Emotional contagion refers to an emotional convergence that takes place after exposure to another individual's mood state. The result is a change in mood, with one individual's mood changing to be more similar to the other's. The present study investigated which specific emotions are perceived as especially contagious, and which types of people are capable of "spreading" a contagious emotion. Eighty-seven participants first ranked 10 emotions from a list of 20 as the most contagious. They then extracted their top 5 choices, and within each emotion ranked 5 people out of 12 as the most likely to transmit each emotion. The results indicated that excitement, happiness, sadness, and anger were the 4 emotions ranked in the top 5 positions by the majority of participants. The participants ranked a close friend, a dating partner, and a parent as the most contagious individuals regardless of the emotion being considered. We discuss why these emotions and these interaction partners might be seen as particularly contagious.

©2010  Psi Chi - The International Honor Society in Psychology, All Rights Reserved