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~~Imported from [Wikipedia:Emotional%20contagion Wikipedia] on 2006-12-27~~ |
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++'''Emotional contagion''' is the tendency to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by those of others.++ |
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Emotional contagion may be |
involved in mob psychology crowd behaviors, like collective fear, disgust, or |
moral outrage, but also emotional interactions in smaller groups such as work |
negotiation, teaching and persuasion/propaganda contexts. It is also the |
phenomenon when a person (especially a child) appears distressed because another |
person is distressed, or happy because they are happy. The ability to transfer |
moods appears to be innate in humans. |
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To date, most clinical research has focused on the effects on non-verbal (and |
often non-emotional) displays, and relatively less has been studied about the |
impact of contagion effects on emotional feelings. Emotional contagion and |
empathy are have an interesting relationship; for without an ability to |
differentiate between personal and pre-personal experience (see individuation), |
they appear the same. In ''The Art of Loving,'' Erich Fromm explores the |
autonomy necessary for empathy which is not found in contagion. Fromm extolled |
the virtues of humans taking independent action and using reason to establish |
moral values rather than adhering to authoritarian moral values. Recognizing |
emotions and acknowledging their cause can be one way to avoid emotional |
contagion. |
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Transfers of emotions have been studied in different situations and settings. |
Social and physiological causes are the two largest areas of research. |
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== #* Workplace == |
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The research of Sigal G. Barsade of The Wharton School at The University of |
Pennsylvania shows the impact of positive emotions on work groups. "Emotional |
contagion, the transfer of emotion between individuals, and its influence on |
work group dynamics was examined in two managerial simulations using multiple, |
convergent measures of emotions and group dynamics. The studies tested |
hypotheses on differential contagion effects due to the degree of pleasantness |
of the emotion, and the energy with which this pleasantness was conveyed. After |
determining that emotional contagion existed in groups, I then examined the |
influence of emotional contagion on individual-level attitudes and group |
processes. As predicted, experiencing positive emotional contagion led to |
improved cooperation, decreased conflict, and increased perceptions of task |
performance - all as rated by self, other group members, and outside video- |
coders. The opposite was the case when experiencing negative emotional |
contagion. Theoretical implications and practical ramifications of emotional |
contagion in groups and organizations are discussed." |
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== #* Married couples == |
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Robert Levenson Phd. researches human psychophysiology. Levenson uses |
longitudinal studies of married couples physiological responses. He measures how |
empathy requires a calm and receptive emotional environment for the couple to be |
in physiological sync. When an emotional hijacking is taking place (anger or |
argument) empathy declines and the cognitions of the spouse are blocked. Dr. Ed |
Diener maintains that genetics influences our positive and negative |
dispositions. David Lykken offers an emotional set point theory he backs up with |
habitability studies of twins. |
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== #* Children == |
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Psychologist Elaine Hatfield theorizes emotional contagions as a two-step |
process. Step 1: We imitate people, if someone smiles at you, you smile back. |
Step 2: Changes in mood through faking it. If you smile you feel happy, if you |
frown you feel bad. Mimicry seems to be one foundation of emotional movement |
between people. Hour old infants are wired to mimic a person's facial gestures. |
When you smile, the baby will smile. |
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Martin E.P.Seligman, Ph.D. uses synchrony games to build children’s learning |
that "your actions matter and can control outcomes". When a baby bangs on a |
table the adult bangs on the table, replicating the action. This is one way |
emotional learning can be validated by an adult. |
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== #* Viewed Violence == |
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Albert Bandura believed that individuals, especially children learn aggressive |
responses from observing others, either personally or through the media and |
environment. In his famous Bobo doll experiment he had children watch a Bobo |
doll being hit and kicked. He showed that violent behavior increased when |
modeled for children. |
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== #* Radio == |
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H.G. Wells created panic when his radio theater broadcast "War of the Worlds". |
People believed that the Earth was being invaded from outer space beings. |
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== #* Mirror Neurons == |
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Vittorio Gallese posits that Mirror Neurons are the cause of intentional |
attunement in relation to others. Gallese found a class of premotor neurons that |
discharge when macaque monkeys execute goal-related hand movements in themselves |
or when watching others. One class of these F5 audio-visual neurons will fire |
with action execution and observation, and with sound production of the same |
action. Research in humans shows an activation of the premotor and parietal |
areas of the brain when action perception and execution experiments have been |
preformed. Gallese continues his dialogue to say humans understand emotions |
through a simulated shared body state. The observers’ neural activation |
enables a direct experiential understanding. "Unmediated resonance" is a similar |
theory by Goldman and Sripada (2004). Empathy can be a product of the functional |
mechanism in our brain that creates embodied simulation. The other we see or |
hear becomes the "other self" in our minds. |
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== #* Amygdala == |
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The amygdala is the part of the brain mechanism that underlies empathy and |
allows for emotional attunement and creates the pathway for emotional |
contagions. The basa areas including the brain stem form a tight loop of |
biological connectedness, re-creating in one person the physiological state of |
the other. Howard Friedman, a psychologist at University of California at Irvine |
thinks this is why some people can move and inspire others. The use of facial |
expressions, voices, gestures and body movements transmit emotions to an |
audience from a speaker. |
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The concept of insulating oneself from emotional contagion is called emotional |
detachment. Alexithymic conditions may be one avenue people use to avoid |
emotional contagions. Primary alexithymia has a distinct neurological basis and |
a physical cause, such as genetic abnormality, disrupted biological development |
or brain injury (an example would be stroke). Secondary alexithymia results from |
psychological influences such as sociocultural conditioning, neurotic |
retroflection or defense against trauma. Secondary is often seen in post- |
traumatic stress patients. Secondary alexithymia is presumed to be more |
transient than primary alexithymia and hence more likely to respond to therapy |
or training. |
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Carol Tavris in her review, "Pursued by Fashionable Furies" has this to say |
about Author Elaine Showalter; Elaine Showalter, a professor of English and president- |
elect of the Modern Language Association, has written a spirited Freudo-literary |
analysis of what she calls hysterical epidemics and what social scientists call |
emotional contagions or mass psychogenic illnesses. Her six examples are chronic |
fatigue syndrome, gulf war syndrome, recovered memories of sexual abuse, |
multiple personality disorder, satanic ritual abuse and alien abduction. She |
knows full well that throwing the first three into the mix will infuriate |
thousands of people who believe they are suffering from unidentified organic |
disorders or the aftereffects of trauma. She braves not only their wrath, but |
also that of the feminist therapists and writers whose credulous endorsements of |
recovered memory and satanic abuse have contributed to these epidemics. Carol |
Tavris takes a critical look at what is behind some emotionally contagious |
diseases. She sifts the organic from the psychological reasons that people are |
diagnosed with emotionally contagious labels. Tavris suggests critical thinking |
as the inoculation against false beliefs. |
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Imago therapy helps people use strategic communication skills to build better |
relationships. Dr. Harville Hendrix developed this program to teach people how |
to stop and think about what they are feeling then effectively express their |
feelings. This stops run-a-way emotions from being transferred in relationships |
and becoming unhealthy habits. |
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Howard Gardner has developed his multiple intelligence theory to include; |
Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the |
intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work |
effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders |
and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence. |
Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to |
appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it |
involves having an effective working model of us, and to be able to use such |
information to regulate our lives. The use of interpersonal and intrapersonal |
intelligence can create an atmosphere of growth for individuals. |
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