Case Study: Is Yawning Contagious?

Let’s apply our knowledge of confidence intervals to answer the question: “Is yawning contagious?” If we see someone else yawn, are we more likely to yawn?

Mythbusters study data

Fifty adult participants who thought they were being considered for an appearance on a US show called Mythbusters were interviewed by a show recruiter. In the interview, the recruiter either yawned or didn’t yawn. Participants then sat by themselves in a large van and were asked to wait. While in the van, the Mythbusters team watched the participants using a hidden camera to see if they yawned. The data frame containing the results of their experiment is available in the mythbusters_yawn data frame included in the moderndive package: