Emma Cohen: University of Oxford

In this talk, I’ll present some ideas and preliminary data on the links between exercise and social bonding. Exercise, broadly construed, is a cultural universal – from ceremonial rituals to team sports, people everywhere get together to move together. Our research investigates whether and how such activities serve a social bonding function, as has been long claimed in the social scientific literature. Specifically, we explore the social bonding effects of behavioural coordination and exercise ‘highs’. We are also interested in the effects of social bonding on exercise ability and performance, particularly on pain perception and fatigue thresholds. The research attempts to reveal mechanisms underlying the links between coordinated movement, pleasure and pain, and bonding and wellbeing and thereby to contribute new data on a pervasive feature of everyday life that cross-cuts cultural domains as varied as religion, sport and play.