Emotional contagion is a phenomenon where the observed behavior of one individual leads to the reflexive production of the same behavior by others. These “copiers” then feel the same emotions of the person who made the original behavior change (Panksepp and Lahvis, 2011).
However, Hatfield (1993) offers several propositions as to the causes of emotional contagion, and believes that the causes of emotional contagion are more “subtle, automatic, and ubiquitous than previous theorists have supposed.” Hatfield outlines two main mechanisms: mimicry and feedback.
Emotional contagion, first characterized by Elaine Hatfield, describes how people who observe the emotions and behaviors of another tend to copy those emotions and behaviors. For instance, when someone smiles happily around others, those around them are more likely to smile and feel happy.
Individual differences in emotional contagion of salespersons: Its effect on performance and burnout. Psychology & Marketing, 14 (6), 617-636.
Emotional contagion can be triggered by facial expressions, indirect human interactions, and/or by observing other people's behavior in direct and indirect interactions.
Emotional contagion refers to a phenomenon of an automatic adoption of an emotional state of another person.
The Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS) is a self-report scale used to measure individual differences in susceptibility to converge towards the emotions expressed by others.
What effect does emotional contagion have in the communication process? It provides feedback to the sender that the receiver understands and empathizes with the message.
Emotional Contagion- tendency to feel and express emotions similar to and influenced by those of other; also the phenomenon of one person's negative thoughts or anxiety affecting another person's mood.
Examples of implicit emotional contagion could be a smile that brightens up someone else's day or the sound of a child's laughter that puts you in a good mood. Social media can also be considered a type of implicit emotional contagion.
To assess emotional contagion, repetitive measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the self-reported experiences. Happy faces induced more happiness (M ± SD, 3.632 ± 0.827), while angry faces induced more anger (7.197±1.000), F(1, 29) = 150.270, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.838.
The aim of the research was to test the hypothesis that users would experience emotional contagion – that is, if they perceived others as posting more negatively they would post more negatively, and if they perceived others as posting more positively they would post more positively.
In addition to shedding light on how group emotion is created, there is evidence that emotional contagion has a powerful impact on group dynamics through its influence on individual emotions and the affective convergence of the group toward particular emotions.
What effect does emotional contagion have on the communication process? It distorts the communication process and causes dissatisfaction to all the parties involved.
While contagion literally means “through touch” and is commonly used to explain the spread of diseases, in communication, it means the social transmission, by contact, of ideas, culture and behaviours. It assumes that social transmission can occur from mere touch or contact with culture.
Is it true that emotions are contagious? We've all heard that laughter is contagious. And misery loves company. These and other similar anecdotes are describing emotional contagion. Emotional contagion is when people respond to and eventually begin to adopt the emotional state they see in other people. This is also called mood contagion.
There are different ways to elicit emotional contagion. Some ways are deliberate, and others are not.
Are you smiling because you are happy or are you happy because you are smiling? That is the basis of facial feedback hypothesis. This hypothesis states that not only do we smile because we are happy, but we may be happy because we are smiling. Having a smile on your face can increase your happiness even when you start to feel sad.
Experts have identified the 3 stages of how emotional contagion occurs:
Recognizing emotions in other people is a key component to successful social interactions. When a parent and baby smile at each other, chemicals are released into the body that makes both feel happy and safe. Babies as young as 2 months old learn to smile to engage with their caregivers.