Emotional contagion. Emotional contagion. What is that? Emotional contagion speaks to the profound subconscious phenomenon that we adopt and adapt to the emotions of the people we spend most of our time with. So couples have been studied, and if one member of the couple was depressed over time, the other member of the couple would become depressed. If you are with a toxic partner, you will eventually pick up that toxic behavior. If your parents, for example, were angry, well, there’s a very good chance through the power of emotional contagion, you have a reservoir of anger within you. Same for sadness, same for grief, same for shame, same for guilt. All of those low-grade emotions we adopt through the power of emotional contagion, and of course, the same for the high-level emotions. If your mother, no matter what was going on, was always joyful and grateful, then you probably have a great sense of gratitude of your life.
