The Upside of Emotional Contagion

Have you ever felt the rush of anxiety in your own body when you watched your child take center stage? Or maybe you waited in line behind a disgruntled customer at the checkout and felt twinges of frustration take root and grow as you watched?

Elaine Hatfield, John Cacioppo and Richard Rapson first used the term emotional contagion to refer to the way we automatically perceive and interpret emotional signals from people around us, then – even without conscious awareness – we respond with similar feelings ourselves. We’re wired to mimic others’ facial expressions, posture, tone of voice and movements. Ultimately, this synchronicity causes our emotions converge with theirs.

Emotional contagion sounds awful, at least when you’re talking about catching negative feelings. No one wants to feel afraid, angry or sad because their companion feels afraid, angry or sad. When we talk about the need to detach from toxic people in our lives, it’s usually because their corrosive feelings and destructive actions are dragging us down, too. The word contagion makes me want to grab a face mask or body armor to avoid catching others’ discontent.

But emotional contagion has an upside even when we catch unhappy emotions. Feeling others’ feelings allows us to feel empathy. It gives us a sense of deep emotional engagement with characters in film or on stage. It galvanizes groups of people fighting for a common goal, and increases their sense of connection and solidarity.

Emotional contagion also occurs for positive emotions. When you’re surrounded by joyful expressions, your own countenance brightens. Happy feelings cause you to recall pleasant experiences and to interpret ambiguous situations with an optimistic bias. A few rays of positive energy may be all it takes to turn your gray skies to blue. Once you break into the light, it’s easy to see more good things.

As you go through your day today, tune in to your emotional climate. Are you riding a wave of discontent that has nothing to do with your own experiences? Make a conscious decision to spend your time with positive people. Catching good vibes through emotional contagion renews your energy and throws you into an upward spiral.