We affect each other’s feelings. It happens all the time, even in silence. Feelings are transmitted from one person to another in the same way as viruses. We are all in the exchange of feelings. It doesn’t require any certain volition. We constantly collect feelings into our own bank through observation. We are influenced by others and we in turn influence others. The strongest emotional state always wins. It has been discovered, that the strongest emotional state wins even in a situation, where a person is sitting with two others silently in a circle. That strongest emotional state transmits to the others like a virus, and in the end joy, happiness, fear or depression has devolved into the others.
Think of a situation, where you come into the coffee room of your workplace, when there has just been a rather lively confrontation between people. You immediately sense the strained atmosphere. You don’t need to wonder, whether everything is all right or not. You know that there has been quarreling in the room, because you feel it intuitively. You have to work hard to keep yourself apart from the feelings that float around in the air so strongly.
Feelings are easily transmitted, and therefore influencing through feelings is supremely effective. Actually nothing is as effective. Reason never gets over the emotional threshold, because it is too logic to keep up with the pace of feelings. Even to the most consistent explanation a great lot of feelings have to be attached, in order for the message to go through.
I have often heard the claim that negative emotions would spread faster than positive ones. So far I haven’t found any scientific evidence that negative emotions would spread faster than positive ones or vice versa. Thus I settle for stating that whatever feelings in question, their influential speed is really rapid. What has been proven is that positive feelings are factors that both support to the body’s health, and improve effectiveness at work. But that is a whole other story.