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CAN EMOTIONS REALLY BE CONTAGIOUS?
- If someone starts yawning in front of us, we yawn too. Sometimes when we stand next to someone whose energy is too low, our energy also drops. And is there a scientific explanation for this? So, are emotions really contagious?
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- Although yawning is usually an example of these situations, we can often involuntarily imitate people’s sour face, smile, or sulk. This process may be happening subconsciously.
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- Past research observed the look on people’s face when someone else, the person’s facial muscles in the same expression like you’re doing a small version of the activity of electrodes revealed that the recorded Nov. These moments of micro-imitation are usually invisible to the naked eye.
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- On the other hand, it’s not just facial expression, people can copy other people’s posture and vocal tics in a similar way. In fact, it looks like they’re pretty good at copying it. A study has found that when people do lip reading, they can make their lips sound like the voice of the person they are reading to. Moreover, even if they have never heard this sound.
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- But ‘copying’ does not end with muscle movements. Research shows that emotions also spread from person to person. According to Turkish Professor psychologist from the Istanbul University, emotions don’t always start in the mind, but also move from the body to the brain. So, if the posture of your friend with whom you share the same office becomes hunched and his lips contract, you probably also slightly imitate his posture. Then, your brain takes the cues from your body language and you start to feel your own version of the feelings that the person you are watching is in.
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- Some scientists explain the neurological origins of the contagiousness of emotions with the concept of mirror neurons. In a published study, it was revealed that brain cells that sound a lot become active when a person makes certain movements and observes someone else making the same movements.
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- In other words, the neurons of the person making the movement can indirectly activate the neurons of the opposite person in the same area. Just as a mirror reflects an image, a person stands still, watches only the movement of the person opposite him, but there is an increase in activity in the neurons of the same area of his brain, as if he were making the same movement himself.
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- Some researchers suggest that these mirror neurons, along with the likelihood that their role will be more nuanced and complex, are at the root of a person’s ability to put themselves in the shoes of someone else.
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- However, regardless of whether the mirror neurons are involved in the phenomenon of emotional transmission or not, the nature of emotions has attracted the attention of psychologists who study everything from workplace culture to the spread of terrorism. The findings, on the other hand, show that the contagiousness of emotions makes a big difference in everyday life.
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- Nowadays, many job-related interviews are conducted by e-mail or other messaging methods. But emotions can also spread through electronic media. Infectiousness is quite strong, and people tend to imitate other people’s choice of words and their emotional tone in the online situation.
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- A famous study conducted on Facebook users found that when people see more positive messages on their homepage streams, they also tend to share more positive content. Otherwise, when they saw negative posts on the homepage stream, it was seen that they also made more depressing shares. The effect of social media on emotions has recently become one of the frequently researched areas.
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