Dynamic spread of happiness!

The paper in BMJ (British Medical Journal) that received the widest coverage last week shows that happiness is contagious and can spread from person to person. It was the most read article on the BMJ Site, with 12,327 viewers. Authors James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis followed 4739 participants from 1983 to 2003. By studying social networks, the researchers found that happy people are more likely to be connected to other happy people. They also found that people at the centre of their social network were more likely to be happy than those on the periphery of it.