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Is Your Happiness Contagious?
December 05, 2008 2:34 AM
By DAN CHILDS, ABC News Medical Unit“Laugh, and the world laughs with you.”
It may be an old maxim, but new research suggests that it may ring truer than any of us might have thought -- at least within our own social networks. Specifically, new research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that our happiness may be contagious, affecting not only our friends, but their friends and their friends' friends.
The data used in the research came straight out of the now-famous Framingham Heart study -- which was actually geared toward studying the physical health of hearts, rather than measuring the amount of joy with which they happened to be filled.
Still, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard and James Fowler of the University of California-San Diego were able to reconstruct the social networks of 5,000 people involved in the study and tease apart how their happiness might have affected those around them.
They found that when a person becomes happy, their next-door neighbors enjoy an increased chance of being happy as well -- a 34 percent increased chance, in fact, for those interested in quantifying their joy.
A friend living less than a mile away would get a happiness boost of 25 percent, and siblings living within the same radius would have a 14 percent increased chance of being happy (chalk it up to sibling rivalry, perhaps?).
For clarification, ABCNews.com turned to University of California-Riverside psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, who herself is no stranger to the study of happiness. In 2005, she led a review of 225 studies that delve into what makes us happy -- and her team concluded that an overall optimistic outlook tends to lead to happiness, not the other way around.
This new study, she said, further suggests the enticing possibility that this cheery optimism may well be contagious.
“I think it validates what’s been in the research,” Lyubomirsky said. “I think it shows, first of all, that emotions are contagious. And it also confirms that people with more social ties are also happier.”
But what does your happiness have to do with the happiness of those you may never even have met? And can something like happiness truly have a geographic “ripple effect” that fades as it reaches your acquaintances who live farther and farther away?
There are, of course, alternative explanations -- not the most outlandish of which is the idea that we tend to flock to those who share our same sunny (or cloudy) take on life. It’s an alternative that Andrew Steptoe of University College London and Ana Diez Roux of the University of Michigan School of Public Health addressed in an accompanying editorial.
“This process is complicated to investigate because, unlike infectious agents, the transmission of behaviors or psychological states cannot be measured directly,” the authors wrote. “Therefore, studies of the transmission of non-infectious outcomes must make a special effort to rule out other reasons for shared behaviors or attitudes among socially proximate people.”
In other words, the simple alternative may be that those people who are similarly affluent, live in close proximity to each other and otherwise be very similar -- even in terms of their happiness.
And the study has its fair share of rather baffling findings. For example, your happiness doesn’t necessarily seem to rub off on your co-workers, for one reason or another. Maybe, Lyubomirsky said, this could be because the very thing that made you happy in the first place -- a raise, for example -- was something that they may have wanted for themselves. She noted, though, that this was just speculation.
Another oddity is that happiness did not seem to be as contagious between spouses; in fact, a happy person only increased their partner’s chance of being happy by a measly 8 percent. It’s a finding that even Lyubomirsky admits she finds “pretty puzzling.”
(At this moment, one can almost see in their mind’s eye an elderly couple sitting in the living room of their Framingham home. As he gazes off into the distance, an idiotic grin plastered across his face, she asks, “Alright, what the hell have YOU been up to?” Again, just speculation.)
But regardless of how you choose to split the hairs, Lyubomirsky said that the practical message of the research is clear.
“Certainly this would suggest that you would want to associate yourself with happier people,” she said.
Or it might even give you more reason to be just a bit happier yourself. After all, you’ve got your neighbors -- and their friends -- to think about.
December 5, 2008 in Health Insider | Permalink | Share | User Comments (18)
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Just think if everyone dedicated just one day to having positive happy thoughts including the news media how much better we could make the world, even if it was just for a day.So why not try it you might like being surrounded by happy people.
Posted by: Clare | Dec 5, 2008 4:02:00 AM
Just think, if the PRESS would knock off their gloom and doom overkill the entire nation might perk up. Attn ABC. It's excessive and harmful.
Posted by: Susan-1 | Dec 5, 2008 4:33:08 AM
When I pass by people during the day, I try to give them a big smile, and say something like "good morning". Most people respond with a big smile. Happiness is definitely contagious, and smiling at those around you never hurt anyone. Who knows, it might be the only smile they get all day long.
Posted by: Evelyn | Dec 5, 2008 4:46:42 AM
They're just finding this out??? DUH!!! You create your world and environment by your attitude and what you say!You are the summation of your environment;not the circumstance! Change your circumstance, change your life! Wow! What rocket scientist finally got this?
