Emotional Contagion

Emotions are contagious. Be wary of infecting those around you with negativity.

Humans, primates, and other animals have mirror neurons which program us to mimic each other's behaviour. Exactly why we do this is not fully understood, but it likely helps us form relationships and empathize with those close to us.

Likely because of these mirror neurons, emotions spread from person to person like a virus. This can be positive or negative depending on the emotion, so it's important to understand this phenomenon and make sure it's applied positively.

Good leaders create and cultivate positivity. Acting as a beacon of positivity allows it to spread amongst the team.

It's especially important to make sure you manage negativity within your group. It only takes one toxic person to destroy a team. Recognize this toxicity and deal with it immediately before it spreads.

Further study

• Emotional contagion - Wikipedia
• Mirror neuron - Wikipedia
• Emotional Contagion: How We Pass Our Emotions onto Other People