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Introduction: The study aimed to explore the key factors influencing emotional valence in rodents, focusing on the critical elements that distinguish the contagion processes of fear and pain. Methods: Through a systematic review and meta-analysis, we examined behavioral outcomes of rodents exposed to painful or fearful catastrophes to see whether they are prosocial or antisocial through three-chamber test and dyadic social interaction paradigm. Results: Fear contagion, particularly when witnessed, leads to social avoidance behavior, unaffected by sex difference but more pronounced with age. In contrast, pain contagion promotes social approach and caring/helping behaviors. Discussion: The present study demonstrates that the emotional valence induced by pain contagion is quite different from fear contagion and this difference may result in different motivations and social behaviors, namely, social contagion of pain is likely to be more associated with prosocial behaviors, however, social contagion of fear is likely to be more associated with antisocial behaviors. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42024566326). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intensive care units (ICUs) are environments where nurses are open to emotional interactions because of complex structures and dynamic relationships. Nurses' susceptibility to emotional contagion and their spiritual care competence may affect the quality of care by influencing their ability to manage and respond to the emotional dynamics present in these environments. Aim: This study aimed to determine the level of emotional contagion and spiritual care competence in intensive care nurses. Study Design: This study is a descriptive cross‐sectional study conducted with 199 nurses working in the ICUs of a training and research hospital in Turkey. The data were collected between December 2021 and June 2022 using the Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS) and the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS). Results: The mean score of the nurses was 50.29 ± 15.36 on the ECS and 90.29 ± 29.53 on the SCCS. A statistically significant difference was found between the ECS and SCCS and gender, marital status, weekly working hours and some approaches about spiritual care (p <.05). It was determined that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the total scales and sub‐dimensions of the ECS and SCCS (p <.05). In this study, it was found that intensive care nurses' susceptibility to emotional contagion was high, and that their spiritual care competence was at a moderate level. The results show that gender, marital status, weekly working hours, type of ICU and some approaches about spiritual care are crucial factors in nurses' emotional contagion and spiritual care competence. In addition, as the intensive care nurses' susceptibility to emotional contagion increased, their spiritual care competence also increased. Conclusions: The results of this study will guide the planning of interventions to protect intensive care nurses from the negative effects of emotional contagion and increase their spiritual care competence. Relevance to Clinical Practice: It is necessary to protect intensive care nurses from the negative effects of emotional contagion and to increase their competences in spiritual care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on theories of emotional contagion and affective priming, the study assesses the emotional impact of the U.S. partisan media's coverage of six leading political candidates' images during the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic Party presidential primary. Results show that the partisan media's representations of the candidates' facial expressions of emotions are associated with the voters' feelings toward the politicians in their desired directions. Additionally, the partisan-media-primed emotions among the voters consistently align with their voting decisions. Methodologically, the study combines state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and survey research conducted with a representative sample of New Hampshire voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the interplay between platform information push, consumer emotions, and purchase behavior in Macau's cross-border e-commerce context using PLS-ANN analysis and piecewise linear regression. The findings reveal nuanced effects of information push on pleasure and annoyance, with distinct patterns emerging at different levels. These emotional responses significantly influence purchase intentions and actual behavior. Pleasure has a positive impact, while annoyance negatively affects outcomes. To optimize consumer sentiment and drive sales, e-commerce platforms should strategically manage information content, presentation, and timing. Harnessing positive emotions, balancing information sufficiency and overload prevention, and fostering long-term emotional connections are crucial. Adapting push strategies to diverse market preferences is vital for cross-border success. The study expands affect-as-information and emotional contagion theories, offering actionable suggestions for precision marketing. Future research should explore additional emotive dimensions, individual differences, and contextual moderators to enrich the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial behavior is fundamental for healthcare students, shaped by their traits and the external environment. Online information seeking is the most commonly used way for healthcare students to access pandemics; however, it is unclear whether the willingness of healthcare students to help others will be affected by pandemic information via the Internet environment. The current study takes the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, investigating how 81 healthcare students with varying prosocial tendencies behaved helpfully after being exposed to pandemic-related pictures online. Study 1 measured the influence of emotional contagion (positive emotion/negative emotion) from online information on students' prosocial behavior; Study 2 examined online information's influence on prosocial behavior by controlling individuals' epistemic motivation (goal-directed task/no-goal-directed task) to gain pandemic information. The results indicated that negative pandemic information was more likely to influence students with low prosocial tendencies, which would then lead to a decrease in prosocial actions (F = 7.842, p = 0.005). Further, students with low prosocial tendencies were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior when they did not aim goal-directed attention to the pandemic-related information, compared to those with goal-directed attention (F = 9.159, p = 0.003). Participants with high prosocial tendencies did not differ much in helping others (p > 0.05). The results indicated that only healthcare students with limited prosocial tendencies were less inclined to assist others after receiving negative information about the pandemic. Thus, reducing their deliberate approach to online information related to the pandemic will increase their chances of taking prosocial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contagious yawning (CY)—linked to physiological synchronization and possibly emotional contagion—occurs when one individual's yawn induces yawning in others. CY was investigated