If you’re happy, and you know it…
… you are probably spreading it around! 
A new study shows that happiness spreads in a social network up to three degrees away! Sadness also spreads in a network, but not as quickly.
According to Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University, social relationships are the best predictor of human happiness, but the new study shows that the effect is more powerful than anyone realized!
The study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, created a network of 4739 people with data from the Framingham Heart Study. The co-authors were James Fowler, professor of political science at the University of California at San Diego and Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School. The spouses, siblings, and friends in the network were followed from 1983 to 2003 using self-reported happiness ratings.
According to the study, each happy friend increases your own chance of being happy by 9%, and each unhappy friend decreases it by 7%. (These findings reflect the results of all social contacts.) When the question was framed differently, the study found that you are 15% more likely to be happy if a direct connection is happy, 10% if the friend of a friend is happy, and 6% if the friend of a friend of a friend is happy. If you are the hub of a large network of people or a wide social circle, you are more likely to become happy.
The study also found similar results with regard to smoking behavior and obesity, with effects up to three degrees away.
The authors are working on another study, with Facebook, and looking at the clustering of smiles in the profile photos of people in networks.
CNN has this video about the study.
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.
