In 2014, Kramer, Guillory, & Hancock conducted a huge experiment using the Facebook platform…
They had at their disposal 689,003 users & with the aid of an automated system, they were able to change the amount of emotional content in the news feed of the Facebook users…
What they discovered is that when timelines were manipulated to reduce positive emotions, people actually produced less positive posts & more negative posts!
When they manipulated the timelines in the opposite direction they saw more positive posts & less negative posts…
This confirmed scientifically through a new medium (Social media, specifically Facebook) what had been known previously that emotions are contagious – you laugh and your friend laughs too!
The Facebook study showed that “Emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions…” This is know as emotional contagion, & happens at an unconscious level.
Clearly this goes a long way to explaining the mass fear currently sweeping the planet as Covid-19 sweeps the planet. Our brains are literally harmonising with the energy of the news feed!
But this isn’t the first example of how an unconscious spread of negative emotions has directed an entire population…
Look at the accompanying picture – It shows the Nuremberg Rally of 1934, where Adolph Hitler whipped over one million people into a nationalistic, emotional frenzy, as their rational thought process was obliterated by the energy field created by Hitler & other members of the Nazi Party, & they literally found themselves unconsciously aligning with the nefarious ideals of their leader.
This is what the power of emotional contagion can do & history is resplendent with examples… From the Nuremberg Rally, to the Salem Witch Trials, to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, to Covid-19 today…
Never before have you had to be more consciously aware of what information you are allowing yourself exposure to!
