We’re Highly Contagious

What does that mean?…

Humans are sociable and impressionable animals, meaning that people around us influence our behaviour.

Proof: https://youtu.be/P00i7_C8tl8

Negative manners and opinions, proliferating by word-of-mouth in corporate hallways and in after-work meetings, through texting and multiplying in social media, cause attitude shifts, not just from good to bad, but also from bad to worse (Adam Duhachek, A., Zhang, S., Krishnan, S, (October 2007). Anticipated Group Interaction: Coping with Valence Asymmetries in Attitude Shift. Journal of Consumer Research).

Bad habits are highly infectious.

« He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. » — Friedrich W. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Chapter IV: Apophthegms and Interludes, 1886

Studies conducted by Nicholas A. Christakis, the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, a sociologist, physician and “intellectual rock star” (according to The New York Times, March 19, 2019), have even highlighted a modern version of “karma”: In short, you will attract people who behave like you (Fowler, J. H., Christakis, N. A. (2008). The Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network. British Medical Journal, 337, pp.1–9).

What does that mean?

It means that kindness breeds more kindness.

Altruistic behaviour spreads through our networks of contacts like a virus.

« Better Me + Better You = Better Us » — Robert Kegan, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization, 2016

Happiness can spread from person to person and people’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected.

« You don’t have to be a ‘person of influence’ to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me. » — Scott Adams (the creator of the Dilbert comic strip), FastCompany, May 1998

Those who are surrounded by many happy people are more likely to become happy in the future. Our networks of relationships will amplify everything we’ve sown there.

« Beware of the unloved. Because they will eventually hurt themselves. Or me. » — Jim Carrey’s Commencement Address at the 2014 Maharishi University of Management Graduation

How much time do we spend with happy folks? How often do we hang out with smart and creative individuals who know more than we do and who we admire? When was the last time we mingled, with or without carnival masks, and laughed in the middle of a safe and spontaneously created crowd? When did we last danced with inspiring artists after sunset? How many loving moments via Zoom have we had over the last few months? Our health, mood and behaviour will be influenced by them. We are highly contagious to each other.