WHY DO PEOPLE CLAP AT MOVIES?

Movies aren’t Broadway plays. Why do people feel compelled to clap at the credits? No one is going to take a bow.  There isn’t going to be an encore. No one is tossing out shirts to the loudest side of the theater.

Is there an unspoken fan competition that I’m not aware of? Or is it a knee jerk reaction like an atheist saying “Bless you” when someone sneezes?

I guess we’re conditioned to act without thinking. Isn’t the economy built on people buying things they want but were told they need?

Maybe I need to watch less movies and read more books…