NPR

How Microexpressions Can Make Moods Contagious

Feelings seem to spread contagiously between friends, partners, or groups. Why are we so easily influenced by one another's emotions? A new video from Invisibilia explains what's going on.
We all walk around the world thinking of ourselves as individuals. But in this short animation, NPR's Invisibilia explores some of the ways in which we're all invisibly connected to one another.

It's a common experience for family members or groups of friends: One person's mood can bring the whole group's energy down ... or up. But why are we so easily influenced?

In 1962, the reality television show Candid Camera offered a remarkable glimpse into a psychological phenomenon that helps explain how emotions spread. They did it through a now famous comedy stunt called "Face the Rear."

It goes like this: we see an unsuspecting man walk into an elevator that has been

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