It was a fun and engaging demonstration, but I have to admit that I never really felt confident about the connection (if there is one) between the social psych. principles and the contagiousness of itching. So I was happy to spot this article on the phenomenon: "You scratch, I scratch! The social contagion of itch."
This short article describes research about itch contagion and the brain biology that might explain why we itch when we see others scratch. The next time I do this demonstration, I'll do it in the bio unit I think, and I'll be much better informed.
image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Itch_02.jpg
Blog post title is a quote from: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/2012/12/10/you-scratch-i-scratch-the-social-contagion-of-itch/
posted by Rob McEntarffer
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