Emotional Contagion Essay

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Emotional contagion is having one person's emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in another person or group of people. This can be done through a two-step process of emotional mimicry and synchronization of one's expressions and by vocalizations and posture feedback and movements. When people unconsciously mirror a partner’s expressions, they come to feel these reflections of emotions as well. Emotional mimicry is one of the most highly adaptive behaviors. One can have muscle movements that mirror the expressions they see, including looking at an angry face that activates the corrugator muscle which activates frowning. Then there is also a happy face that contracts the zygomatic major which helps with …show more content…

There is definitely a difference in positive and negative emotions. Negative emotions elicit not only stronger but quicker emotional, behavioral and cognitive responses. Therefor the likely hood of a mood contagion has a greater chance of occurring as well. You can also look at the energy level in which the emotion is displayed. If one presents higher energy, they draw more attention, and whether the emotion is pleasant or unpleasant, the one that expresses with greater energy will be more contagious than lower expressed energy. Each type of person brings in different beliefs, feelings, and values that they expect to project onto the team. With there being a wide variety of personalities, some people are bound to deal with situations at different intensities compared to other individuals. Therefor those that express the stronger more apparent emotions that are seen as the high status individuals, team captains, coaches, those of strong personalities, lead to other individuals expressing new or different emotions than one would typically express. For example, one of our coaches kept repeating herself over and over and wasn’t seeing the outcome that she particularly wanted from one specific player. She then proceeded to show her frustration and get on her more. The player then responded by showing that frustration as well in her body language and attitude toward the coach. …show more content…

An individuals refraction states were also congruent with the team and was more evident in the older members. The findings in my research stated that these were the people that were more committed to their team and more susceptible to emotional contagion. For example, if a coach states the goals for the year, the older girls who are determined and all in, will all most likely feel the same way. They have been around longer and may know the coach more as well. Teammates who are younger are still trying to adapt to the new change and might think the goals are a little bit out of reach, but if their older teammates are on board, then they will be

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