What causes emotional contagion?

What causes emotional contagion?

Emotional Contagion is the result of our own and others’ interpretations of thoughts and feelings. The result is expressed via mimicry and facial expressions. Imagine that you made plans with a friend but they need to cancel and perhaps you didn’t want to go in the first place.

Who is more prone to emotional contagion?

Studies have found that women are more vulnerable to emotional contagion than men. A 2011 study of 48 pairs of friends found that, after talking with a troubled friend, women’s moods were more likely to deteriorate but men’s moods were less changed, whether the troubled friend’s mood improved or not.

How do you stop emotional contagion?

To avoid falling into an “insidious” emotional-contagion trap, Barsade suggests following these steps:

1. Be aware: Take notice that you may feed off someone else’s strong emotion, and also be aware of your own mood.
2. Go verbal: When you can, pinpoint the source of the negative emotional contagion in yourself or others.

What is emotional contagion exactly?

Emotional contagion refers to the process in which an observed behavioral change in one individual leads to the reflexive production of the same behavior by other individuals in close proximity, with the likely outcome of converging emotionally (Panksepp and Lahvis, 2011).

Is Emotional Contagion a theory?

Emotional contagion—the “process by which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes” (Schoenewolf, 1990, p. 50)—is a phenomenon of far-reaching importance in organizational psychology.

Why is emotional contagion effect influential?

Emotional contagion is important to personal relationships because it fosters emotional synchrony between individuals.

Is Emotional Contagion bad?

Emotional contagion isn’t always a bad thing. Who doesn’t want to spread happiness? But there’s also a downside: Negative emotions can spread just as easily. “Nobody is invulnerable to emotional contagion,” Joseph says.

Does my mood affect others?

Being in a bad mood could impact our orientation toward another’s suffering and our desire to alleviate it. In addition, since bad moods may be contagious, being in a bad mood could put others in a bad mood, which might impact their ability to empathize with us, as well.

How do you develop emotional contagion?

Action Steps:

1. Be consciously aware of your own mood. If it’s not one that will be useful to your team, change it.
2. Use your nonverbal behaviors to communicate emotional contagion.
3. Make direct eye contact with everyone on the team.
4. Neutralize a negative team member.
5. Create a positive emotional culture within the team.

Is emotional contagion bad?

Is there such a thing as emotional contagion?

Actually, yes. Researchers call it emotional contagion. It happens when you mimic, usually without conscious effort, the emotions and expressions of people around you. Why does it happen?

Why are some people more contagious than others?

Because certain people and moods can be more contagious or susceptible to emotional contagion, research has also found that the energy in those moods influences can be more powerful than the actual emotion displayed. Emotional Contagion can ultimately affect our moods and the moods of others.

How are emotions like colds and germs spread?

Emotions can spread like a cold, and you can “catch” them too. It’s true, emotions are contagious. Studies suggest that other people’s moods may be as easy to catch as their germs. You can be infected with someone’s happiness — or sadness. Researchers call this phenomenon emotional contagion (EC), in which one person’s emotions transfer to another.

How is emotional contagion a multiply determined process?

Emotional Contagion Explanations and Evidence. Emotional contagion has been described as a multiply determined process, consisting of both automatic processing of others’ nonverbal displays as well as more conscious information processing of others’ emotional expressions and behavior.