Happiness, like flu, is contagious

Fear of physical contagion soars during the times of the flu. Drug sales soar too. As do TRPs. The sight of someone cowering behind a mask can reinforce the vicious cycle of ill-health and fear. That���s the power of Nocebo. Using data from a study that tracked some 5,000 people over 20 years, Nicholas Christakis, a physician and sociologist at Harvard University has found that both happiness and unhappiness, like the flu, can spread from person to person through social networks.

Christakis found that when one person gains weight, close friends tend to gain weight, too. It did not matter if the friend was hundreds of miles away, the influence remained. And the greatest influence of all was between close friends. There if one became obese, the other had a 171% increased chance of becoming obese too.

This widens the ambit of individual responsibility, not only towards one���s own state of health and happiness but also to that of others. In terms of effectiveness, however, happiness has an edge over unhappiness; the scientists found a happy individual with whom one is socially connected boosts the likelihood of one���s own happiness by about 9%, whereas an unhappy individual with whom one is connected decreases the likelihood of one���s own happiness by about 7%.

But your cup of misery did not bear a straight-forward or linear relationship with others��� unhappiness. While one caviling friend did affect your happiness, having additional number of unhappy associates did not necessarily add to your woes.

The research raises all sorts of social and philosophical concerns. ���Are my thinking and my behaviour truly free,��� Christakis asks. ���Or are they constrained because I am part of a social network? To the extent that I am part of this (networked) human super-organism, is my individuality reduced?���

Indian tradition calls it sangati sanga-dosha: as your friends are so shall be your faults (and virtues). The Bhagvad Gita encapsulates this message as follows: where there is the Lord of Yoga Sri Krishna; where there is the Lord of Archery Arjuna are to be found victory and good fortune in my opinion; as also steadfastness and good governance.

(Yatra yogeshwara Krishna yatra Partho dhanurdhara / tatra Sri-Vijayo bhutir Dhruva nitirmatir mamah.)
Conversely, Duryodhana���s evil overpowers the innate brilliance of Karna. With such ���friends��� do you need enemies?