over different time windows (minutes from the triggering stimulus) via naturalistic or experimental studies (using real and video yawns, respectively) with contrasting results, especially in bonobos. We verified whether in bonobos result divergences may derive from different methods. We gathered yawning data on 13 bonobos at Twycross Zoo (UK) via a naturalistic (all‐occurrences observations) and experimental approach (by showing yawn/control video stimuli). Based on literature, we used 1‐ and 3‐min windows to detect CY. Due to fission‐fusion management, individuals could form permanent or non‐permanent associations (more/less familiar subjects under naturalistic setting). Video yawn stimuli may come from group mates/stranger models (more/less familiar subjects under the experimental setting). Stimulus type and time window affected CY modulating factors but not CY detection. Familiarity and age effect on CY showed opposite trends in 3‐min trials and 1‐min observations. CY was highest in oldest, non‐permanently (rather than permanently) associated subjects in the naturalistic setting, but in the youngest subjects and with ingroup (rather than outgroup) models in trials. The age effect differences on CY might be due to decontextualized yawns and immature subject curiosity toward videos. The reversed familiarity effect suggests CY's context‐dependent function in promoting social synchronization with socially distant group mates, as failing to coordinate as a group may lead to social disruption. Complementary methods are needed to fully understand motor replication phenomena. Highlights: In bonobos we checked for presence/modulation of yawn contagion—linked to synchronization and possibly emotional contagion—with both observational data (response to group‐mates' yawns) and experimental trials (response to video stimuli)Yawn contagion was highest in older and less familiar subjects in the naturalistic setting whereas it was highest in younger subjects and when the triggers were in‐group members (rather than strangers) in the experimental setting.These study results indicate that complementary approaches may be necessary to investigate yawn contagion as no one method explains it all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: We review the existing research on social play in humans and other mammals to highlight the complex nature of this behaviour, which is regulated by various hormones and neural circuits. Play can swing from cooperation to competition. Contrary to what has been previously thought, when animals (including humans) play, they might not always be in a positive emotional state or in a relaxed context. By checking examples from human and non-human mammals, we aim to examine current tools and methodological approaches that can give information about the different individual emotional states possibly driving playful interactions and about the individual, socio-ecological, and structural factors potentially revealing the emotional nature of the play. We discuss the context in which play occurs (relaxed/not relaxed) and the structural similarities between play fighting and aggressive behaviour, considering how more competitive forms of play can serve as alternatives to aggression. Additionally, we look at the postures/movements and facial expressions (e.g., play faces) used as signals to indicate the player's intent and at copying behaviours, like rapid motor mimicry, which can enhance synchronization, non-agonistic competition, and possibly emotional sharing between players. This review focuses on social play, a complex behaviour that is often difficult to categorize. Although play has been typically associated with positive emotional states, a thorough examination of the literature indicates that it may relate to different emotional systems, from attachment to conflict. Play oscillates between competition and cooperation, and includes a spectrum in between; thus, quantitatively identifying and demonstrating the emotional nature of play remains challenging. We considered examples from human and non-human animal studies and explored the emotional and neuro-hormonal systems involved in play. We assessed ethological data possibly indicating the emotional states underlying play, and we focused on the cooperative and competitive elements of play. We investigated the relationship between play and affiliative/aggressive behaviours, the communicative meaning of play signals (especially primate play faces), and the motor and possibly emotional contagion function of rapid motor mimicry during play. From all the literature on play, this review selects and combines studies in an innovative way to present the methods (e.g., play indices and social network analysis), tools (e.g., sequential analysis and facial coding software), and evidence indicative of the emotional states underlying play, which is much more complex than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown a strong link between our sense of smell and emotion. More recently, the importance we attach to olfaction has been found to relate to our susceptibility to 'catch' the emotions of others. We explore this further by examining the relation between a newly developed measure of olfaction (social odour scale, SOS), which measures awareness of social odours, and emotional contagion susceptibility in female participants. The study therefore aimed to test the strength of this relationship and also help validate the English language version of the SOS. Female (n = 148) participants completed an online study that measured odour awareness [SOS; important of odour questionnaire, IOQ] and emotional contagion (EC). We found that the English version of the SOS yielded high reliability and supported the previous factor structure of the scale; additionally, we demonstrated a strong association between the SOS and IOQ which provides criterion validity for its usage. The study also revealed that whilst both the SOS and IOQ were positively associated with EC, the SOS was the more accurate predictor. These findings provide further validation for the use of the SOS and suggest that our subjective awareness of olfaction, especially concerning 'social odours' is an accurate predictor of emotional contagion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the cascading impact of parents’ work-family conflict (WFC) on students’ psychosocial well-being. This study examines the sequential mediation effect of parents’ well-being and positive discipline using the conservation of resources (COR) theory and emotional contagion theory. Data were collected using an online survey platform where every participant received a concern form and unique code. The analysis used data from 351 parent–child dyads after removing 76 participants who failed the attention check items or did not complete the three phases of data collection. Data were analysed using a sequential mediation regression model six proposed by Hayes. The results confirmed a sequential mediation model where the parent's WFC indirectly impacted the student's psychosocial well-being through the mediating role of the parent's well-being and positive discipline. This study also discovered that WFC directly impacted parents’ well-being, positive discipline, and students’ psychosocial well-being. Organisations must provide parents with psychological services to reduce WFC and maintain their well-being. On the other hand, schools should communicate with parents