Are emotions

contagious?
Carleta Rousseau
 Hypothesis
It is hypothesised that when one person expresses an emotion, this emotion can be felt by and passed
on to other people through emotional contagion. Emotional contagion will be more likely to happen
in person, when you know the person or are close to them.
 Introduction
We’ve all heard the saying that laughter is contagious. You
may have also heard someone saying that they are a
‘sympathetic crier’, meaning that if they see someone
getting upset or cry, they are likely to get upset and cry too.
Does this mean that emotions are contagious? Dubbed
‘emotional contagion’, Scientists and researchers have
discovered that emotions can be passed on to others as easily
as the cold or flu! Sometimes, when we see someone express
an emotion, it triggers a reaction in our brain which makes
us express the same emotion as them. When people ‘catch’
other individuals’ emotions, they are usually expressed
through body language and facial expressions.

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Examples of emotional contagion

A boss being positive and You are in a bad mood but when A person crying because
smiling at work, Someone approaches you you arrive home, your family is they see someone else
encouraging employees to with a frown, so you have having dinner, happy and smiling crying and they are feeling
feel similar, positive the tendency to frown which soon makes you forget the same negative
emotions. back. your negative thoughts and emotion.
become happier.
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 Study #1
In a 2014 study conducted by Facebook, 689,003
participants exposure to emotional expression on the
internet was manipulated.  This research aimed to
determine if people would start behaving differently and
feel different emotions based on how much (and which
types of) emotional content they had been exposed to. 
The results were based on how many 'positive' or
'negative' words were used in each of the participants'
status updates the week after. The research found that
for people who had positive content reduced in their
News Feed, there was a larger percentage of negative
words in their status updates, and a decrease in positive
words. When negativity was reduced, the opposite
pattern occurred.  This study shows that that our
emotional states can be transferred to others through
social media. Results from the experiment showing the increase and
decrease in positive/negative words depending on what
emotional content the participants were exposed to.
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 Analysis #1
From the evidence collected from this study, we can infer that emotions can be passed on to others, at
least through social media. The emotion that someone feels when they post something, whether it be
positive or negative, can be transferred to someone else when they view that post, and influence how
they feel and how they act on social media. (whether they choose to make positive or negative posts in
the future). This research colludes with the hypothesis that emotions can be contagious, but one
limitation of the experiment is that it was only conducted via social media. From this experiment, we
cannot conclude whether emotions can be transmitted when people communicate face to face. This
experiment also had some ethical issues, as participants did not consent to being apart of this study and
therefore there may be some legal issues. The study was valid, as it measured what it was supposed to
measure – whether emotions can be transmitted through social media. It used a wide range of people
from all age groups and ethnic backgrounds, making the experiment reliable as it could be repeated.
 Study #2
Developed and performed in the 1970’s, the still face
experiment was a study conducted by Dr. Edward
Tronick, an American psychologist. This study aimed to
find if emotions could be passed on from a mother to
their child. For one minute at the start of the experiment,
the mother would smile, interact with the child, and
show positive emotions. The result of this was the child
copying its mothers' emotions by also smiling and
displaying emotions of happiness and affection. After one
minute had passed, the mother would stop showing
emotions of happiness and instead stare at the child with
a frown for two minutes. Consequently, the child also
started to show emotions of distress and upset, but went
back to being joyful and interactive as soon as the two
minutes had passed and the mother started smiling
again.
Babies can unintentionally ‘catch’ their mothers emotions
through emotional contagion.
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 Analysis #2
Humans are born ready for connection. The tendency for a child to mimic his/her mothers’ emotions is an
example of emotional contagion as the mothers' emotions are being passed on to the child. From this
experiment, we can conclude that emotions can be passed on through in-person contact, and not just
through social media. A limitation of this study is that it was conducted with mothers and their children
only. Therefore, the experiment does not have great validity, as there are many other groups of people
who could have been studied to see if emotions could be passed on through them, not just mothers and
their children. For example, two friends, an employee and their boss, or even two strangers. The
experiment is reliable as it could be repeated with the same results, as it is highly likely that most children
would have the same response to this study.
Conclusion
The research that was done supports the hypothesis and proves that emotions are in fact contagious. You can infect someone with happiness, sadness, and many other feelings. From the studies done by Facebook and Dr. Tronick, we can see that
emotions can be transferred through social media as well as in-person contact.
The research done in the first study can be generalized, as there were many participants from all age groups and races, but the second study cannot be generalized as only Caucasian mothers and babies were used, and there were very few
participants.
One thing that could have been improved in the Facebook study was asking participants for consent, and one thing that could have been improved in Dr. Tonick’s study was using a wider age rage and dynamic of people.
In conclusion, the findings implicate that our emotions can be transmitted to others, and we are more likely to ‘catch’ emotions from someone we know or are close to.
 References
URL: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1320040111 , Website name: PNAS, Article title: Experimental evidence of massive-
scale emotional contagion through social networks, Author: Adam D.I. Kramer.

URL: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-a-bad-mood-contagious/ , Website name: Scientific American, Article title: Is a

bad mood contagious?, Author: Michael Lennevile.
URL:
https://www.eehealth.org/blog/2019/05/emotionscontagious/#:~:text=It%27s%20true%2C%20emotions%20are%20contagious,perso
n%27s%20emotions%20transfer%20to%20another
, Website name: Edward – Elmhurst health, Article title: How emotions, like colds, are contagious, Author: Edward- Elmhurst Health.

URL: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/emotions_are_contagious_learn_what_science_and_research_has_to_say_about_it , Website

title: MSU Extension, Article title: Emotions are contagious, Author: Jodi Schulz

URL: https://www.psychhelp.com.au/what-does-the-still-face-experiment-teach-us-about-connection/ , Website name: PsychHelp,

Article title: What does the ‘still face’ experiment teach us about connection?, Author: Mary Gregory

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apzXGEbZht0 , Website name: YouTube, Video title: Still face experiment: Dr. Edward
Tronick, Uploaded by: Umass Boston.