Applause

[MrMofo]

More of a social sciences question i guess.

Do all cultures clap their hands during and after a performance they particularly like, or is this a western construct?

And is clapping in general, a general human activity?

And if this is the case, how long has this been a practice between cultures? I mean, is it a practice that started in the middle east and then moved into europe and elsewhere, or vice versa.

Any thoughts?

[Ummon]

Some gestures are transcultural and innate (ie. nodding), others local and learned. I would have to check about clapping, I don't remember.

[Edratman]

I am stunned. What a great question. Never would have occured to me. I now have a great interest in the responses.

[Chlodwig I.]

Some gestures are transcultural and innate (ie. nodding), others local and learned. I would have to check about clapping, I don't remember.

sorry but you are wrong about nodding its also a learned cultural thing

e.g. in Bulgaria its the other way round

nodding means no

and shaking means yes

[Ummon]

sorry but you are wrong about nodding its also a learned cultural thing

e.g. in Bulgaria its the other way round

nodding means no

and shaking means yes

Good to hear, that disconfirms one famous psychological theory, that the shaking sign is determined by the child's refusal of the mother's breast.

I would have repped the post but you have the feature disabled.

[MrMofo]

is nodding really innate and transcultural? or that that a learned cultural behaviour too?

When I was thinking about clapping, I considered the idea that infants clap their hands all the time. It's an extremely basic gesture. You hold your arms wide, palms sprawled, and then bring them together with force. It requires only rudimentry motor skills to be able to actually hit them together.

But then I thought, if you watch parents, parents are always clapping at children, and applauding them for things that they do. Would it not be the same with nodding? I tend to think so.

[Gungalley]

Well, AFAIK, chimps clap too. AT least in TV shows htey do.

[C-Rob]

I think it's all learned. At first clapping was probably to garner attention... then they liked something, clapped to get their buddy to look at it, and the ball starts rolling.

[MrMofo]

doesn't somebody clap when they want to gain entry into a Bedouin tent, the equivalent of a knock? Or has tv led me astray?

[Simetrical]

Most gestures are learned, as far as I know, although there are probably some exceptions. (Waving a hand in the air to get someone's attention, maybe?) Facial expressions tend to be innate: certainly smiling, frowning, etc. are all innate. I would very much expect clapping as a sign of approval to be cultural, not innate.

[MrMofo]

I came across this, and it's certainly not the best source as it popped up as I googled *ancient greek applause*, wondering how they showed approval after ancient greek plays; however, it does show that applause as a matter of clapping one's hands was not a universal convention in roman times, and there were many ways to show one's approval of an event (i like the snapping of the fingers, sounds like the romans were beatniks). So then the convention itself perhaps may have became, well, more coventional in later times, and spread.

The custom of applauding may be as old and as widespread as humanity, and the variety of its forms is limited only by the capacity for devising means of making a noise (i.e., stomping of feet or rapping of fists or hands on a table). Within each culture, however, it is usually subject to conventions.

The ancient romans had a set ritual of applause for public performances, expressing degrees of approval: snapping the finger and thumb, clapping with the flat or hollow palm, waving the flap of the
toga, for which the last emperor, Aurelian, substituted handkerchiefs that he had distributed to the roman people. In Roman theater at the close of the play, the chief actor called out "Valete et plaudite!", and the audience, guided by an unofficial choregus chanted their applause antiphonally. This was often organized and paid for.

With the proliferation of Christianity, customs of the theater were adopted by the churches. Eusebius says that Paul of Samosata encouraged the congregation to applaud his preaching by waving linen cloths, and in the 4th and 5th centuries applause of the rhetoric of popular preachers had become and established custom. Applause in church eventually fell out of fashion, however.