and encourage positive discipline for students. This current study has advanced the literature by examining the link between parents’ WFC and students’ psychosocial well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic pain and depression share common neural mechanisms, but their impacts on empathy are different. It is unclear how comorbid depressive symptoms affect empathy-related brain function in patients with chronic pain. A total of 29 healthy participants and 107 patients with chronic back pain (CBP) were included in this study. All subjects underwent a functional MRI scan with concurrent empathic stimulation. Multiple linear regression, moderation analysis, and mediation analysis were used to explore the impacts of chronic pain and comorbid depression on empathy. The interaction between the pain intensity and the depressive symptoms affected the functional connectivity (FC) of the insula-middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and the severity of the self-rating depression scale (SDS) scores moderated the effect of the pain on the left insula-left MFG FC. Within the CBP group, the emotional contagion (EC) scores served as a mediator in the association between the SDS scores and the FC of the left middle cingulate cortex (MCC)-inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), and the level of cognitive empathy (CE) moderated the effect of the SDS scores on the left MCC-ITG FC. There is a lack of research on the effects of depressive symptoms on empathy in individuals with different types of chronic pain. Depressive symptoms were strongly associated with the emotional contagion in patients with chronic back pain. Furthermore, the emotional contagion and the cognitive empathy regulated the effect of the comorbid depressive symptoms on the MCC-ITG connectivity in patients with chronic back pain. • Emotional contagion mediated the association between the depression and the MCC-ITG FC in patients with chronic back pain. • Cognitive empathy moderated the effect of the depression on the empathic left MCC-ITG FC in patients with chronic back pain. • The associations among the depression, empathy, and the brain FC in patients with chronic back pain were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By investigating emotional contagion in customer–employee interactions using the emotional facial action coding system, this study offers a means to separate primitive emotional contagion from its conscious counterpart. As an empirical validation of primitive emotional contagion and its impact on customer satisfaction, the multifaceted research approach, involving an experimental laboratory study and two field studies in hospitality and retail settings, reveals consistent findings. Additionally, the influence of emotional contagion on customer satisfaction is moderated by the esthetic appeal of the interior design. This work advances the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of primitive emotional contagion; it also offers practical insights regarding the importance of interior designs and busyness for enhancing service interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that leader humor exerts an impact on employees' affection and cognition, thus promoting innovative behavior. However, the effectiveness of leaders in activating employees' motivation to innovate through the expression of humor, especially in stressful situations, is still unknown. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory and Emotional Contagion theory, we explore how leaders use humor to stimulate harmonious passion of employees and promote innovative behavior under two typical stressful situations of high performance expectation and team relationship conflict. The cross-level moderated mediation model is tested using data collected from 458 employees and 99 supervisors in 10 manufacturing companies in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. Our findings reveal that leader humor positively affects employee innovative behavior by fostering greater harmonious passion. Additionally, we discover that the effect of leader humor on harmonious passion is enhanced when employees are faced with higher performance expectation and greater team relationship conflict, which in turn generates more innovative behaviors. Our study focuses on the social attributes of leader humor, enriches the research on leader humor expression in stressful situations and unveils the effective pathway to promote employee innovative behavior from a motivational perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative emotional contagion—witnessing others in distress—affects an individual’s emotional responsivity. However, whether it shapes coping strategies when facing future threats remains unknown. We found that mice that briefly observe a conspecific being harmed become resilient, withstanding behavioral despair after an adverse experience. Photometric recordings during negative emotional contagion revealed increased serotonin (5-HT) release in the lateral habenula. Whereas 5-HT and emotional contagion reduced habenular burst firing, limiting 5-HT synthesis prevented burst plasticity. Enhancing raphe-to-habenula 5-HT was sufficient to recapitulate resilience. In contrast, reducing 5-HT release in the habenula made witnessing a conspecific in distress ineffective to promote the resilient phenotype after adversity. These findings reveal that 5-HT supports vicarious emotions and leads to resilience by tuning definite patterns of habenular neuronal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous research on consumer network usage behavior, the focus was mainly on how to collect information. Few studies have delved into consumers' psychological responses to information and whether they are also affected by emotional contagion. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties and risks for travel have increased. Both the positive and negative emotional performance of travel information sharers often affect receivers' feelings. This study explores whether the sharing of travel information on social network sites will have an emotional impact. It also explores how that might influence site members' attitudes and behavioral intentions related to travel. According to the study, people have recently been infected with negative emotions. They hope those emotions will be transformed into positive ones by sharing travel information during the pandemic. This study shows that emotional contagion can occur in both physical and virtual spaces, and it will further affect the recipient's attitudes toward certain tourist destinations and travel willingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individuals with schizophrenia often exhibit social interaction deficits, which can affect their ability to engage effectively with others. Emotional processes, such as emotional contagion (the transfer of emotion between individuals) and emotional mimicry (the imitation of emotional expressions), are crucial for enhancing the quality of social interactions. Methods: We conducted a PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycInfo database search. