"1992","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2079","DOI":"10.1177\/0956797614545886","article-title":"Pain as social glue: shared pain increases cooperation","volume":"25","author":"Bastian","year":"2014","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"463","DOI":"10.1002\/0471264385.wei0519","volume-title":"Handbook of Psychology","author":"Batson","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"447","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2009.06.005","article-title":"Perceived social isolation and cognition","volume":"13","author":"Cacioppo","year":"2009","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref6","volume-title":"Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction","author":"Camerer","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"240048","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.240048","article-title":"Social bonding through shared experiences: the role of emotional intensity","volume":"11","author":"Chung","year":"2024","journal-title":"R. Soc. Open Sci."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.73.3.481","article-title":"Reinterpreting the empathy\u2013altruism relationship: when one into one equals oneness","volume":"73","author":"Cialdini","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"850","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167211401420","article-title":"Understanding impulsive aggression: angry rumination and reduced self-control capacity are mechanisms underlying the provocation-aggression relationship","volume":"37","author":"Denson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2014.06.001","article-title":"Proud to cooperate: the consideration of pride promotes cooperation in a social dilemma","volume":"55","author":"Dorfman","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"496","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1745-6924.2009.01161.x","article-title":"Shared reality: experiencing commonality with others' inner states about the world","volume":"4","author":"Echterhoff","year":"2009","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nsaa041","article-title":"Self-other overlap and interpersonal neural synchronization serially mediate the effect of behavioral synchronization on prosociality","volume":"15","author":"Feng","year":"2020","journal-title":"Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"300","DOI":"10.1037\/1089-2680.2.3.300","article-title":"What good are positive emotions?","volume":"2","author":"Fredrickson","year":"1998","journal-title":"Rev. Gen. Psychol."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.84.2.365","article-title":"What good are positive emotions in crises? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001","volume":"84","author":"Fredrickson","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105540","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2024.105540","article-title":"The role of external factors in affect-sharing and their neural bases","volume":"157","author":"Gamble","year":"2024","journal-title":"Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev."},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"843","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.83.4.843","article-title":"Crowded minds: the implicit bystander effect","volume":"83","author":"Garcia","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"96","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8721.ep10770953","article-title":"Emotional contagion","volume":"2","author":"Hatfield","year":"1993","journal-title":"Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref18","volume-title":"Emotional Contagion","author":"Hatfield","year":"1994"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780190948054.001.0001","volume-title":"Shared Reality: What Makes us strong and Tears us Apart","author":"Higgins","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691614568352","article-title":"Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review","volume":"10","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2015","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"773","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1041.2021.00773","article-title":"Effect of group membership on unfairness perception under coexperience conditions","volume":"53","author":"Lv","year":"2021","journal-title":"Acta Psychol. Sin."},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1335","DOI":"10.1086\/226937","article-title":"Experiments on the provision of public goods. I. Resources, interest, group size, and the free-ride problem","volume":"84","author":"Marwell","year":"1979","journal-title":"Am. J. Sociol."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"876","DOI":"10.1111\/bjso.12368","article-title":"Underdogs make an alliance: the co-experience of rejection promotes cooperation","volume":"59","author":"Miao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Br. J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"929","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1042.2019.00929","article-title":"The co-experience of disappointment promotes cooperation","volume":"51","author":"Miao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Acta Psychol. Sin."},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1041.2021.00081","article-title":"Co-experiencing the same negative emotional events promotes cooperation","volume":"53","author":"Miao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Acta Psychol. Sin."},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2017.03.009","article-title":"To be in synchrony or not? A meta-analysis of synchrony's effects on behavior, perception, cognition and affect","volume":"72","author":"Mogan","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"696","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.86.5.696","article-title":"On the importance of cognitive evaluation as a determinant of attraction","volume":"86","author":"Montoya","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1002","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1136930","article-title":"Embodying emotion","volume":"316","author":"Niedenthal","year":"2007","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"711","DOI":"10.1037\/a0039285","article-title":"Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings","volume":"108","author":"P\u00e1ez","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"771","DOI":"10.1037\/a0020092","article-title":"Having less, giving more: the influence of social class on prosocial behavior","volume":"99","author":"Piff","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"974683","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.974683","article-title":"Emotional processes, collective behavior, and social movements: a meta-analytic review of collective effervescence outcomes during collective gatherings and demonstrations","volume":"13","author":"Pizarro","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref32","first-page":"249","article-title":"Revision of the positive affect and negative affect scale (PANAS)","volume":"14","author":"Qiu","year":"2008","journal-title":"Chin. J. