89-Behavioral Contagion

Are our behaviors contagious?  Wait…are other people’s behaviors contagious?  What the heck am I catching? Listen in to find out. 

 

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 and I’ve noticed that not only do birds of a feather flock together, but we have these friend groups, or heck, Facebook groups, we tend to take on the identity of others.  There is a term that researchers call this phenomenon “behavioral contagion” and I wanted to shed some light on this theory because it’s so easy to get caught up without even realizing it. We also talked about this phenomenon in Episode 28 if you want to pop back over and take a listen, that episode has some good nuggets in it too. 

 

Behavioral contagion is when we pick up the behaviors of others we are around.  Oftentimes, scientists use the example of a college roommate with a thick southern accent, if you are from the Northeast, you might start to say y'all a little more often than you did before.  

 

Humans actually do this quite naturally, in the case of an accent, perhaps that’s not a big deal.  But what if it’s more personality traits? There is considerable research that indicates we humans are incredibly susceptible to taking on the traits of others. It’s just plain ‘ol science.  It happens.  

 

I invite you to take stock in who you are hanging around with. Are those people giving you what you need?   Are they a positive influence in your life?  Are you feeding the flame of anxiety or negativity?  It’s actually pretty common for us to get caught up in rhythms and in situations that don’t serve us.  

 

 

So, I’m asking myself: 

 

What am I reading? 

What am I watching? 

Who am I spending time with? 

 

Does this serve me?  Do I want to tweek this at all?  And I invite you, if you feel like it, to take stock in the past few months and look toward the bright future with some intention.  

 

As always, if you want to continue this conversation, hit me up on social media at @ everydayhappinesswithkatie 

 

 

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