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were established based on the definitions of emotional contagion and emotional mimicry, rather than relying on specific terminology from various research fields. Forty-two studies were included in the review, including six emotional mimicry studies and thirty-six emotional contagion studies. Results: The current findings suggest decreased or inappropriate emotional mimicry in individuals with schizophrenia. Relating to emotional contagion, the results showed altered brain and psychophysiological activity in individuals with schizophrenia, whereas the self-reported measures indicated no difference between the groups. The relationships between emotional contagion, emotional mimicry, and psychotic symptom severity showed variability across the studies, whereas no associations between antipsychotic dosage and either emotional mimicry or emotional contagion were found. Discussion: This review highlights the need to further evaluate and train emotional contagion and emotional mimicry in individuals with schizophrenia because these processess influence social interaction quality. Clinical implications and guidelines for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing importance of facial expressions in online brand communications, little is known about the positive and negative effects of replacing human facial expressions with emojis. To address this gap, this research examines how facial expressions (emojis versus human faces) shape consumers' emotional contagion and brand fun. Findings from three experimental studies (two online and one with eye-tracking) demonstrate that the presence of emojis increases brand fun due to the underlying mechanism of emotional contagion. However, although emojis might foster positive brand outcomes, they reduce credibility compared to brand communications using human faces. Finally, this research provides relevant managerial implications for brands that wish to create communications using facial expressions since emojis can positively impact product engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Emotional contagion can be defined as the transfer of an emotional state from the demonstrator of that state towards an observer. Social buffering is a process by which the demonstrator has a reduced stress response due to the presence of one or more other individuals. While both processes are well studied separately, it is unknown whether and how both processes are related. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relation between emotional contagion and social buffering in pigs. Hereto correlations were performed between measures of emotional contagion (i.e., the difference in behaviour of observer pigs between a situation with and without demonstrator pigs present) and measures of social buffering (i.e., the difference in behaviour of demonstrator pigs in a negative situation with and without observer pigs present). The results did not point towards a clear and consistent relation as only few and contrasting correlations between measures of emotional contagion and social buffering were found, and after correcting for chance no significant correlations remained. To conclude, more research is needed on the relation between emotional contagion and social buffering to shed light on how and when emotions will spread through and/or are buffered in a group of animals.

Abstract The interplay between the different components of emotional contagion (i.e. emotional state and facial motor resonance), both during implicit and explicit appraisal of emotion, remains controversial. The aims of this study were (i) to distinguish between these components thanks to vocal smile processing and (ii) to assess how they reflect implicit processes and/or an explicit appraisal loop. Emotional contagion to subtle vocal emotions was studied in 25 adults through motor resonance and Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) reactivity. Facial expressions (fEMG: facial electromyography) and pupil dilation were assessed during the processing and judgement of artificially emotionally modified sentences. fEMG revealed that Zygomaticus major was reactive to the perceived valence of sounds, whereas the activity of Corrugator supercilii reflected explicit judgement. Timing analysis of pupil dilation provided further insight into both the emotional state and the implicit and explicit processing of vocal emotion, showing earlier activity for emotional stimuli than for neutral stimuli, followed by valence-dependent variations and a late judgement-dependent increase in pupil diameter. This innovative combination of different electrophysiological measures shed new light on the debate between central and peripherical views within the framework of emotional contagion.

Online health communities (OHCs) play an important role in enabling patients to exchange information and obtain social support from each other. However, do OHC interactions always benefit patients? In this research, we investigate different mechanisms by which OHC content may affect patients’ emotions. Specifically, we notice users can read not only emotional support intended to help them but also emotional support targeting other persons or posts that are not intended to generate any emotional support (auxiliary content). Drawing from emotional contagion theories, we argue that even though emotional support may benefit targeted support seekers, it could have a negative impact on the emotions of other support seekers. Our empirical study on an OHC for depression patients supports these arguments. Our findings are new to the literature and have critical practical implications since they suggest that we should carefully manage OHC-based interventions for depression patients to avoid unintended consequences. We design a novel deep learning model to differentiate emotional support from auxiliary content. Such differentiation is critical for identifying the negative effect of emotional support on unintended recipients. We also discuss options to alter the intervention volume, length, and frequency to tackle the challenge of the negative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gestalt Play Therapy (GPT) is a practical form of play therapy to improve empathy in hard-of-hearing children. This study examined the effectiveness of GPT on empathy in hard-of-hearing children. Participants were recruited from the Ava rehabilitation center for mothers and hard-of-hearing children in Isfahan, Iran. The participants were 28 hard-of-hearing children who were randomly selected and divided into the control and intervention groups. The intervention group participated in 8 GPT sessions, once weekly for two months, while the control group did not participate in the program. Mothers completed the Empathy Questionnaire 2 times, at pre-test and post-test. The GPT significantly influenced empathy, prosocial actions, attention to others' feelings, and emotional contagion in hard-of-hearing children (p <.001). The Eta square suggested that 59% of the improvement in empathy is due to participating in the research. This research highlighted the importance of GPT for empathy in hard-of-hearing children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While advances in technology have led to the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in frontline services, the AI empathic effect is often overlooked. Based on emotional contagion theory, this research explores the impacts of AI emotional mimicry and empathic concern in service success and failure via experimental designs, respectively. Results indicate that AI with high emotional mimicry and empathic concern resulted in higher arousal and pleasure, increasing