by: Ilya Vedrashko
A self-fulfilling prophecy in action as the blogosphere cheers the latest research findings: "Psychologists have long known that feelings can be contagious over short time frames or that people reflexively return smiles. But the new social network analysis showed that that contagious effect extends three "degrees" – as far as a friend of a friend of a friend – and drops off with time and distance.
Yes, but cheer this: the research team’s earlier "study, involving more than 12,000 people tracked over 32 years, found that social networks play a surprisingly powerful role in determining an individual’s chances of gaining weight" (source).
From which we conclude that popular Twitter users’ extra bulk is pure happiness.
Original Post: http://adverlab.blogspot.com/2008/12/fat-and-happiness-are-social.html
