Thursday, December 31, 2009

Other People Can "Catch" Our Emotional States

“Experiments have demonstrated that people can ‘catch’ emotional states they observe in others over time frames ranging from seconds to weeks.” [Christakis & Fowler]  Our emotions affect others. Think about that. Happy. Sad. Fearful. Confident. People pick up our emotions. This is very important for LEADERS to know. By the way, in some area of life, we are all leaders.

2 comments:

Mary said...

This really is evident in all areas of life. Our children definitely pick up our emotional states. It happens at work as well, lack of motivation can catch on rapidly. Sometimes you just need to present emotions that you aren't feeling to stop an epidemic.

Dan Marler said...

Mary, I read a book by a leadership expert...I've read lots of them, so I don't remember who it was...but he said something along these lines: It is a leader's DUTY to be optimistic.

I thought about that line when I read your comment: "Sometimes you just need to present emotions that you aren't feeling to stop an epidemic."