tourists' continuous usage intention. Arousal and pleasure played significant mediating roles in service success. However, while empathic concern significantly affected continuous usage intention through pleasure, arousal did not have a similar effect. The joint effects of extrinsic and intrinsic anthropomorphism (emotional mimicry) were significant in a successful service context, but not in service failure. These results have important implications for the development and promotion of AI and enriches theoretical applications of emotional contagion theory and empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proposed a model where a male employee's wife's engagement in recovery activities results in the husband's own enactment of recovery activities while in the workplace, via emotional contagion, based on the COR theory and broaden‐and‐build theory of positive emotions. We expected wives may experience positive emotions after engaging in social interactions, which has a contagion effect on husbands' positive emotions. Further, husbands were expected to leverage their positive emotions to engage in future recovery activities (better lunch nap and meal quality while at work). Lastly, we examined whether power imbalance in the married couple has a moderating effect on emotional contagion processes. To test our model, we used an experience‐sampling method in which 110 dyads completed daily diary questionnaires for 8 consecutive days (N = 768, after removing 112 invalid observations). As expected, wives' social interactions are linked to husbands' positive emotions via wives' positive emotions. Further, husbands' positive emotions predict the quality of two workplace recovery activities (lunch naps and meals). Finally, power imbalance moderates the association between wives' (donors) emotions and husbands' (recipients) emotions such that the crossover of emotions is stronger when wives (donors) have relatively more power than when they have less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human distress vocalizations elicit an increase in dogs' stress responses. This modulation of behaviour to match one's emotional state to that of another individual is often described as emotional contagion. Whether this phenomenon is promoted by the dogs' selection for cooperation with humans or is rooted more generally in the universal vocal signals of emotion is unclear. To test this, we compared the reactions of companion dogs, Canis familiaris , and companion pigs, Sus scrofa domesticus (which are popular companion animals but whose domestication history lacks selection for cooperation), to human sound playbacks of crying, a high-arousal, negatively valenced sound, and humming, a low-arousal, less emotionally valenced sound, in a citizen science study. Dogs exhibited higher levels of behaviours associated with increased arousal and negative emotional states and vocalized more in response to crying compared to humming. In contrast, pigs showed more negative and high-arousal behaviours in response to humming than to crying. The fact that dogs seemed to have been affected by and reacted accordingly to the emotional content of human vocal sounds is in line with previous works and the emotional contagion account. In contrast, pigs' elevated stress to the low-arousal humming sound compared to the negative and high-arousal crying sound, cannot be fully explained by emotional contagion but rather by the novelty of the sound (neophobia). Selection for cooperation with humans may thus be key for promoting human sound-induced emotional contagion in domestic mammals. • We used citizen science data to compare emotional contagion in domestic dogs and pigs. • Dogs showed more stress reactions to a high-arousal, negatively valenced human sound. • Pigs showed higher stress to a low-arousal, less emotionally valenced human sound. • Selection for cooperation may be key for interspecific emotional contagion to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Career-related emotional contagion has been investigated in many sectors, including healthcare and journalism. However, the gambling sector remains unexplored, despite frontline casino employees' frequent exposure to the fluctuating emotions of gamblers, especially those who experience gambling problems. This study fills the research gap by investigating the impact of long-term exposure to gambling on frontline casino employees. The data were collected from 46 interviewees. Analysis revealed three themes: dealers' emotional responses, 'dirty work', and the impact on dealers' private lives. In the first theme, the interviewees' responses indicated that exposure to gambling led to various emotional outcomes, including indifference, sympathy, perplexity, and worry. The second theme, 'dirty work', covers observations concerning organizational malpractice and negative social impacts. The various 'impacts on dealer's private lives' identified in the data ranged from negative to positive. This study reveals the complexity of workplace emotional contagion and the emotional costs for frontline casino employees. The implication for gambling companies is that emotional support with – and training in – emotion management are necessary to maintain and retain a healthy workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce the concept of attentional scaffolds and show the resemblance between social media platforms and slot machines, both functioning as hostile attentional scaffolds. The first section establishes the groundwork for the concept of attentional scaffolds and draws parallels to the mechanics of slot machines, to argue that social media platforms aim to capture users' attention to maximize engagement through a system of intermittent rewards. The second section shifts focus to the interplay between emotions and attention, revealing how online attentional capture through emotionally triggering stimuli leads to distraction. The final section elucidates the collective implications of scaffolding attention through social media platforms. The examination of phenomena such as emotional contagion and the emergence of group emotions underscores the transition from individual experiences to shared collective outcomes. Employing online moral outrage as a case study, we illustrate how negative emotions serve as scaffolds for individuals' attention, propagate within social groups, and give rise to collective attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and brand perception. It specifically examines how negative attitudes toward CSR activities and emotional contagion influence brand perception. The research focuses on young consumers as the sample population. The findings underscore the significance of CSR in shaping consumer attitudes and emotions toward brands. The results indicate that negative attitudes toward a company's CSR initiatives can exacerbate negative brand perception. Therefore, the study emphasizes the importance of companies demonstrating their dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship to appeal to environmentally conscious customers. However, the research also acknowledges certain limitations include the geographical sampling size and sampling techniques, which should be taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes a talent turnover perspective that relies on the contagion effect. It focuses on the role of the perceived organisational commitment of co-workers in the relationship