Choose your friends wisely, it could be critical to your happiness!
Picked up a copy of New scientist the other day at exclusive books, as the feature story intrigued me.
“How your friends’ friends can affect your mood“
If you are keen observer of Human nature, you could have noticed how at times when someone is moody in a social situation that mood seems to pass on to others. Or people who negative all of the time, who never have anything positive to say, tend to pass this negativity to others that they interact with and ‘drag’ down everyone with them.
“To get an idea of what is going on, take Christakis’s findings on the spread of happiness, which were published last month. His team looked at a network of several thousand friends, relatives, neighbours and work colleagues who form part of the Framingham Heart Study, an ongoing multi-generational epidemiological survey that has tracked risk factors in cardiovascular disease among residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, since 1948. They found that happy people tend to be clustered together, not because they naturally orientate towards each other, but because of the way happiness spreads through social contact over time, regardless of people’s conscious choice of friends”
However this article, says that not only is your mood affected by the people that you are in direct contact with, but the friends of your friends. Moods apparently travel through social networks much like the ‘flu’.
For example, Christakis has found that with happiness, obesity and smoking habits, the effect of other people’s behaviour carries to three degrees of separation and no further.
The research also seems to contradict Malcom Gladwells theory in Tipping point, that a few influential people are responsible for spreading epidemics.
I wonder though, does this passing of moods happen online? Since the research say’s direct physical contact is required, and the effect is most likely caused by mirror neurons or by Mirroring a persons physical behavior you happen to experience their emotions, does the same thing apply online?
Guess there is some wisdom in that Oft repeated cliche parents keep telling you as a kid….
‘Choose your friends wisely’
It could be responsible for your happiness….
Tagged as happiness, Science, social dynamics + Categorized as Uncategorized
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I certainly think this is valid. There also seem to be “buffer” personalities, that can soak up negative feelings – not passing it on, and thus insulating the downstream group.
I agree..the mood of others does have an effect on your mood…avoid negative people.
@fiona yep be brutal, avoid like the plague
@nik hmmm never thought about that, but yes when you mention you do get people who are able to be around negativity while still maintaining positivity…. does that constitute a buffer personality… or is that that their frame of positivity is strong enough that they are unaffected by other negative influences… i wonder!
I also think it has to do with the social status of the person in question, i.e if the Alpha of a group is negative this would mean more people within the circle are negative….