Learn How to Be Successful with Behavioral Contagion
For centuries, maybe even millennia, parents have been giving their kids some version of the following warning: if you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas. It encapsulates something we’ve known about human nature for a long time:
It’s been a maxim for so long that many don’t even question it, but research data backs it up. Behavior scientists have been studying human and primate behavior to map how this behavioral contagion works, and they’ve come out with some interesting results. As the Association for Psychological Science explains:
On a biological level, we are built to mimic others. Recent research shows that humans, like monkeys, have certain types of neurons that fire when simply watching someone else carry out an action, even when we ourselves are not doing the same thing. Such neurons help prime us to understand and identify with other people.
Our tendency to mimic each other is great for community building when the behavior we mimic is positive, but to the extent we’re imitating harmful behavior, it can actually be destructive.
Here’s a brief overview of how behavioral contagion works, the types of behavior that are ultra contagious, and how to use this knowledge to set yourself up for success.
Factors that Influence Behavioral Contagion
Behavioral scientists have been studying this trend in humans and animals for decades now, and they’ve come to some interesting conclusions about the factors that make it more likely for behavior to spread. Ready for this?
Reduced restraint
The biggest indicator of whether behavior will be contagious is whether there is social disapproval or some other factor restraining people from participating in it. If a person’s community thinks behavior is bad, that person will be less likely to engage in it. If their community thinks the behavior is no big deal, they will be more likely to do it.
Crowded environment
lt turns out that when there are more people in a space and a larger group overall, each person in that group perceives the other members of the group as more significant environmental factors, and so their behavior is more likely to be noticed and emulated by other members of the group.
Role models
When a person models a particular behavior, others around them are more likely to imitate that behavior if they look up to that person. For example, when adults model aggressive behavior in front of children, children are more likely to imitate it. Or in other words: kids do what we do not what we say.
Extroversion.
Extroverts tend to be more likely than introverts to pick up behavior from people around them.
Group identity.
A more recent study found that, when a person identifies strongly with the group around them, they are more likely to imitate that group’s behavior.
Bad Behavior is Ulta-Viral
A 2018 article in the Harvard Business Review identified a troubling trend: bad behavior has a higher behavior contagion than good behavior. In fact, they found that it was easier to get employees in a workplace to mimic a coworker’s bad behavior than it was to get them to mimic a coworker’s good behavior. There are some theories for why that is.
For one thing, there’s less resistance to bad behavior than good behavior--that is, it’s just easier to be lazy, to turn things in late, to slack off. It requires less effort than being organized, diligent, and consistent. It’s also often seen as a shortcut, either to avoid unpleasant and seemingly meaningless tasks or to get to a successful end point more quickly. Bad behavior can feel good in the moment because it often provides an instant reward, even if it undermines us in the long run.
Surround Yourself with Good Behavior to Achieve Success
But if bad behavior is ultra-viral, good behavior can be contagious, too. You just need to understand how your brain works and how to harness its power effectively.
That’s where this great interview with Emily Falk, a social neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, comes in. Professor Falk explains that social influence is driven, in part, by the brain’s reward systems, and that if we can trigger that reward system, we can use social influence for good.
One of the ways you can do that is by associating the good behavior you want to achieve with a positive outcome or a reward. Professor Falk recommends self affirmations as one potential tool, and surrounding yourself with persuasive messages as another. Where can those persuasive messages come from? Why, from friends and coworkers who demonstrate the kind of behavior you want to emulate. This is one of the backbones of Myrth - the idea that linking yourself with others who are engaging in positive behavior and who will support you in your goals to do the same will ultimately help you achieve that goal. And also the values behind the MyMoai app.
There’s also the innate power of inertia and good social pressure. For example, if you’re trying to increase your activity level, it helps to be surrounded by active people. When everybody around you wants to go for a walk on a Saturday afternoon instead of sitting in front of the tv, it’s a lot harder to opt out, and trying to explain that might take more effort than just joining them for the walk.
Surrounding yourself with people who behave the way you want to behave--whether that’s maintaining the type of work culture you want to adopt, keeping up the activity level you aspire to, or reading the kinds of books you want to read and discuss with others--is a crucial component in making lasting, long-term behavior change. Not only do they help inspire you to do better, but they can help pick you back up when you stumble. Keep good company, and you’ll find yourself improving, too.
Have you ever made a behavioral change with the help of friends who model that behavior for you? How did it go? Drop us a comment and let us know.
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