between organisational commitment and intention to quit of focal talent. Organizational commitment is one of the major predictors of intention to quit, yet it has barely been studied as a research construct in examining this contagion effect. Drawing on the emotional contagion literature and proposing a new variable, we find that the perceived organisational commitment of co-workers has an indirect effect on intention to quit through organisational commitment. This study is based on the survey responses of 56 highly knowledgeable and skilled employees, identified as talent, from the aerospace industry in Luxembourg. It contributes to the turnover contagion literature by empirically highlighting the important role of co-workers' organisational commitment in the generation of focal talent's thoughts on quitting. It also has implications for the talent management literature and human resource management practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of climate change and the 5 G era, online communities are increasingly becoming the main medium for information dissemination after emergencies such as natural disasters. The widespread dissemination of negative online information may generate cyber violence or lead to serious adverse psychological outcomes. This study considered a natural disaster event involving avoidable deaths and child casualties as an example to identify emotional contagion and conduct simulation interventions. Data about the aftermath of the 8·13 flash flood in the Longcaogou Scenic Area, Sichuan Province, China, were derived from the Chinese Sina microblog. We analyzed key parameters and modeled them in a dynamic model. We further evaluated the effects of implementing intervention measures (such as transmission path interruption and changing the number of different emotions) on emotional spread. The overall sentiment of posters after this flood was negative, with three epidemic peaks. Negative emotions were more persistent and contagious than positive emotions. Reducing the number of negative blog posts by half could have led to a 14.97% reduction in negative comments and a 7.17% reduction in positive comments. Simultaneously, reducing the number of negative blog posts and increasing the number of positive posts would have helped reduce the relative ratio of negative to positive comments. The findings have theoretical and practical implications for developing an emotional contagion model and formulating intervention strategies to guide public opinion after an emergency that involves extensive online debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: While dogs will rescue their owners in distress, no study has investigated whether or not dogs may do the same for strangers. This study explores this question by recording dogs' behaviors, heart rate variability, and approach in response to a trapped calm or distressed stranger. The results show that whether the unfamiliar human was distressed or not did not affect whether the dog opened the door. Additionally, there was no difference in heart rate variability, how they approached the stranger through the door, or time near the door between dogs who were presented with a distressed or calm stranger. Dogs that did open the door to approach the unfamiliar human were described as less fearful by their owners. Dogs that opened also showed less aggression and fear when they approached the human behind the trapped door compared to dogs that did not open. These results show that dogs may not be able to show emotional contagion or respond differentially to distressed unknown humans. It also may be vital for dog owners to be present in order for complex behaviors such as emotional contagion and helping to occur towards strangers. Empathy is a complex cognitive ability that has been studied in many social animals, including dogs. Previous studies have found that dogs would rescue their distressed owner more quickly than a calm owner and that dogs respond physiologically and behaviorally to the sound of crying strangers. However, no studies have explored the empathetic and emotional contagion capabilities of dogs towards strangers in rescue paradigms. In the present study, a stranger was placed behind a clear door and was told to cry (distress) or hum (neutral). The dogs' door opening, stress behaviors, tone of approach, and physiological responses were measured. Dogs did not open more frequently or more quickly for the stranger in the distressed condition compared to the neutral condition. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the behavioral or physiological indicators of stress across conditions. It was also found that non-openers were reported by owners to have more fear and, in the empathy test, were more aggressive and fearful in their tone of approach. These results suggest that dogs may be less likely to exhibit empathy-like behaviors to unknown humans in an unfamiliar environment and that owners may be necessary to moderate a dog's stress to show empathetic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current cross-sectional study aimed to explore burnout in psychotherapists and its associated factors. Certificated psychotherapists and counsellors aged between 20 and 65 were eligible to participate in the present study, and a final sample of 177 psychotherapists and counsellors was obtained. The mean age of participants was 40.32 years (SD = 9.56), and the majority of them were female (142, 80.2%). Participants completed an online survey through a mobile application, including demographics (e.g., age, gender, etc.), workload (the Areas of Worklife Survey), empathy (the Basic Empathy Scale), self-compassion (the Self-Compassion Scale short form), and burnout (the Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey). Investigations were conducted to examine self-compassion as a moderator and empathy dimensions as mediators between workload and burnout dimensions. The results confirmed that the associations between workload and emotional exhaustion/cynicism were mediated by emotional contagion, and the association between workload and professional efficacy was mediated by cognitive empathy. However, self-compassion did not buffer the association between workload and burnout dimensions. The findings of the current study indicated that psychotherapists with heavier workloads were more likely to be emotionally contagious and experienced higher emotional exhaustion and cynicism, while their cognitive empathy was also likely to be impaired and experienced lower professional efficacy. Receiving regular supervision might contribute to their professional efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research examining how crowd emotions impact observers usually requires participants to engage in an atypical mental process whereby (static) arrays of individuals are cognitively integrated to represent a crowd. The present work sought to extend our understanding of how crowd emotions may spread to individuals by assessing self-reported emotions, attention and muscle movement in response to emotions of dynamic, virtually modeled crowd stimuli. Self-reported emotions and attention from thirty-six participants were assessed when foreground and background crowd characters exhibited homogeneous (Study 1) or heterogeneous (Study 2) positive, neutral, or negative emotions. Results suggested that affective responses in observers are shaped by crowd emotions even in