Is a bad mood contagious?
--Michael Lenneville, Washington, D.C.

Gary W. Lewandowski, Jr., associate professor of psychology at Monmouth University and co-editor of www.ScienceOfRelationships.com, provides an answer:

When you see someone coughing, you reflexively know to steer clear of his or her germs. When you observe someone who is cranky or complaining, it is less obvious what to do. Studies suggest, however, that others' moods may be as easy to catch as their germs.

Psychologists call this phenomenon emotional contagion, a three-step process through which one person's feelings transfer to another person. The first stage involves nonconscious mimicry, during which individuals subtly copy one another's nonverbal cues, including posture, facial expressions and movements. In effect, seeing my frown makes you more likely to frown. People may then experience a feedback stage--because you frowned, you now feel sad. During the final contagion stage, individuals share their experiences until their emotions and behaviors become synchronized. Thus, when you encounter a co-worker on a bad day, you may unknowingly pick up your colleague's nonverbal behaviors and begin to morph into an unhappy state. Mimicry is not all bad, however; a person can also adopt a friend or colleague's good mood, which can help enhance their bond.

Although mimicry often occurs outside of our awareness, sometimes we can observe it. Let us say you see someone across from you on the train yawn. Often you cannot help but yawn as well. Recent research suggests that this type of mimicry is more common when the person yawning is someone close to you, such as a family member, good friend or romantic partner. Another study revealed that nonconscious mimicry, also dubbed the chameleon effect, occurs more often in more empathetic people.

The contagious nature of emotions can become amplified when individuals are in frequent contact with one another. In one study, marriage researchers Lisa A. Neff of the University of Texas at Austin and Benjamin R. Karney of the University of California, Los Angeles, examined more than 150 couples for three years to determine how one spouse's stress influences the other spouse and overall marital quality. They found that wives were not affected significantly. Husbands, however, experienced lower marital satisfaction when their wives reported higher stress. More important, emotional crossover was more pronounced when the couple engaged in negative conflict-resolution practices, such as rejecting or criticizing the partner.

These studies emphasize the importance of choosing wisely the company you keep, so you can catch others' good moods, rather than their bad moods.

4 Comments

1. 1. LordDraqo 06:59 PM 7/11/12

   What is being described is a phenomenon that is at the core of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and has been used for more than two decades. Is this a good use of research grant funds.

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2. 2. Petra 06:07 AM 7/16/12

   Nothing could be more true!
   
   Years ago when my husband developed diabetes and his blood sugar level was out of control he was in a constant bad mood and it definitely affected by ability to attempt to wrestle with it. Yet in seeking the cure for dealing with one in a perpetual bad mood there was no literature available.
   
   Though there's nothing better than contagious enthusiasm. It's wonderful to stand in front of an audience with the perfect opening line to which upon delivery broad smiles and applause ensue making everyone cheerful.

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3. 3. morebodyinfocusing 07:33 PM 7/17/12

   It would be interesting for researchers to examine emotional contagion amongst those whose sensing abilities are exquisitely refined in comparison to the general population: practitioners of Gendlin-based/McEvenue developed Whole Body Focusing or teachers of the Alexander Technique. As one becomes increasingly attuned, one can sense the "incoming" emotional shifts before they become obvious, at which point one can choose to respond differently to the stimulus of the EC.
   
   To PAUSE really is to refresh oneSelf. Conscious, Active Pausing also offers the possibility of shifting the dynamic of downwardly spiraling EC--in a marital relationship, committee meeting, or waiting on line.

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4. 4. Davis_Asia 05:46 PM 2/16/13

   Back in the late 1960s I was a volunteer in a crisis intervention center, joining others in staffing round-the-clock phone lines. We were located in the busy near north Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, heavily populated with a young urban dwellers. Our training was based on Transactional Analysis (TA) that had exploded on the Pop Sci scene with the book "I'm Ok, You're ok" by Fred Harris. The head of training was a desciple of his. The idea of mimicry and transferal of moods was heavily focused on, and role playing exercises had been designed to see who among the volunteer staff were particularly susceptible to the phenomena. Looking back I presume they were keen on not having a dual suicide involving the original subject in a crisis and some hapless soul on our staff. In terms of a transfer of bad mood they had several categorized examples and one of them rang true to me. It was called "the game of ain't it awful" in which two people could more easily bond after the seeker was assured that there was empathy from the listener. The seeker would look for this element by saying something starting with "isn't the weather awful today" and then wait to hear confirmation from the other person. This was then a point of dissuasion, during which the counselor could get the subject to recall a happier point of view. It seems to me that emotional contagion must be a fairly understood occurence. I wonder what Seligman et al have to say about this?
   

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