How Microexpressions Can Make Moods Contagious

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 secretly rigged with cameras. Two more people walk in after him. But weirdly, they turn to face towards the back wall of the elevator. The man looks confused, but continues facing front, despite the two weirdos next to him. But when a third person comes in and faces the back wall, the poor guy can’t take it anymore and turns to the back wall too.

…

“When we watch other people, for some reason, we’re wired up to get in sync with them on so many things that it kind of boggles your mind. … And they calculate that it’s so fast that you couldn’t possibly do it consciously — it’s got to be going through the brainstem,” says Elaine Hatfield, a psychological researcher from the University of Hawaii. 

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