Beware of Negative Influence Around Us
I read an excellent article posted over at Creating Passionate Users, saying that angry/negative people will influence your brain. The new neuroscientific findings of “mirror neurons” shed new light on human learning and explain why emotions are contagious:
There is now strong evidence to suggest that humans have the same type of “mirror neurons” found in monkeys. It’s what these neurons do that’s amazing–they activate in the same way when you’re watching someone else do something as they do when you’re doing it yourself! This mirroring process/capability is thought to be behind our ability to empathize, but you can imagine the role these neurons have played in keeping us alive as a species. We learn from watching others. We learn from imitating (mirroring) others.
Emotional contagion is considered one of the primary drivers of group/mob behavior, and the recent work on “mirror neurons” helps explain the underlying cause.
The theory of emotional contagion, I think, might apply to our workplace or our family as well. Choosing to stay around with positive and happy people will benefit us and our children.
Technorati Tag: Parenting
Angry/negative people can be bad for your brain [Creating Passionate Users]