Emotional Contagion
When two people talk, they do not just fall into physical and aural harmony. They also engage in what is called motor mimicry. If you show people pictures of a smiling face or a frowning face, they will smile or frown back.
If i hit my thumb with a hammer, most people watching will grimace: they will mimic my emotional state. This is what is meant, in the technical sense by empathy. We imitate each other`s emotions as a way of expressing support and caring and, even more basically, as a way of communicating with each other.In other words, if i smile and you see me and smile in response - even a microsmile that takes no more than several milliseconds - it is not just you imitating or empathizing with me. It may also be a way that i can pass on my happiness to you. Emotion is contagious. In a way, this is perfectly intuitive. All of us have had our spirits picked up by being around somebody in a good mood.
We normally think of the expressions on our face as the reflection of an inner state. I feel happy so i smile. I feel sad, so i frown. Emotion goes inside-out. Emotional contagion, though, suggests that the opposite is also true. If i can make you frown, i can make you sad. Emotion, in this sense, goes outside-in.
If we think about emotion this way - as outside-in, not inside-out - it is possible to understand how some people can have an enourmous amount of influence over others. Some of us, after all, are very good at expressing emotions and feelings, which means that we are far more emotionally contagious than the rest of us. Psychologists call these people - senders. Senders have special personalities. They are also physiologically different. Scientists who have studied faces, for example, report that there are huge differences among people in the location of facial muscles, in their form, and also - surprisingly - even in their prevalence.
The tipping point - How little things can make a big difference.
Malcolm Gladwell
When two people talk, they do not just fall into physical and aural harmony. They also engage in what is called motor mimicry. If you show people pictures of a smiling face or a frowning face, they will smile or frown back.
If i hit my thumb with a hammer, most people watching will grimace: they will mimic my emotional state. This is what is meant, in the technical sense by empathy. We imitate each other`s emotions as a way of expressing support and caring and, even more basically, as a way of communicating with each other.In other words, if i smile and you see me and smile in response - even a microsmile that takes no more than several milliseconds - it is not just you imitating or empathizing with me. It may also be a way that i can pass on my happiness to you. Emotion is contagious. In a way, this is perfectly intuitive. All of us have had our spirits picked up by being around somebody in a good mood.
We normally think of the expressions on our face as the reflection of an inner state. I feel happy so i smile. I feel sad, so i frown. Emotion goes inside-out. Emotional contagion, though, suggests that the opposite is also true. If i can make you frown, i can make you sad. Emotion, in this sense, goes outside-in.
If we think about emotion this way - as outside-in, not inside-out - it is possible to understand how some people can have an enourmous amount of influence over others. Some of us, after all, are very good at expressing emotions and feelings, which means that we are far more emotionally contagious than the rest of us. Psychologists call these people - senders. Senders have special personalities. They are also physiologically different. Scientists who have studied faces, for example, report that there are huge differences among people in the location of facial muscles, in their form, and also - surprisingly - even in their prevalence.
The tipping point - How little things can make a big difference.
Malcolm Gladwell
posted by Sol at 2:02 AM
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