HDF 371 Chapter Notes - Chapter Article: Emotional Contagion, Social Comparison Theory, Thematic Relation

• School: UT-Austin
• Department: Human Development and Family Sciences
• Course: HDF 371
• Professor: F Varner

Document Summary

Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks: Emotional states can be transferred to others by way of emotional contagion which can lead people to experience the same emotions without being aware. This gave the conclusion that in-person interaction and verbal cues are not necessary for emotional contagion. One criticism of emotional contagion is that interacting with someone who is happy is pleasant and someone who is unhappy, unpleasant. So contagion may result from the experience of an i(cid:374)tera(cid:272)tio(cid:374) rather tha(cid:374) e(cid:454)posure to a part(cid:374)er"s e(cid:373)otio(cid:374). There is evidence that positive and negative moods are correlated in networks. Other people have suggested that in online social networks, exposure to the happiness of other (cid:373)a(cid:455) (cid:271)e depressi(cid:374)g (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h produ(cid:272)es a(cid:374) (cid:862)alo(cid:374)e together(cid:863) so(cid:272)ial (cid:272)o(cid:373)pariso(cid:374) effe(cid:272)t. There is no experimental evidence that emotions or moods are contagious in the absence of direct interaction between experiencer and target.