“Emotions are contagious. We’ve all known it experientially. You know after you have a really fun coffee with a friend, you feel good. When you have a rude clerk in a store, you walk away feeling bad.” – Daniel Goleman

Just like being careful not to catch coronavirus, I am now more conscious about my environment and the people I surround myself with so as not to catch negative emotions. Because like a virus, emotions are contagious, and it can infect us insidiously.

Perhaps, through experience, you’re already aware that Interacting and being surrounded by happy, buoyant people will make you feel happy as well while being in close proximity and interacting with negative, ill-mannered people will make you feel bad.

But what causes this? Why are we so susceptible to being infected by someone’s emotions, whether in a positive or negative way?

But first…let’s talk about emotions and emotion brain networks

Throughout the day, we experience a myriad of emotions, ranging from pleasurable to those that we don’t want to feel because it’s uncomfortable.

Just the other day, I experienced a wide-ranging, roller coaster of emotions in one day — happiness while laughing with colleagues, awe while walking in nature and appreciating its beauty, optimism while daydreaming about achieving my goals, and then there’s anger, frustration, and stress due to encountering rude and disrespectful people. I found myself laughing and feeling so elated one minute and so deflated and on the opposite of the emotion spectrum the next. Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience.

In neuroscience, there are two schools of thought regarding emotions: the classical neuroscience of emotions, and the new neurobiology of emotions. The classical neuroscience of emotions believes that emotions are hardwired, or innate in us.  It’s quick, automatic, and provides us with data about the various internal and external stimuli that we encounter. It also tells us to pay attention to what is happening in our environment, within ourselves, and between ourselves and others.

The new neurobiology of emotions, on the other hand, believes that emotions are learned. Our brain takes in what is happening in our environment, in our body, and also takes into account the context of what is happening and our learned experiences (from memories and past experiences) and then constructs emotions as a way to predict meaning, or to “make sense” of all the information we’re receiving, or what we’re physically feeling.

The limbic system is commonly referred to as the emotional centre of the brain (although other brain networks are also involved in processing emotions). One of its main parts, the amygdala (an almond-shaped part of the brain located in the temporal lobe), is the main structure involved in processing emotions such as fear, happiness, sadness, and tagging memories with emotions. It also allows us to recognise the emotions in others. Because of these functions, the amygdala can “hijack” (called Amygdala hijack) the rational or logical part of our brain (the prefrontal cortex). When this happens, we may behave emotionally without being rational or be logical and rational without considering the emotional or people aspects.

Because of being linked to our body and brain, emotions have the power to influence our behaviour. Feeling fear or facing a threat, for instance, can either cause us to fight, flight, or freeze. Positive emotions such as happiness, joy, and optimism, on the other hand, makes us behave in loving, kind, and even altruistic ways.

Just a reminder: There’s no such thing as a “bad” emotion…

During a discussion in class (while I was studying positive psychology and wellbeing), I mentioned to one of my mentors that I’ve worked so hard to feel happy; I don’t want to go back to feeling sad and depressed, that I’m afraid that I’m slipping back to how I was feeling in the past. I don’t remember the whole conversation anymore but a part of what she said struck me. She said: “But you’re a different person now, and negative emotions are part of the human condition”. Her wise words have taught me that it’s okay and healthy to feel negative emotions from time to time. It’s part of being human. What’s important is to listen to what it is trying to tell us, to acknowledge the information and data it’s giving us about our current situation that we may need to reflect on or act upon.

So although there are some emotions that we would rather not feel, or those we label as “negative emotions” such as anger and sadness, it’s not considered “bad” to feel these emotions. While it is not healthy to feel negative emotions all the time, the opposite is also true: it is not healthy to feel happy all the time and not feel any negative emotions at all. In fact, those who experience and feel comfortable with both negative and positive emotions are the healthiest. It’s what we do with the emotions, or our behaviours, that may be classified as good or bad.

Like viruses, emotions are contagious!

In the beginning, I posted a question: why are we so susceptible to being infected by someone’s emotions, whether in a positive or negative way?