the absence of direct attention. Thirty-four participants supplied self-report and facial electromyography responses to the same homogeneous (Study 3) or heterogeneous (Study 4) crowd stimuli. Results indicated that positive crowd emotions appeared to exert greater attentional pull and objective responses, while negative crowd emotions also elicited affective responses. Study 5 (n = 67) introduced a control condition (stimuli containing an individual person) to examine if responses are unique to crowds and found that emotional contagion from crowds was more intense than from individuals. These studies present methodological advances in the study of crowd emotional contagion and have implications for our broader understanding of how people process, attend, and affectively respond to crowds. Advancing theory by suggesting that emotional contagion from crowds is distinct from that elicited by individuals, findings may have applications for refining crowd management approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional contagion (EC) occurs when one person's moods and emotions influence others' feelings. This study aims to understand employees' lived experiences regarding EC and its consequences in Iran during the pandemic. This study used a phenomenological framework to elicit employees' experiences. Forty interviews with Iranian employees in 40 public organizations were conducted. Purposive sampling was used to identify the participants. The unearthed consequences were categorized into seven themes: mental disorders, negative emotions, negative physiological changes, job burnout, communication apprehension, venting at the workplace, and work-family spillover. Although several studies have considered the role of EC in the workplace, the consequences of EC during the COVID-19 pandemic in organizations have not yet been studied. Moreover, the findings illustrated that EC during the COVID-19 pandemic has dire consequences, which are not only confined to the individual sphere of employees but also permeate organizations, clients, and even families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that emotions alter preferences, which are central to many models of political choice. However, how can theories that explain individual-level preference change explain policy outcomes, which usually take place at higher levels of analysis? I outline three competing approaches to this question, ultimately building on the third approach, which argues that emotions can spread through emotional contagion within identity groups. This implies emotions can broadly shift preferences towards or away from conflict during crises. It also explains how identities, which are relatively constant over the medium term, can suddenly become fault lines in a conflict. I find supporting evidence using a large (more than 1.6 billion posts) nationally representative data set of Chinese social media posts. Users' national humiliation posts lead their followers to become more likely to make posts about national humiliation, suggesting contagion, and about using military force and maintaining territorial disputes, suggesting preference change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the links between the two types of narcissism (adaptive, maladaptive) and three distinct forms of empathy (cognitive empathy, emotional contagion, emotional disconnection) via mindfulness, and the origins of the two kinds of narcissism through delayed gratification. Our participants were 300 university students aged 20–27 years from various regions of India. The results of structural equation modeling confirmed that delayed gratification was positively related to adaptive narcissism but negatively related to maladaptive narcissism. In addition, mindfulness acted as a mediator between adaptive narcissism and the three types of empathy, while adaptive narcissism and mindfulness mediated the relationships between delayed gratification and all three factors of empathy. We concluded that adaptive narcissists can feel empathy if they have high trait mindfulness. Future research could explore whether delaying gratification leads to the development of adaptive or maladaptive narcissistic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how positive emotion in tourism social media posts influences tourists' user engagement and its underlying mechanisms. Utilizing real-world data from Ctrip travel platform, our research adopts a multi-method approach encompassing archival analysis, survey, and experimental methods to provide robust evidence supporting the role of positive emotion in the tourism posts. Findings suggest a diminishing effect of positive emotion on user engagement. Drawing upon emotions as social information theory, we identify two contrasting mediating pathways: users' positive affect and perceived persuasive motive. Importantly, mediators exert differential effects at varying levels of emotional expression, collectively contributing to an inverted U-shaped relationship between emotional expression and user engagement. The conclusions offer strategic insights into the emotional expression tactics employed by self-media users when posting, while also serving as a reference for businesses aiming to enhance higher engagement levels among potential tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionThe study aimed to explore the key factors influencing emotional valence in rodents, focusing on the critical elements that distinguish the contagion processes of fear and pain.MethodsThrough a systematic review and meta-analysis, we examined behavioral outcomes of rodents exposed to painful or fearful catastrophes to see whether they are prosocial or antisocial through three-chamber test and dyadic social interaction paradigm.ResultsFear contagion, particularly when witnessed, leads to social avoidance behavior, unaffected by sex difference but more pronounced with age. In contrast, pain contagion promotes social approach and caring/helping behaviors.DiscussionThe present study demonstrates that the emotional valence induced by pain contagion is quite different from fear contagion and this difference may result in different motivations and social behaviors, namely, social contagion of pain is likely to be more associated with prosocial behaviors, however, social contagion of fear is likely to be more associated with antisocial behaviors.Systematic Review RegistrationPROSPERO (CRD42024566326).

The present study examined the role of work orientations in music teachers’ experiences of flow in teaching, and the crossover of flow from teachers to their students. The sample comprised 135 music teachers and 484 students from 7 different music schools in Croatia. Based on the theory of work orientation, flow theory, and emotional contagion theory, it was hypothesized that seeing one’s job just as the source of material benefits leads to less frequent flow in teaching, while orientation to work as a calling leads to more frequent flow in teaching, which in turn crosses over to students. Questionnaires for measuring work orientations and flow in teachers and students were applied. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and the model demonstrated an excellent fit. Practical implications of these results point to the importance of cultivating the calling orientation of teachers in order to facilitate their experience of flow in teaching and consequently the crossover of flow to students.

