Humans are essentially social animals. No man is an island. Etc. You’ve heard it all, but now there’s science that actually kind of shows it.
Happiness, in short, is not merely a function of personal experience, but also is a property of groups. Emotions are a collective phenomenon.
Happy people tend to cluster with happy people, and unhappy people likewise–shocking, right? Having one happy friend raises the chances of you being happy almost five times as much as having $5K more of income–people who have happy friends are better than rich, in a now measurable sense.
Emotions are a collective phenomenon. Yeah, I’m going to have to think about that. A lot.