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0120878","article-title":"Synchronous rhythmic interaction enhances children's perceived similarity and closeness towards each other","volume":"10","author":"Rabinowitch","year":"2015","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e80963","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0080963","article-title":"Synchrony and cooperation","volume":"8","author":"Reddish","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1002\/1097-4679(198201)38:1<>3.0.CO;2-I","article-title":"Development of reliable and valid short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale","volume":"38","author":"Reynolds","year":"1982","journal-title":"J. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1102","DOI":"10.1037\/a0037697","article-title":"Feeling more together: group attention intensifies emotion","volume":"14","author":"Shteynberg","year":"2014","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"267","DOI":"10.1037\/a0014223","article-title":"Altruism born of suffering: the roots of caring and helping after victimization and other trauma","volume":"78","author":"Staub","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am. J. Orthopsychiatry"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.92.1.56","article-title":"Social exclusion decreases prosocial behavior","volume":"92","author":"Twenge","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jesp.2016.06.001","article-title":"Class impressions: higher social class elicits lower prosociality","volume":"68","author":"Van Doesum","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Exp. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.111.2.249","article-title":"A direct assessment of the role of state and trait negative emotion in aggressive behavior","volume":"111","author":"Verona","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol."},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1361368","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2024.1361368","article-title":"The role of self-representation in emotional contagion","volume":"18","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"346","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-843X.97.3.346","article-title":"Positive and negative affectivity and their relation to anxiety and depressive disorders","volume":"97","author":"Watson","year":"1988","journal-title":"J. Abnorm. Psychol."},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1023\/B:EXEC.0000009540.67207.f4","article-title":"Timing and virtual observability in ultimatum bargaining and \u201cweak link\u201d coordination games","volume":"7","author":"Weber","year":"2004","journal-title":"Exp. Econ."},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.12.5.582.10091","article-title":"The illusion of leadership: misattribution of cause in coordination games","volume":"12","author":"Weber","year":"2001","journal-title":"Organ. Sci."},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1751-9004.2012.00450.x","article-title":"From mind perception to mental connection: synchrony as a mechanism for social understanding","volume":"6","author":"Wheatley","year":"2012","journal-title":"Soc. Personal. Psychol. Compass"},{"key":"ref46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"674","DOI":"10.1086\/678698","article-title":"The ties that bind us: ritual, fusion, and identification","volume":"55","author":"Whitehouse","year":"2014","journal-title":"Curr. Anthropol."},{"key":"ref47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2008.02253.x","article-title":"Synchrony and cooperation","volume":"20","author":"Wiltermuth","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1721","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.01721","article-title":"Perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings: validation of a short scale and proposition of an integrative measure","volume":"11","author":"Wlodarczyk","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"322","DOI":"10.1111\/bjop.12144","article-title":"Joint attention, shared goals, and social bonding","volume":"107","author":"Wolf","year":"2016","journal-title":"Br. J. Psychol."},{"key":"ref50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1479","DOI":"10.1111\/bjso.12718","article-title":"Exploring the origins of identity fusion: shared emotional experience activates fusion with the group over time","volume":"63","author":"Zabala","year":"2024","journal-title":"Br. J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref51","volume-title":"Using the State Need for Affiliation to Predict Perceptions of Touch as a Personal Space Interaction or Invasion","author":"Zawadzki","year":"2009"},{"key":"ref52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1037\/1528-3542.8.4.494","article-title":"Emotions evoked by the sound of music: characterization, classification, and measurement","volume":"8","author":"Zentner","year":"2008","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"ref53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"939","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1042.2018.00939","article-title":"Collective rituals promote cohesion: based on action, emotion, and memory","volume":"26","author":"Zou","year":"2018","journal-title":"Adv. Psychol. Sci."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1763805\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T04:49:18Z","timestamp":1791348558000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1763805\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"references-count":53,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1763805"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1763805","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"article-number":"1763805"}}