A pair of researchers was recently featured in a New York Times Magazine article (1), regarding their exploration of an interesting idea: that happiness may be contagious.  The researchers, James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis, argue that one person’s happiness may cause other people in that person’s social network (such as that person’s neighbors, acquaintances, friends, and relatives) to become happier too.  They suggest that a change in one person’s happiness will ripple through that person’s social network, as well as through the social networks of the people in that network.  The researchers concluded that being surrounded by many happy people will increase your chances of becoming happy yourself. 

Here are a few interesting findings from the research:
- One person can influence other people with up to 3 degrees of separation, even if it skips a degree.  For example, one individual’s happiness can lead to the happiness of that person’s neighbor’s brother’s wife.  This can occur even if the neighbor’s brother himself didn’t “catch” the “happiness bug.”  
- In addition to the spread of happiness, this concept can be applied to the spread of obesity, smoking behavior, other health issues, and other emotional states.  Although sadness was found to be contagious as well, happiness was found to be more contagious than sadness. 
- Surprisingly (and with controversy), the research suggested that next door neighbors are especially influenced by this phenomenon, followed by friends living within 1 mile, followed by siblings living within 1 mile, followed by spouses. 

Thinking of happiness as contagious gives us one of many reasons for why it’s worth working to shape our lives in ways that make us happy.  In addition to making ourselves happy and healthy, we are increasing the happiness of the people we know, as well as many people who we don’t even know.

To learn more about the research, including some of its controversy, go to the links below:

1. www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/magazine/13contagion-t.html?ref=magazine
“Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” Clive Thompson, New York Times Magazine, Published September 10, 2009.

2. www.connectedthebook.com
Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How they Shape our Lives. Fowler, James H. and Christakis, Nicholas A. 2009: Little, Brown and Company.

3. www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec04_2/a2338?view=long
“Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study.” Fowler, James H. and Christakis, Nicholas A., British Medical Journal, 2008; 337:a2338.