Regrouping practices are frequent in pig production, altering hierarchy and triggering aggressive behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the physiological responses of piglets to an experimental model designed to induce stress through systematic social mixing in two trials. In Trial A, a total of 144 crossbred piglets (25 days postweaning) housed in one room within 36 pens (four piglets/pen) were used and randomly assigned to either a control group (piglets maintained in their pen, Ctrl-A) or a social challenge group (piglets mixed, SC-A). In Trial B, the same number of animals (33 days postweaning) and crossbreed line was used, and each piglet was assigned either to a control group (Ctrl-B) or a social challenge group (SC-B) in two independent rooms (rooms Ctrl and SC, 12 pens/ room, six piglets/pen). The social challenge consisted of daily moves of three out of four pen mates and five out of six pen mates, for Trials A and B, respectively. In the Ctrl groups, all piglets stayed in their original pen. Before the 1st mixing day and at the end of the 3rd mixing day, saliva (cortisol concentration) and blood (cortisol concentration changes, hemogram, and immunologic activation) samples were collected from two random piglets per pen. Skin lesion scores of all piglets were also recorded on the front, middle, and rear body regions. In Trial A, the total skin lesions score was higher in the SC-A group compared to the Ctrl-A group after the social challenge (0.53 vs. 0.17; p

Abstract The phenomenon of contagious itch, observed in both humans and rodents, remains a topic of ongoing debate concerning its modulators and underlying pathways. This study delves into the relationship between contagious itch and familiar olfactory cues, a non-visual factor contributing to this intriguing behavior. Our findings showed that contagious itch in observer mice occurs during physical interaction with the cagemate itch-demonstrator but not with a stranger demonstrator or in a non-physical encounter condition. Notably, itch-experienced observer mice displayed an increased contagious itch behavior, highlighting the relevance of itch-associated memory in this phenomenon. Furthermore, anosmic observer mice, whether itch-naïve or itch-experienced, displayed no contagious itch behavior. These results demonstrate that the familiar olfactory cues, specifically cagemate body odors, are required for contagious itch behaviors in mice. In line with these behavioral findings, our study reveals increased activity in brain regions associated with olfaction, emotion, and memory during contagious itch, including the olfactory bulb, the amygdala, the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus, with this activity diminished in anosmic mice. In conclusion, our study unveils the critical role of familiar olfactory cues in driving contagious itch in mice, shedding light on the interplay between social factors, sensory perception, and memory in this phenomenon.

Yisong Feng,1 Jing Cui2 1College of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Human Resources Office, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jing Cui, Human Resources Office, Chongqing Medical University, 1 Yixueyuan Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13708360542, Fax +862368480072, Email cuijing@cqmu.edu.cnPurpose: This study aimed to examine the role of personal emotions and emotional contagion within organizations on the behavior and attitudes of healthcare personnel. This study is expected to provide a theoretical foundation for reducing resignation behaviors and improving healthcare quality.Materials and Methods: This study adopted a quantitative research method with a cross-sectional survey through an online questionnaire. The bootstrap method with 5000 iterations was used to validate the role of variables within a 95% confidence interval. SPSS 26.0 and Model 5 in Process 3.4 for SPSS were used for the data analysis.Results: This research involved 459 healthcare personnel, whose levels of role overload (3.821± 0.925), emotional exhaustion (3.436± 1.189), and turnover emotional contagion (3.110± 1.099) were notably high. Role overload was positively related to turnover intention, with emotional exhaustion as a mediator. Notably, turnover emotional contagion exerted a positive moderating effect.Conclusion: This study emphasizes the adverse effects of emotional exhaustion and turnover emotional contagion in the Chinese context, offering practical recommendations for medical organizational managers to navigate turnover intention among healthcare personnel. This study suggests paying attention to the emotional state of healthcare personnel and providing adequate support resources. Managers should routinely assess and track turnover emotional contagion within the organization, fostering a positive emotional atmosphere.Keywords: emotional contagion, emotional exhaustion, role overload, turnover intention, job demands-resources model

Media power, the impact that media have on public opinion and perspectives, plays a significant role in maintaining internal stability, exerting external influence, and shaping international dynamics for nations /regions. However, prior research has primarily concentrated on news content and reporting time, resulting in limitations in evaluating media power. To more accurately assess media power, we use news content, news reporting time, and news emotion simultaneously to explore the emotional contagion between media. We use emotional contagion to measure the mutual influence between media and regard the media with greater impact as having stronger media power. We propose a framework called Measuring Media Power via Emotional Contagion (MMPEC) to capture emotional contagion among media, enabling a more accurate assessment of media power at the media and national/regional levels. MMPEC also interprets experimental results through correlation and causality analyses, ensuring explainability. Case analyses confirm the higher accuracy of MMPEC compared to other baseline models, as demonstrated in the context of COVID-19-related news, yielding compelling and interesting insights.