343-Behavioral Contagion How to Mimic Happiness from Others

You can improve your happiness by being around happy people! Learn how behavioral contagions work and how you can use them in this episode. 

 

Transcript:

 

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat.

 

I’ve been obsessed with this scientific principle of behavioral contagion. This is the tendency of behaviors exhibited by one individual to be copied by others nearby. In other words: monkey see, monkey do.  

 

Look, if we’re surrounded by people that are miserable, we start to see things through that lens, and perhaps, we may start to dip on our own happiness scale.  That’s no good.  

 

But, what is so exciting is that behavioral contagion will also cause the spread of happiness because when people are happy, they exude happiness, they want to do upbeat activities, talk about their happiness, laugh, and focus on the positive in a situation. 

 

So if we are around these people, we unconsciously mimic these behaviors and in the process actually become happier.  This initiates a chain reaction, making everyone around us happier, and this is what results in the formation of the clusters of happiness found in the University of California, San Diego research study (University of California, San Diego in 2008). 

 

How cool is that?  There is actually scientific research that shows that who you invite into your space and who you surround yourself with, makes a difference on your personal happiness. 

 

So, I’m asking you today - who will you seek out for happiness today?  Let me know by DMing me on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram. 

 

 

Get Everyday Happiness delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: https://www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness

 

And, let’s connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie  and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram

 

Links:  https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/