Six Degrees of Happiness

"A cheery next-door neighbor has more effect on your happiness than your spouse’s mood."

This probably comes as no surprise to Mama Teacher, but a new study reported in the NYTimes today says that you are more affected by the emotions of your friends' friends' friends than you are by events that happen to you directly. In other words, the emotions of my neighbors and local playgroup moms have more effect on my happiness that my parents or sister in Texas. "You have to see them and be in physical and temporal proximity." It's the "socially contagious" theory, also applied to obesity and smoking, which has many detractors who note the effects disappear when researchers factor in shared environmental factors. Final word, from the study's supporters: how you feel (and act) has a widespread influence. Still, they note, "We are not giving you the advice to start smiling at everyone you meet in New York. That would be dangerous.”