Be Happy! It's Contagious

There’s something going around, and you can catch it from your friends.

What is it? Happiness!

Scientists at Harvard University recently did a study and determined that happiness is contagious—it spreads through families and social networks of friends. Having happy friends, happy siblings, and happy next-door neighbors can make you happier, the scientists say. Even friends of friends have an effect, like a chain reaction.

The scientists used 20 years worth of interviews involving thousands of people and those people’s relatives and friends. The results: They found that having a happy friend makes you 15 percent more likely to be happy. If a friend of a friend is happy, then you’re 10 percent more likely to be happy. There's even a small happiness effect if you have a friend of a friend of a friend who's happy, even if that person is a total stranger to you.

“Happy people tend to be located in the center of their local social networks,” the scientists say. They spread their happiness.

So smile. You never know who might catch your happiness!

Photos: The Associated Press

Comments

[ketty]

This is good news, I love to bring happiness to everybody, and it not only makes them happy but also makes me feel very joyous. Everyone likes to do it of course. But I have read that it doesn’t work between colleagues. That is too bad. I wonder why it can’t influence them. But we still can try our best to influence the people around us, not only family and friends, but it is also good to bring happiness to the elderly who live in nursing homes. After I saw this news, I decided to do it everyday. I believe that happy people are healthier than those who are angry and sad all day. The person who has a sorrowful heart may have bad behavior. A brilliant smile can influence the people around you. Also a kind greeting is necessary.

Many people have a bad attitude, this is hard to avoid. Once you are reproved by your friend, it sure does not feel good. Maybe a shining smile can solve the situation. For example, my sister is easily angered. I was mad at her at the first time, but now I will forgive her and smile at her because I know she is too young to recognize right and wrong. Therefore, bringing happiness to people will also make you heart full of happiness.

[NINA]

The theory can be proven in our daily lives. When we are around our classmates or coworkers, we would like to be with happy and easygoing people instead of difficult and whiny people. If we are with whiny people, we will feel very stressed and unhappy. If we are usually around them, there is a high possibility we will be melancholy. On the other hand, if we are around optimistic people, we can look on the bright side easily instead of being melancholy every time we have problems which we must encounter in our lifetimes.

[KEVIN]

If happiness spreads, then why not be happy? Human emotions are often affected by others. For example, when someone hosts a party, and everyone is happy, crazy, out of control, you are very likely to be crazed as well. When someone passes away, their relatives are sorrowful; if he or she is a public figure then the whole nation mourns over his or her death. In the same way, if you are always happy, then who besides you will be happy, too? Be happy every day. It will not only benefit you, but also others. Like a chain reaction, be a seed of others’ happiness, then you will find you have had an immense positive effect.

[Peggy Kao]

Happiness is really contagious. Sometimes we smile only because we are not feeling unhappy. However, it could affect others unknowingly. It is really important to give a frustrating person a smile. Just a little smile can give them a big encouragement. If you only have on a sad face all day long, you will think everything, including people and the things you need to do, are all against you. On the other hand, give a smile to all of the people around you and you will get more happiness and feel excited about new things. Therefore, we really need to be around positive people who can make us feel happy. The world needs more happiness than sadness. What we can do is to smile often. In conclusion, I think that smiling is the most useful tool in relationships between people!

[Emily Liu]

People can be easily influenced by people around them. We are around family and friends a lot. I like to talk, play, and do everything with my family and friends. Whenever I am sad and angry, my mom will hug me and console me with soft words plus a sweet smile. Then my sadness and anger will disappear. It makes me realize the power of smiles. I love my friends and family, so I want them to be happy just like me. I will do all that I can to make them happy. When I see them, I will smile at them, share things that make me laugh with them, and bring all of my joy to them. People may think the world is wonderful just by seeing a shining smile. I think these things can cheer them up. Being happy is an important thing. If you are an unhappy person, you won’t be healthy; you will miss out on your goals and lose the meaning of live. Smile at everyone! When you are sad, turn around and look at others. You will find out how joyful society is.

