Abstract
Social interactions can trigger emotional contagion between individuals resulting in behavioral synchrony. Emotional contagion can be a very effective and attractive strategy in communication and advertising, and understanding the mechanisms underlying emotional contagion can help marketers to improve their commercial approaches or develop better ones. The purpose of this study is to review and classify the various methodologies and theoretical approaches on emotional contagion, identify the best practices in this domain, and identify ways of gaging and measuring emotional contagion. The study is based on a mini literature review. We identify different mechanisms and approaches to emotional contagion described in the literature. Emotional contagion can be triggered by facial expressions, indirect human interactions, and/or by observing other people's behavior in direct and indirect interactions. Furthermore, emotional contagion can be triggered physiologically or neurologically by synchronizing with the emotional state of others during human interactions. Regarding the assessment and measurement of emotional contagion, we argue that methods based on neuroscience tools are much more accurate and effective than methods based on traditional research approaches. The study identifies guidelines for research on commercial communication through emotional contagion that can be especially interesting for academia and marketing practitioners. The findings are important for field marketers interested in developing new individualized approaches in their commercial strategies and marketing in general. In addition, the study can become the basis of research that further refines and compares the efficacy of the various techniques and tools involved.
Highlights
Emotion theorists have been describing emotions from a different level of complexity point of view (Darwin, 1872/1965; Izard, 1971, 1992; Ekman et al, 1983; Fischer et al, 1990; Ortony and Turner, 1990; Panksepp, 2004)
This study reviews and classifies the current research around emotional contagion, examining the theoretical backgrounds of the concept and identifying the various mechanisms and methodological approaches underpinning the processes of emotional contagion during human interactions
Emotional arousal is transmissible during human interactions, and this study reviews and classifies the methodological approaches and mechanisms that explain the contagious nature of emotions
Summary
Emotion theorists have been describing emotions from a different level of complexity point of view (Darwin, 1872/1965; Izard, 1971, 1992; Ekman et al, 1983; Fischer et al, 1990; Ortony and Turner, 1990; Panksepp, 2004). Marketing research on emotional contagion has focused on understanding how positive or negative emotions converge in positive or negative consumer behavior (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2006; Dellarocas et al, 2007; Cowley, 2014; Kramer et al, 2014; Fox et al, 2018). While marketing and psychology studies usually employ selfreported techniques to understand consumer behavior, the study of emotional contagion is quite suited to drawing on neurophysiological techniques to explain how emotions trigger mind and body arousal (Bell et al, 2018; Verhulst et al, 2019; Bettiga et al, 2020). The review concludes with a discussion of the most appropriate methodologies to advance research on emotional contagion, and identifies various topics of further research
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