"Christakis found that smoking and obesity can be socially infectious too. If his thesis proves out, then the saying that you can judge a person by his or her friends might carry more weight than we thought."

Pun intended, or no? =) If so, I thought it was funny.

Nice post by the way. I'll be sure to strike down that cynical view of human nature if I ever hear it.

nice post :)

Well, I don't know. It seems that it might have overlook the fact that we often make friends with people in the same social economic level, in the same area. Thus, external factors might be the reason that friends share emotions.

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I wonder what the author meant by the contagious happiness not applying with "social networking". Does that mean happy tweets aren't contagious? If that's his contention, I disagree. I like happy twittering to counteract the negativity I find on the news especially.

Happiness is also attractive. Be happy. Be attractive.

Did it occur to anyone that people like to do things that make them feel good? Eating, laughing, smoking... Wouldn't you naturally be attracted to someone who makes you feel good? The releasing of endorphins by our brains is addicting.

And with the smoking example, is it possible that the two friends weren't friends to begin with? They were both shoved outside with nothing to do, but huddle together in the cold and smoke? Then they became friends?

Or that weight isn't contagious, however, the habits and activities friends share could have been the culprit? Friends that like to go to the movies and indulge in a huge bucket of popcorn instead of a lovely afternoon hike?