Studies show that individuals and groups "catch" both positive and negative emotions from others. Primitive emotional contagion is the automatic absorption of another's affective state, often with no conscious awareness of the process. The precise mechanism underlying emotional contagion is a subject of ongoing study. the first step in emotional contagion is unconscious physiological mimicry. Our tendency spontaneously to mimic others' facial expressions, body language, speech patterns, and vocal tones is well documented. the next step fferent feedback: the mechanism by which we feel emotions because our bodies display them. This notion runs contrary to the common intuition that emotions start inside our selves and then, if we choose to show them (and sometimes even when we do not), display themselves on our physical selves. Instead, through afferent feedback, acting out the physiological markers of certain emotional states actually causes us to feel those emotions. |
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