The two types of clapping

During my orientation at Cal Poly SLO orientation for my masters we had an ice breaker where you walked around the room trying to fill in a grid with names of people who have met some criteria (e.g. born outside of California). In the end completed grids were entered into a raffle and a winner was chosen. Once the name was pulled people clapped. I wondered why people were clapping, though, for someone who simply was lucky. Even if you assume it took some skill to fill in the grid (it didn't) people still clap when people when entirely random drawings that required nothing more than being present for the drawing.

I have asked people over the years why they thought people clapped to ackknowledge someone who has done nothing requiring skill. This question has actually been used by me to suss out whether someone actually thinking creatively about random crap like me or would rather shrug their shoulders at the question or ridicule me for asking "stupid" questions.

But regardless of the answers I have received I have never stopped thinking about it. But I believe I have finally reached an answer that I am happy with, and that is there is two different situations that cause people to clap. One instance is from the appreciation of someone's skill at something. When you see a performance that you consider great you will clap to let the person know how you feel.

The other instance is when you clap to let someone know you are happy for them. This is why we clap at weddings, when someone wins a prize that required no skill, etc. and this is what I witnessed all those years ago at Cal Poly.

Now I can't think of any actual difference between how we clap for the various instances of why we clap. People don't seem to use a different style or holler in one instance and not the other. It just simply happens to be two different reasons why we clap.

Which brings up an interesting point about clapping when you are happy for someone. What if you are not truly happy for them? What if you wanted to be the one who won the prize? You might begrudge the other person for winning, but you are not necessarily happy they won over you either. And yet we still clap. I think this is when people do the typical five lackluster claps and don't bother stretching out the applause. They don't want to come off as cold-hearted, but they don't really want to lie and say they are really that happy for you either.

This is exactly the type of stuff I contemplate when I stare out my window or go for a walk. How could I possibly still be single? =)