Posted by: brannigon1 | Dec 5, 2008 5:02:37 AM
Everybody wants to be happy. This story showed that happiness can be viral, through proximity,in a positive way. It can happen in other ways too. I've indicated that in my new book "Your Unfinished Life". It's a guide to finding happiness,personal fulfillment and peace of mind through kindness and service to others. This supports the premise that real, longer lasting happiness is most often found in focusing on things higher than ourselves,a sentiment that Drs.Lybormirsky,Martin Seligman,Ed Deiner and others among the world's leading authorities on happiness concur.
It might seem like finding happiness and personal fulfillment should center around us, but it's really more about others. Aldous Huxley commented, "People often ask me what is the most effective technique for transforming their life. It is a little embarrassing that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the best answer is - just be a little kinder."
www.YourUnfinishedLife.com has samples from each chapter and reviews.
Posted by: Lawrence J. Danks | Dec 5, 2008 6:06:39 AM
I don't know man, when I was in high school I knew this girl ( maybe we all did ) who was so cheerfull it was annoying. I'll bet most people have worked with someone at some point who was so overly happy and cheerfull it actually made you want to punch them in the face.
Funny how sometimes it can have the opposite affect.
Posted by: keredte | Dec 5, 2008 6:09:03 AM
I loved your segment on happiness being contagious. It is TRUE! Since my neighbor, Jimmy moved in next door 4 years ago, I've laughed & laughed. He could give J.P. Godsey a run for his money as "The Happiest Man in America".
Posted by: Georgia | Dec 5, 2008 6:48:02 AM
happiness may be contagious --- over time
Posted by: Wisdom | Dec 5, 2008 7:38:21 AM
Being happy and having a postive attitude is contagious.
Posted by: Woodville | Dec 5, 2008 8:48:14 AM
If you need a little pick-me-up, you should read J.P. Godsey's book, "How to be Happy, Everyday." It's a quick, fun read and it really reminds you to be Happy! (mrhappyusa.com)
Posted by: cazeta | Dec 5, 2008 9:21:06 AM
i am not sure about happiness being contagious as i've never really given it much thought. i do, however, know of several people who can suck all the joy out of a room in an instant. keredte - i am pretty sure i now work with that girl with whom you went to high school. yes, i would like to punch her, often.
Posted by: e-wench | Dec 5, 2008 10:27:18 AM
Oh come on! Usually he has been up to something--or fantasizing about it, anyway!
Posted by: april | Dec 5, 2008 11:55:48 AM
The bible says, "A merry hear does good like a medicine." Joy/happiness is full of life and light. What an awesome thing to share with others!
Posted by: coachflanny | Dec 5, 2008 3:36:48 PM
Happiness Is Contagious! Happiness Disease symptoms: Laughing until crying, crying until laughing. Teaching your old dog new tricks. Teaching your new dog old tricks. Learning new tricks from your old cat. Learning old tricks from your new cat. Giving your mouse a Welcome mat. Getting puzzled looks especially from your pets. Driving with Christmas wreathes. Dressing your dog like Santa then taking him for walk. Dressing your cats like Santa's elves then letting them go outside. Singing Christmas carols in July. Kicking up one heel when you hug. Antenna totem poles. (Driving with more than one antenna ball per antenna.) Using too much whip cream.
Posted by: Jerry Rosen | Dec 5, 2008 9:48:42 PM
there is mans happiness and there is gods happiness mans happiness is egotistical gods is pure love.
Posted by: bob | Dec 8, 2008 8:52:21 AM
Yes I agree that when you sre near someone who is happy it tends to rub off on you. There once was a saying smile and the whole world will smile back well laugh and maybe someone will nopt think you are crazy hahaha
Posted by: John b Cool | Dec 10, 2008 8:56:36 PM
let me update that you need to be happy as we bail out all the dumb people who gambled all of our money and bail out all the auto makers as they spent millions on stopping them from changing look how much they put into congress not to change over the past 4 decades if they spent that money toward the change we would not have to bail them out WHO IS HELPINH THE POOR PEOPLE WHO GOT CAUGHT UP IN ALL OF THIS THE INVESTORS WHO SPENT ALL THE 401Ks the retirement money when do we start to look at the dept swap bill looming over all of us the 65 BILLION and still growing wait till this hits how deep is our pockets to always help the mifortunate hahha we should all laugh at this so we can all feel better
http://selkcoolingproducts.com
Posted by: Self cooling products | Dec 10, 2008 9:03:11 PM
Happiness is contagious! I put on a smile even when I am driving my car. When I am feeling the stresses of life I can go to work and look into all the little smiling faces of the children I teach and life just gets better!! I leave you now with something to ponder,"Smile, something good might happen!"
Posted by: Kimber | Dec 12, 2008 6:50:14 AM
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