[Carina Chen]

I think it is true that humans can affect humans, and if someone around you is happy, you will be affected and be happy as well. From my own experience, everyone around me has been important, from my family members to my teachers, and especially my friends. They are so important because I am influenced by them a lot. When I see friends who are sad, my mood also becomes blue. If I do not see any shining smiles on their faces, I cannot have one also. If my friends are happy, unknowingly they will share their happiness with me, and I will feel happy, too, even if the event making them happy does not have an immediate effect on me. I think the feelings of people are contagious. It is impossible to not be influenced by people around you. So, always be happy, and many people can be affected by you and become happy, too.

[Felix Gambler]

As far as I know, emotions affect everyone. In other words, happiness plays an important role in everyone’s daily life. Without happiness, a person can hardly do things well. A happy environment can lead to good performance. From this article, we learn that a happy environment can bring a person happiness.

For example, Google has a wonderful “palace” for its employees. In my opinion, the workers can more easily have positive emotions, or happiness. Furthermore, Google has become a huge company, which competes with Windows and Apple. I think the happier your environment, the more successful your achievements.

[HENDY KUAN]

Wow! I think this news is really funny. Our minds are always affected by our friends. If one of us is happy, then other people with him or her will be happy, too. The person spreads his or her happiness to us. And I also believe that more familiar friends can affect us deeper, even people we don't see often. I think this report brings good news to us, because in this world, many people have heavy pressures. They forget how to laugh, how to be in a good mood. This news tells us happiness is contagious, so I think people should do their best to help more people become happy. Just a smile can bring more hope to this world.

[Melisa]

I agree that happiness is contagious, for happiness can make our lives better. I also admit that my good friends who are often happy make me feel happy everyday, and take away the stress in my daily life. I often play happily with my friends. We laugh together as loud as we can to show how happy we are and how much we enjoy what we are doing. Moreover, there is a saying that if you laugh loudly three times every day, it can make your body healthier. Every day, I laugh many times. Sometimes I laugh at my friend’s words, sometimes I laugh at my teacher’s interesting words. I seldom get sick. No one wants to be sick, which makes us unhappy, and not want to eat food or talk to people. To avoid being sick, we need to laugh happily every day.

[ivy-yang]

Be happy! In our lives, we may run in to unhappy situations, but we must to find out how to solve them instead of flee from them. When you feel bad and you see your friend is happy, then you may be influenced by your friend. You may find out that a smile is magical to someone who was feeling bad. When you give a smile to your friend when they are unhappy, it may make them feel better. When most people see someone smile at them, they feel happy, and smile back. Having a happy friend is very important, because they always look on the bright side and they're always smiling. When you are down, your happy friend may encourage you to see the bight side of things and console you. Being happy is good for your health. So, smile! It not only helps others, but also keeps you in a happy mood. Even if a stranger smiles at us, we still feel warm.

[Ray Hesieh]

Emotions easily impact people, especially happiness, because everyone likes to be happy instead of being sad or angry. If a person lives without happiness, he or she will accomplish nothing when he or she wants to achieve something. Take my sister, for example. When she was in high school, she was never happy doing anything, like shopping, talking and studying. As a result, she failed in every exam that she took. Because of her unhappiness, my family was not happy at that time. Therefore, my family did not achieve goals that were beneficial to us. It is true that we cannot be happy all the time. However, we cannot force people around us to partake in our unhappiness. As a result, you should try to be happy all of the time, because it makes people around you happy as well. It is commonly said that wealth is equivalent to happiness. This is wrong because they are two different things and cannot be mixed up. Take my friend, Alex, for example. His family is wealthy and he is proud of everything he has. However, his pride makes everyone distant from him. No wonder he is unhappy and alone all the time. Therefore, wealth does not mean happiness. It may mean unhappiness.

[Thompson]

I play dominoes too. It's really fun, but I don't know if I could set them up for 2 months.