Friends Often Spell “Mood Swing” Danger: Research

Feeling down in the dumps? A new study says that the guilty party could well be an innocent friend, (and not any of the other commonly-blamed culprits like weather, love handles or work-related issues), that’s triggered off the blues yet again. In short, moods are easily susceptible and heavily influenced by those around us.

When friends smile, people smile with them. And when they are low, people tend to feel sorry for themselves too.

Compassion And Power Don't Go Hand in Hand
Does power diminishes an individual's tendency to help others? Well, according to researchers from University of Amsterdam and University of California, Berkeley, the answer is yes .

A team led by Dr Nicholas Christakis, a sociologist at Harvard Medical School, and including Professor Fowler, made their conclusions after analyzing 53,228 social connections between 5,124 individuals over time, reports New Scientist.

The study also discovered that the effect is not down to happy people simply being attracted towards like-minded sorts. Instead, cheerfulness itself is contagious.

Dr Christakis said: "If you drop one pebble in a pond, it will create ripples out from the pebble."

'Friendship Addiction' and User Insecurity in Facebook
Social networking site, Facebook, is responsible for 'friendship addiction' and is fuelling insecurity in users, according to psychologists.

He added: "Most people will not be surprised that people with more friends are happier, but what really matters is whether those friends are happy."

The researchers found a happy friend increased the odds of someone being happy by 15 per cent -but that a friend of a friend boosted the chance by about 10 per cent, and a friend of a friend of a friend by about six per cent.

Study Finds Girls as Competitive as Boys
When it comes to competition, girls are no less than boys - with just a simple difference - they employ more subtle tactics, a new study suggests.

The study claimed that despite physical proximity, the mood of a cohabiting partner was less than 10 per cent likely to have an effect.

Behavior including drinking, smoking and even obesity can spread in a similar manner, the team claims.

Facebook's "Social Games" As Antidote To Internet-Fuelled Antisociality
A new generation of 'sociable' games, which are played through the Internet, may be the antidote to fears that computer games are turning young people antisocial.

However, a person's chances of becoming obese trebled if they had obese friends, Christakis said.

According to the researchers, a whole range of phenomena are 'transmitted' through networks of friends, including happiness and depression, obesity, drinking and smoking habits and even ill-health.

A person's likelihood of voting can also be affected by their friends, as can a taste for certain music or food, a preference for online privacy, and even the tendency to attempt or think about suicide.

Source-ANI
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