Relational Multiplicity in Group Synchrony: Properties, Cognitive Demands, and Methodological Framework
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Interpersonal synchrony has typically been studied as temporal alignment between two individuals, yet much social coordination unfolds in groups. We argue that the shift from dyads to groups is structural rather than merely quantitative and lies in relational multiplicity: each individual can coordinate simultaneously and differentially with multiple others, allowing heterogeneous coupling topologies, subgroups, coalitions, and changing role configurations to emerge. Distributed, selective, and flexible synchrony are properties that describe this multi-relational architecture. This shift creates a distinct explanatory target: not simply how strongly individuals synchronize, but how multiple local interpersonal alignments are selectively organized and reorganized to produce system-level coordination. Addressing this target requires linking cognitive and neural processes that support social selection to network-based approaches that quantify synchrony as weighted, potentially directed, temporal, and multimodal patterns of coupling across group members. From this perspective, successful group coordination should not be expected to correspond to uniformly high synchrony, but to context-appropriate configuration and reconfiguration of synchrony across members, signals, and time.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Authors: Alessandro Carollo, Ilanit Gordon
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7208757840