Applauding, as a sign of approval or joy, is perhaps one of the most common collective reactions to humanity. We have all applauded, almost as an involuntary effect, when we see the performance of some artist, the appearance of a politician with whose ideas we agree, the triumph of an athlete. Ethologists - scientists who study behavior - affirm that it is an inherent characteristic of human beings, verified from the observation of babies and chimpanzees, who clap spontaneously to show contentment, happiness or emotion. But is there a definitive theory about clapping? Why do we clap?
Memorial historians place the custom of applauding in Greek and Roman civilizations, as it was performed after a play, a game in the coliseum or an impressive speech. It is said that the emperor Nero could hire huge groups of people (up to 5,000) to applaud, in exchange for a monetary payment, every time he delivered his cloying speeches or sang his insufferable songs.
The truth is that, since the first century of our era, clapping hands, whistling and trampling (all actions aimed at generating noise) were signs of an agreement massive with respect to something. Over the years, this custom was cemented in the massive behavior of almost the entire world (West and East) and today we can find different ways and reasons for which we applaud.
The ancient Romans had a ritual set of applause for public performances, expressing varying degrees of approval:tapping the fingers, clapping with a flat or hollow hand, or flapping the skirt of the toga, which the emperor Aureliano replaced by handkerchiefs that he distributed among the people. Little by little, these customs were transferred to other institutions of society, such as the Church, and later, contemporary popular culture adopted applause as the highest expression of approval, in various contexts, although there are also some restrictions.
For example, although applause is common in artistic shows, within the protocol of behavior in classical music shows, it is forbidden to applaud in the spaces of silence between the movements of a suite or concert. This is clearly internalized in the regular audience at these shows and serves as an identifier for those who do not have that culture. That is, if you go to see an opera and clap your hands early, or in the middle of an aria that hasn't finished yet, the rest of the audience will immediately know that you don't know the work being performed.
Another emblematic case in which the public refrains from applauding is during tennis matches, so as not to distract the players. Unless it's the end of a set or the entire match, people who know how to conduct themselves during a tennis tournament are not rash enough to applaud after a surprising move or a hard-fought point. Although in some tournaments this has been relaxed slightly, the custom is still intact.
People usually clap at the beginning and end of a TV show. Sometimes spontaneously, sometimes stimulated by the production team, to increase the feeling of unanimous approval. In the case of politicians or people who take a podium, being applauded without having done or said anything constitutes recognition of their past career, their achievements and prestige.
Currently, popular culture disseminated by the mass media has turned applause into a common currency, which the public gives to people who often lack any talent. The relativization of the concepts "fame", "talent", "celebrity", etc., have generated a situation according to which anything is applauded. Perhaps over time, clapping loses the relevance it had before and becomes a habit that does not necessarily respond to the admiration that an event or character generates in us.