What are the cognitive mechanisms behind emotional contagion?

Emotional contagion is primarily driven by mirror neurons, empathy, and social context.

Emotional contagion, the phenomenon where we 'catch' the emotions of those around us, is a complex process involving several cognitive mechanisms. The first of these is the mirror neuron system. Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that respond equally when we perform an action and when we see someone else perform the same action. They are thought to be the biological basis of empathy, allowing us to 'mirror' others' emotions. For example, if we see someone smiling, our mirror neurons for smiling fire up, too, creating a sensation in our mind that we are also smiling, which can make us feel happier.

Empathy is another key mechanism. This is our ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It involves both cognitive empathy, the ability to recognise and understand others' emotions, and emotional empathy, the ability to share and respond to these emotions. Emotional contagion can be seen as a form of emotional empathy. When we empathise with someone, we not only understand their emotion, we also feel it. This can happen automatically and unconsciously, leading us to 'catch' their emotion.

Social context also plays a crucial role in emotional contagion. Our brains are highly sensitive to social cues, and we often use the emotions of those around us to help us understand and navigate our social environment. For example, if everyone in a room looks scared, we are likely to feel scared too, even if we don't know why. This is because our brains are wired to align our emotions with those of our social group, a process known as emotional synchrony. This can help to strengthen social bonds and promote group cohesion.

In addition, research suggests that our susceptibility to emotional contagion can be influenced by a range of factors, including our mood, personality, and the nature of our relationship with the person whose emotion we are 'catching'. For example, we are more likely to catch the emotions of people we are close to, or those we perceive as being similar to us.