Emotions are contagious.

Emotions are contagious. They are rapidly, frequently, and even at times automatically transmitted from one person to the next. Whether it be mind-boggling awe watching the supermoon display its lunar prowess or pangs of anger observing palpable racial injustice, one feature remains salient: we can and often do “catch” the emotions of others. The notion that emotions are contagious dates back as early as 1750s when Adam Smith documented the seamless way people tend to mimic the emotional expressions, postures, and even vocalizations of the people we interact with. In the late 1800s, Charles Darwin further emphasized that this highly contagious nature of emotions was fundamental to the survival of humans and nonhumans alike in transmitting vital information among group members. These prescient observations underscore the fact that emotion contagion is pervasive and universal and, hence, why it ought to be more widely known.