The answer: emotional contagion

Emotional contagion (the term “contagion” was borrowed by psychologists from biology and the language of infectious disease) refers to how we, as humans, consciously or unconsciously automatically synchronize our emotions during interactions. We tend to automatically mimic the other person’s facial expressions, posture, and other facial and non-verbal communications. And by doing so, we become infused with a similar feeling as what the person we are interacting with is feeling.

What allows emotional contagion to happen is a group of neurons called mirror neurons located in the frontal lobes on the front of the brain. Mirror neurons allow us to mimic, emulate, or imitate another person’s complex actions (which requires us to adopt the other person’s point of view); it also has an implication on empathy. When we automatically mimic the person we are interacting with, it allows us to recognise emotions and empathise with them.

Simply put, how we feel affects everyone around us. We transfer our moods and emotions to others. When we are happy, we will also transmit happiness to others. When we are stressed, anxious, or depressed, we will spread those emotions to the people we come in contact too, and this happens because of our mirror neuron network.      

So the question is: what are you infecting people with? Positive or negative emotions?

Here’s how you, your family, and community will benefit from positive emotional contagion

With the knowledge that emotions are contagious and have a ripple effect – here’s how you can positively influence those around you by simply being happy:

• When we are happy, we are more prosocial. Meaning, we become more concerned about helping others and behaving in ways that benefit society – such as empathising with others, sharing personal resources, donating, and volunteering
• Happiness enables us to have better self-control (the ability to resist strong impulses), self-regulation (the ability to regulate our emotions, thoughts, and behaviours) and cope with adversities (become resilient and grow from hardships) which not only benefits us but our relationships with others, or lead to more satisfying relationships
• Because we are not only mentally but physically healthier when we are happy (we have a stronger immune system and thus experience less illness), we perform better at work (even more fun to work with!), have more energy to spend quality time with our family, and are generally nicer and kinder to everyone we interact with

Emotions’ Ripple Effect

Since our emotions affect others and have a ripple effect on our family, friends, and community, we need to be able to manage our emotions, instead of letting it manage us. And while it’s not bad to feel negative emotions, it’s still important for us to be able to consciously shift our emotions from negative to positive whenever appropriate, or practice emotional intelligence (manage, recognise and understand our emotions and that of others); our family, friends, workmates and on a larger scale, our community will benefit from it.

Despite the current hardships brought about by the pandemic, I hope that you will spread joy and happiness, and not stress, anxiety, and sadness to the people around you. Now more than ever, we need more positive emotions to spread around.  

Key Takeaways

• When we are happy, we spread happiness to those we come in contact with because emotions are transferred from one person to another — also called emotion contagion
• While the goal is to experience more positive emotions, negative emotions have a purpose and should not be deemed “bad”. People who feel comfortable experiencing both positive and negative emotions are the healthiest
• Being happy or experiencing more positive emotions benefits not only our mental and physical health but also helps in building strong relationships with our family and friends, perform better at work (and help improve the overall work environment by infusing it with positive emotions), and makes us more likely to behave in ways that benefit our society or community (by behaving in a kind and altruistic ways)
• We have to practice emotional intelligence and manage our emotions to ensure that we transmit positive, and not negative emotions to our family, friends, and community

Now it’s your turn

1. Throughout the day, be mindful of your emotions and interactions with people. Did your emotions have a positive or negative effect on your interactions? How did a certain interaction with someone make you feel?
2. When feeling a negative emotion, consciously shift it to a more positive emotion by applying certain strategies such as walking in nature, listening to music, watching a funny show, laughing with a friend, exercising, etc. so that you won’t spread the negative emotions to those you come into contact with

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment below and let me know what you’ve learned, which strategies worked for you in shifting your emotions to be more positive, and how can you use the knowledge of emotional contagion to improve your wellbeing and those around you?

References

https://www.ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization?language=en#t-73920

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-me-in-we/202003/dynamics-emotional-contagion

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763416306704

https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/learn-more/perma-theory-well-being-and-perma-workshops