One of the
most fascinating concepts in behavior is contagious behavior. The text
describes contagious behavior as reflexive behavior that is exhibited by one person
after another individual behaves the same way (Powell, p. 436). This is
exhibited in instances such as yawning; majority of the time when you witness
someone yawn you will also yawn. The link I attached describes this phenomenon
in a real situation. In Tennessee, over 100 people were taken to the ER because
they felt that they were become ill from smelling gasoline. Instead, a teacher
initially felt sick and then the students and other faculty felt ill; it was a
domino effect. These individuals were not sick; they were suffering from mass
psychogenic illness, which is a type of contagious behavior. The link provided describes
this behavior as unconscious (Wang, para. 7). Contagious behavior occurs
because on a biological level because we are designed to mimic others due to
neurons firing when we watch others’ behaviors (Wang, para. 33). This behavior
is usually not harmful or disruptive in everyday life, but it is important that
we notice how interconnected we all are on both a conscious and unconscious
level.
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2006/february-06/contagious-behavior.html
Reference
Powell, R., Honey, P., Symbaluk, D. (2013). Introduction to
learning and behavior. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
I enjoyed reading your post and the way you explained and gave the Tennessee example. I have a 3 year old and i get the chance to watch this "Contagious Behavior" first hand, and its very interesting and funny sometimes. I likes the link as well, reading about how our moods and emotions are basically transferred through each other. Like if I'm sad, and your around me long enough you'll begin to feel my sadness... Very good job and Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and the way you explained and gave the Tennessee example. I have a 3 year old and i get the chance to watch this "Contagious Behavior" first hand, and its very interesting and funny sometimes. I likes the link as well, reading about how our moods and emotions are basically transferred through each other. Like if I'm sad, and your around me long enough you'll begin to feel my sadness... Very good job and Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThis makes total sense! I agree with yawning being contagious because whenever I see someone yawn, I do, too. When I first started this post, I yawned. I also find myself copying behavior of my friends and family. Such as little sayings or facial expressions along with hand movements.
ReplyDeleteThis article was a very interesting read, especially when it started discussing the contagious nature of emotions. The author Wang mentions that a person's mood is more likely to be affected by another person's displayed emotion, not his/her stated one. However, the caveat is that positive moods typically do not lighten a negative person's mood. In my experience, this finding explains why I have seen a depressed person ruin the mood of a bunch happy people, but not the other way around. Another fascinating finding in this article involves the effect of a leader's emotional state on his/her group. Wang states that group members' moods not only shift toward their leader, but their moods become more similar to each other over time. Based on this fact, monitoring our own mood in a leadership position could very well determine if the people we lead will be successful or not.
ReplyDeleteContagious behavior always interested me, I can not help but yawn when I see someone else yawn! The link you posted was a great read, thank you for providing the Tennessee example. I am in the process of applying for leadership positions at my job right now, so reading about how moods of a leader can affect his/her group was great information for me to take on my interviews!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, this is super interesting to me as well. I did't pay much attention to it until I read about it and then realized how in a room full of people, others will gradually begin to copy, what others are doing without even noticing like tapping a foot, or yawning.
ReplyDelete