Social Contagion

Extracted Attributes

• Divisions

  Behavioral contagion, Emotional contagion

• Definition

  Spontaneous spread of behaviors, emotions, or conditions through a group or network

• Distinction

  Separate from direct attempts at social influence

• Applications

  Public health, consumer behavior, market dynamics, designing interventions

• Field of Study

  Social psychology, Sociology, Network science, Behavioral science

• Positive Outcomes

  Spread of health education, climate change action

• Susceptible Groups

  Adolescents (due to peer influence, social media)

• Key Characteristics

  Spontaneous, often without conscious awareness, analogous to disease spread

• Problematic Outcomes

  Mob violence, self-harm, eating disorders, cutting, copycat shootings, suicide, mass hysteria

• Relationship to Memetics

  Some scholars include spread of ideas, others distinguish it as memetics

• Modern Focus (21st Century)

  Intensified study, often on online social networks, neutral or positive effects (e.g., climate change action)

• Historical Focus (20th Century)

  Typically on negative effects (e.g., violent mob behavior)

Timeline

• Social scientists began discussing the phenomenon of social contagion. (Source: Wikipedia, Summary)

  1800-01-01

• Studies typically focused on negative effects, such as violent mob behavior. (Source: Wikipedia, Summary)

  1900-01-01

• Amplified enthusiasm for investing and the idea of the "Democratization of Finance," contributing to a "get rich quick" mentality leading up to the 1929 Stock Market Crash. (Source: Related Document, Summary)

  1919-01-01

• The "June Bug" incident occurred, where workers developed psychologically-induced symptoms, determined to be a form of mass hysteria or social contagion. (Source: Psychology Today)

  1962-01-01

• The study of social contagion intensified, with much recent work investigating online social networks and often focusing on neutral or positive effects. (Source: Wikipedia, Summary)

  2000-01-01

• The attack on the U.S. Capitol is cited as an example where social contagion may have led to a crowd of protesters erupting into violence. (Source: Psychology Today)

  2021-01-06

Social contagion

Social contagion involves behaviour, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group or network. The phenomenon has been discussed by social scientists since the late 19th century, although much work on the subject was based on unclear or even contradictory conceptions of what social contagion is, so exact definitions vary. Some scholars include the unplanned spread of ideas through a population as social contagion, though others prefer to class that as memetics. Generally social contagion is understood to be separate from the collective behaviour which results from a direct attempt to exert social influence. Two broad divisions of social contagion are behavioural contagion and emotional contagion. The study of social contagion has intensified in the 21st century. Much recent work involves academics from social psychology, sociology, and network science investigating online social networks. Studies in the 20th century typically focused on negative effects such as violent mob behaviour, whereas those of the 21st century, while sometimes looking at harmful effects, have often focused on relatively neutral or positive effects like the tendency for people to take action on climate change once a sufficient number of their neighbours do.

Web Search Results

• Social contagion, violence, and suicide among adolescents - PubMed

  Purpose of review: Social Contagion is defined as the spread of behaviors, attitudes, and affect through crowds and other types of social aggregates from one member to another. Adolescents are prone to social contagion because they may be especially susceptible to peer influence and social media.In this article, we provide a brief review of the most recent findings on social contagion, violence, and suicide among adolescents.

• Social Contagion - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

  Social contagion is the seemingly spontaneous process by which information, such as attitudes, emotions, or behaviors, are spread throughout a group from one member to others. Obvious examples of this are when panic and fear spreads quickly through a crowd of people, when a mob turns suddenly violent, or when others in a group begin to imitate the behavior displayed by an individual or a faction of the group. The term “contagion” is used because it is analogous to the spread of disease among [...] Social contagion is an ubiquitous process by which information, such as attitudes, emotions, or behaviors, are rapidly spread throughout a group from one member to others without rational thought and reason. While much of the social contagion process, such as people following fads, trends, or rituals, are not necessarily dangerous, when social contagion leads to harming individuals, as in clusters of violence or self-harm, it is a concern for public and mental health. Eating disorders, cutting [...] Contagion is one of many interrelated social influence processes, such as conformity, persuasion, and compliance. Wheeler (1966) distinguished contagion from other social psychological processes, such as conformity. Conformity typically involves a change in behavior due to social pressure, which creates conflict on the part of the individual pressured to change their existing attitude or behavior and conform. Persuasion and compliance involve individuals attempting to change others' attitudes

• Social Contagion: How Others Secretly Control Your Behavior

  Social contagion is the spread of emotions or behaviors from one individual to another, sometimes without awareness. Social contagion processes become problematic when they lead to spates of aggressive or self-injurious behaviors. An example of social contagion is the 1962 June Bug, when workers developed all the same psychologically-induced symptoms. Co-authored by Clara Riggio [...] What happened? It was determined that this was a form of mass hysteria or social contagion. Some workers developed these psychologically-induced symptoms, and others developed the same complaints as the “disease” spread from worker to worker. Social contagion is the subtle and sometimes unwitting spread of emotions or behaviors from one individual to others. [...] Where social contagion processes become problematic is when there is a spread among people of harmful behaviors. Think about how a crowd of protesters might suddenly erupt into violence, as in the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Social contagion may also be blamed for waves of self-injurious behaviors, such as extreme diets, self-cutting, copycat shootings, and even suicide. One categorization of contagion suggests these categories:

• Social Contagion - The Decision Lab

  Social contagion is a psychological phenomenon where behaviors, emotions, or ideas spread rapidly and spontaneously through groups or social networks, often without individuals being consciously aware of the influence. This process explains how actions, attitudes, or feelings can move from person to person, shaping group dynamics and social trends. ## The Basic Idea [...] In the years since, social contagion has been applied across a wide variety of fields, from public health to consumer behavior. This includes negative phenomena like violence and mass hysteria as well as the spread of positive behaviors through social networks. Researchers continue to leverage social contagion theory to design interventions and study human behavior, such as developing more effective strategies for spreading health education programs within closely connected communities.1 [...] Social contagion has introduced a new perspective to the field of behavioral science by helping us understand how thoughts and behaviors spread within groups. The theory both deepens our understanding of human psychology and informs practical strategies for shaping collective outcomes through interventions. Its influence informs practical approaches across various sectors, from public health to marketing and more. ### Public Health and Health Behavior

• Social contagion - Wikipedia

  Social contagion involves behaviour, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group or network. The phenomenon has been discussed by social scientists since the late 19th century, although much work on the subject was based on unclear or even contradictory conceptions of what social contagion is, so exact definitions vary. Some scholars include the unplanned spread of ideas through a population as social contagion, though others prefer to class that as memetics. Generally [...] Scholars have long reported that the study of social contagion has suffered from the lack of a widely accepted and precise definition. Definitions have often, though not always, classified social contagion as a method of transmission that does not rely on a direct intent to influence. Other definitions have suggested that social contagion involves spontaneous imitation of others, rather than being based on conscious decisions. In their 1993 review, Levy and Nail proposed that social contagion [...] In a 1998 review, Paul Marsden suggested that social contagion is a similar phenomena to memetics, a field of study inspired by Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Marsden suggested that the two fields could be complementary, in the sense that work on social contagion largely lacked a coherent theory, but contained much evidence-based analyses, whereas memetics was rich in theory but lacking on the empirical side.