Player Plaza Blog

Emotional Contagion

Don’t catch the ‘no’ cold!

Emotional contagion can be defined as the tendency to feel emotions that are similar to others around you. Without paying attention, it is very easy to adopt the moods and emotions of other people. The actual process of how emotional contagion occurs is very primitive, automatic, and precise. It is a process where we, as human beings, observe the emotions and feelings of others and while making an attempt to interpret and understand them, we adopt the mood or feeling in the process. The amygdala is part of the brain mechanism that underlies empathy and creates the pathway for emotional contagions.

Without getting too technical, let me explain how this works in simple real-life terms. Imagine yourself having a conversation with a friend of yours, and you are talking about something in your life. During the conversation your friend mentions that they are very worried and concerned about this 'something', and in your mind, it was something that you weren’t even worried about, but by the end of the conversation you now are worried too. Well, that is a perfect example of emotional contagion. You ‘caught their cold’ so to speak. In simple terms, the reason why you ‘caught their cold’ is because you allowed their thoughts to become your thoughts. Another example of this is when someone tells you that you can’t do or be something. If you buy in to what they are saying, then again, you ‘caught their cold.’ It is as simple as that, and that is why it can be so damaging. Our thoughts determine our feelings. Our feelings determine our behaviors. Our behaviors determine our habits, and our habits determine our destiny. Every time. No exception. If you allow the thoughts of others to become your thoughts, then quite honestly, your happiness and success in life depends on everyone except you.

Because of the influence of emotional contagion, they say that we are the average of the 5 people that we spend the most time with. Now this could be true if we allow others’ thoughts to become our own. If not, then you can be whoever you want to be. Again, pay attention to your thoughts, and pay attention to your feelings. Thanks.