The Secret Life of Emotions: Leveraging Emotional Contagion in Leadership
Have you ever wondered why it's so much easier to settle into a yoga class when you do it with other people? Or walked into a room and felt immediately tense? Or avoided one person for another because of how you feel around them? Emotions are contagious. How does it work and why do we need to know about it?
Photo by BrianAJackson.
In my practice of martial arts, I learned early on how hard it is to keep calm when someone comes at you aggressively. Our emotions shift unconsciously to match other peoples' emotions.
It's called emotional contagion. That's why it's easier to meditate in a group. And why even after a day of stress at the office, kids laughing can change your mood. It's why service with a smile improves customer satisfaction. And also why we tell people not to feel sad — because we don't want to feel it!
Not only do we pretty much feel what the other person feels, the response if physiological. Our heart rates synchronize. So does our breathing.
Did you know that we have two different sets of measurable electromagnetic fields in the body—one linked to brain and another to the heart. The latter is 60 times greater in amplitude than the former, and 5,000 times stronger magnetically. Some researchers have actually measured an exchange of heart energy between individuals up to five feet apart—and found that brain waves can actually synchronize with another person's heart.
Back to the topic at hand. Emotional contagion, both on the receiving end and the emitting end, constitutes one of the myriad elements in daily life that either drain our energy or feed it.
What is Emotional Contagion?
According to Sigal Barsade, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. "Emotional contagion is the act of person A feeling the emotions that person B is showing, to some extent."
In a word, if our friends and colleagues are happy, we are 25% more likely to be happy. Beware, however, emotional states of all kinds transfer from one person to another.
How does it work? We mimic other people. We copy body language, actions, facial expressions. We even have specialized mirror neurons to help. Perhaps, if we are close by, our electromagnetic fields are synching.
Proximity is not essential, though, and emotional contagion occurs online, though emails, chats, on social media, particularly on digital media platforms skilled at upregulating user emotions.
It can be immediate, taking milliseconds. Or the emotions can seep in over weeks.
Why Should We Care About Emotional Contagion?
This notion of emotional contagion raises the question of choice—what emotions do we choose to be around? Those that energize or those that drain us?
It also raises an issue of personal responsibility—What emotions are we bringing to the table? Those that energize others or drain them?
The Emotional Energy Equation
Here are a few research-based elements to keep in mind.
Emotions of all kinds consume energy. Constant emotional regulation can lead to emotional exhaustion. Being attentive to our emotions and emotional recovery contributes to overall energy management.
Negative events elicit stronger, quicker responses than neutral or positive events—this means the grumpy person has a higher chance of leading to emotional contagion than the happy one.
The energy level at which an emotion is displayed impacts its contagious effect. And yet, we tend to should our despair and hide our joy, when everyone would benefit from the contrary.
Leadership positions convey more emotionally contagion. Managers can influence cohesiveness, morale, rapport and performance by being more attentive to the emotions they exhibit.
How to Hack Emotional Contagion
The trick in martial arts is to stay in your own chosen emotions of relaxed calm, and get the other person to synchronize with you. It takes a lot of practice. Here are a few ideas that help.
Awareness. The more we become aware of our own emotional states, the more we also become aware of this emotional back and forth and can respond differently.
Choice. With awareness comes the ability to choose the emotions you bring into the room, or if something is negatively affecting you, to not take it personally, to turn your attention elsewhere, or to adjust your behavior.
Distance. Emotional contagion is different than empathy. The latter—that ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes—has some psychological distance to it which, no doubt, comes from more awareness.
Breaks. One element of emotional contagion is our innate tendency toward social comparison, which, admit it, is exacerbated on social media. No wonder than that there is evidence that breaks from it can increase positive affect. Just like turning off the news, which is so focused on the negative.
The positivity ratio. Studies have shown that three positive experiences will offset a negative experience. And the highest performing teams have ratios upwards of eight positives to one negative. Positive emotions lead to smooth, ordered heart rhythm patterns, which change how you perceive, feel, think and perform.
The garden. Balance comes from cultivating emotions such as patience, joy, grace, courage, and serenity. Give them a special place in your garden.
Heart coherence. This quick practice is magic. Slow your breathing to 6 counts in, 6 counts out and focus it on the heart area and make a sincere attempt to experience a positive feeling. That’s all. It works.
Smile. A smile and and a thank you never miss their mark.
“Don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”