Bad Decisions May Be Contagious

Like the flu, a person's emotional state can be contagious. Watch someone cry, and you'll likely feel sad; think about the elderly, and you'll tend to walk slower. Now a study suggests that we can also catch someone else's irrational thought processes

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[url=http://]http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/1110/2[/ur]

It basically says that we identify with the person making the bad decision and then his bad judgment infects ours.I would really love to hear your thoughts and experiences with this.

[edit on 13-11-2009 by genius/idoit]

It's a bad idea not to respond to this thread.
so do it

I'm sure this would also work on the other side of the spectrum.

Negativity is not the only influencing force, just a stronger one.

Here is a star to make you feel better.

[edit on 13-11-2009 by DaMod]

Interesting that you post this; I was thinking about this just yesterday, actually!

I recently made a rash and emotional decision. I attribute this to a couple of things, aside from myself...one being a stressful event encompassing my life and ability to support myself, one being starting a new job and beng surrounded by new personalities (which, I believe, really lends to this theory further).

Along with making this decision, I saw many things happen. A chain reaction, if you will. The most notable one, in this case, was a new friend that I made at work. She is currently making almost the exact same deicison as I had. She seems to like me very much as a person and when I confided in her about my current life situation, things seemed to change in her. Now she is in a predicament similar to the one I was in until I put my head back on straight.

I also have noticed that, among friends and inside close networks, good and bad things tend to happen all at once. I also find that it depends which one you put focus on at the time, but last month almost everyone that I know was miserable. Possibly because I was miserable.

I don't know how much stock there is to that theory, but it definitely seems more than plausible. I can definitely recognise it happening around me, and I hope I made sense in my example without providing too much detail. I have always thought mood to be infectious...so yes, this makes perfect sense. Needing and wanting to relate to people makes you susceptible to their feelings and emotions...sometimes, so much so that it effects your own entirely.

[edit on 13-11-2009 by theartofzazen]

I once heard some where that you are the sum of the five people you are around most.I kind of think there's some truth to that.