Happiness is Contagious

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Happiness is Contagious

One Happy Person Can Cheer Up a Whole Neighborhood

New research shows that happiness is contagious, spreading to friends and neighbors like a virus. You could give the gift of happiness just by being happy yourself.

A recent study by Professor Nicholas Christakis from Harvard Medical School and Professor James Fowler from the University of California, San Diego, analyzed data collected in the Framingham Heart Study to find out if happiness can spread from person to person and if clusters of happiness form within social networks. It turns out that not only does happiness spread from you to your friends, but your friend’s friends benefit too. One happy person can cheer up a whole neighborhood.

The really good news for tough times is that misery does not spread as easily as happiness. It seems we are not inspired by unhappy people.

The study found that direct, casual social contact with a happier person increases the probability of happiness by 34 percent. When one happy person has casual, direct social contact with person 2 who then has contact with person 3, the probability that person 3 will be happier increases by almost 10 percent, and person 4 by 5.6%. The scientific principal behind these research findings is called emotional contagion. Study author Nicholas Christakis says that human emotions appear in clusters, behaving like stampeding animals.

One unusual aspect of this research is that happiness seems to spread most through same sex relationships that are more casual. While a spouse’s increased happiness does make a difference, it is only about 8% compared to 34% for a friend. The pattern also does not seem to apply at all to work relationships.

Dr. Daniel Gilbert, in his book Stumbling on Happiness> , points out that human beings are not always very good at predicting what makes them happy. During tough economic times, people think that cutting back on material things will sadden them or cause depression, but science shows this does not have to be the case. Increasing our social interactions with others, particularly those who are happy and optimistic can cheer us up immensely. Just smiling at someone in the grocery line or in the elevator can make a difference.

Perhaps one of the places we have seen concrete examples that happiness is contagious most clearly in recent history is at the Obama Inauguration . Two million happy visitors transformed the whole city of Washington DC for several days with their infectious joy. And the results were measurable in lower than expected crime rates or injuries during the event itself.

Happiness is contagious. You do not need to buy it. You can create it by doing an activity you enjoy or thinking of all the things you have to be grateful for. Taking the time to remember the benefits of electricity, for example, or thinking of all the people who must cooperate to get everyone through rush hour on an average day can give our spirits a lift. You don’t need to work to give the gift of happiness, you just need to be happy and let it show. Perhaps you will smile at a stranger, or compliment them on something. Maybe you will tell a joke and share a brief laugh. When you give the gift of happiness, not only your friends, but your whole community will feel better for it. Let us all be grateful that happiness is contagious and spread a little joy.

Happiness is Contagious

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