Can you not help yourself when you hear others laughing? Maybe it’s because…

When your friend breaks up with his lover, you get drunk with him. Even though it's not you who is heartbroken, your experience of sadness and loss is real. Whenever sad music plays and the heroine and hero in a TV series separate, you may also shed tears involuntarily. It's boring to watch a talk show at home alone, but when you watch it live, you laugh with other audiences and have a lot of fun.

Why do I laugh when I hear others laugh? Why do I feel sad when I hear others cry? Today we will talk to you about this phenomenon called "emotional contagion" in psychology.

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01

What is emotional contagion?

When people subconsciously imitate their peers’ expressions, by feeling the emotional response every second, they are able to sense similar emotional experiences in their peers’ emotions, a process known as emotional contagion.

This experience is stimulated by others, and will eventually make the recipient of the emotion have the same emotion as the original stimulater. This is what is called "seeing others laugh makes me happy, and seeing others cry makes me sad."

02

Why are emotions contagious?

Related researchers have found that humans tend to imitate the facial expressions, language expressions, movements and behaviors of those around them, and this imitation is often unconscious. In the process of imitation, our own emotional experience will be affected by our own facial expressions and other non-verbal communication cues.

People will imitate the expressions of those around them. This is a copyrighted image from the gallery and is not authorized for reproduction.

For example, when we see someone's happy expression, our cheek muscles will show more muscle activity; when we see someone's angry expression, our brow muscles will show more muscle activity.

Our body's response to these facial expressions, sounds, postures, and movements will cause us to experience corresponding emotions, such as happiness and anger. The specific mechanism can be described as "emotional awareness-unconscious imitation-physiological feedback-emotional experience".

03

Who is more susceptible to emotional infection?

The strength of emotional contagion varies among different people, mainly affected by personal traits and situational factors. Here are some typical examples:

In terms of personal characteristics, friends whose attention is easily attracted by others are more easily infected by others’ emotions. Such friends are regarded as ideal customers and users - they will have a good chat with the salesmen on the street, but in the end they will find that they have taken home a bunch of useless things.

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People with strong independence and emotional stability are less susceptible to the influence of others. These people pay more attention to themselves and less to others, their emotions change less and their emotions are weaker; while people who are easily influenced by others are more susceptible to emotions.

Women are more susceptible to emotional contagion than men. This is mainly due to the difference in gender roles. Most women are more sensitive to the emotions displayed by others and are good at expressing and responding to emotions; while men's thinking is more of a logical and rational response to the needs of the external environment.

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In terms of situational factors, the closer the person is, the easier it is to be infected. We are more strongly infected by the emotions of people we are close to and like. For example, an experimental study found that in a simulated video rental store, waiters who gave "genuine" smiles rather than "fake" smiles could infect their customers with positive emotions. In our daily lives, the emotions of our parents or partners are much more contagious to us than those of our colleagues or classmates.

People with low status are more likely to be infected by the emotions of people with high status. For example, in the interaction between leaders and subordinates, the leader's emotions are more likely to be infected by the subordinates, rather than the other way around.

Live broadcast: The intensity of emotions we experience is related to the intensity of emotions displayed by the person who induces the emotions. The stronger the emotions that induce the person, the stronger we imitate them, and the stronger the corresponding emotions that are infected will be.

The anchors in the live broadcast room increase the intensity of emotional expression, making it easier for users to experience the feeling of "heart surge", and are more likely to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. However, as consumers, we must be wary of this emotional trap, consume rationally, and shop happily.

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Passionate Speech: The results of the researchers' study on entrepreneurial competitions show that the passion of entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurial competitions when introducing their entrepreneurial projects has a positive relationship with the amount of investment they ultimately receive. In other words, entrepreneurs who are more passionate in their speeches are more likely to make investors and judges feel passionate, and these judges are more likely to "passionately order" their entrepreneurial projects.

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Amusement park: I believe that there is no child who doesn’t like the amusement park, because people who come here will involuntarily forget their worries and feel happy. The amusement park creates a pleasant atmosphere and conveys happy and joyful emotions, which brings positive emotions to tourists and realizes the transmission of happiness.

An amusement park that makes people forget their worries. This is a copyrighted image from the gallery and is not authorized for reproduction.

Collective rituals: Collective rituals promote emotional contagion among group members through three elements: synchronized action, shared attention, and shared meaning. They can enhance the connectivity and unity perceived by participants, prompting participants to experience emotions and attention and understand the world from the perspective of "us". This influence will enhance emotional imitation among members and promote emotional contagion.

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These collective rituals have two basic characteristics: a repeatable fixed sequence of behaviors and psychological significance. The tools and preparatory activities for these rituals often follow exactly the same steps, and each step has a certain meaning. Even a minor mistake in a step may lead to the failure of the ritual. It is precisely this "caution" to details that enhances the "ritual sense" of the participants and promotes the generation of shared emotions among everyone.

04

How to improve your emotional appeal?

Researchers have found that friends with strong personal charm and humorous speech are better at conveying positive emotions to others through body language and other means; these friends who are good at conveying positive emotions can communicate with people around them in a short period of time, which is what we often call "being familiar with others."

In daily life, we can learn different verbal and non-verbal expressions, practice more, and collect emotional feedback from friends around us on these expressions, so as to enhance our emotional expression ability and help ourselves in future interpersonal interactions!

References:

[1] Chen, X.-P., Yao, X., & Kotha, S. (2009). Entrepreneur passion and preparedness in business plan presentations: A persuasion analysis of venture capitalists funding decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 199-214.

[2] Falkenberg, I., Bartels, M., & Wild, B. (2008). Keep smiling! Facial reactions to emotional stimuli and their relationship to emotional contagion in patients with schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 258(4), 245–253.

[3] Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, JL, & Rapson, RL (1993). Emotional contagion. Current Directions in Psychological Sciences, 2, 96–99.

[4] Li, JJ, Chen, X.-P., Kotha, S., & Fisher, G. (2017). Catching fire and spreading it: A glimpse Into displayed entrepreneurial passion in crowdfunding campaigns. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(7), 1075-1090.

[5] Liu Chunxiao, Liu Lizhi, Wang Dan, & Chen Wenfeng. (2022). The mechanism by which collective rituals promote group emotional contagion. Advances in Psychological Science, 30(8), 1870–1882.

[6] Zhang Qiyong, & Lu Jiamei. (2013). The concept and mechanism of emotional contagion. Advances in Psychological Science, 21(9), 1596–1604.

[7] Zhang Qiyong, Lu Jiamei, Yan Zhiying, & Chen Chenghui. (2016). The mechanism of emotional contagion. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 48(11), 1423-1433.

[8] Wang Xiao, Li Wenzhong, & Du Jiangang. (2010). A review of research on emotional contagion theory. Advances in Psychological Science, 18(8), 1236–1245.

This article is produced by Science Popularization China, produced by Qi Shuting (Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and supervised by China Science Popularization Expo

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