The ‘Contagion’ of it all
As I weave together my scattered but related thoughts on the idea of “Contagion” bubbling in my head I am reminded of this amusing writing I had once read….an attractive girl in a class full of boys decided to leverage the contagious characteristic of a ‘yawn’ to find out whether the guy in the last row of the class whom she had been secretly admiring has reciprocal feelings for her. She hence decided to fake a ‘yawn’ hoping to catch the guy yawning back because of the inexplicable urge for anyone to yawn watching someone else perform this act. As she yawned and turned back, she found the whole class yawning!! Though not very successful in this anecdote, ‘contagion’ is a phenomenon more ubiquitous than we realize.
In fact I would audaciously state that it’s almost a continual act we engage in, deliberately or otherwise. Assuming this is true, the implications are mighty. If we are tuning in to all the wavelengths around us how does that mould us as an individual, especially if it’s sans our individual volition?
There is an interesting phenomenon in Psychology called ‘Introjection Identification’ where one takes in of someone else’s qualities, especially of someone we like or admire. All of us must have experienced, sometime or other, people around us emulating our actions or repeating our words, without it ever dawning on them. One need not even be emotionally close to the person for this to occur. So whether total strangers compare the hours you spend working-out with theirs and attempt to ‘catch up’ , your acquaintances start using the terms or ideas that you identify as your signature or your friends changing their wardrobe to match a close version of yours, the introjection is omnipresent and needs almost no conscious trigger. In fact once a pro-cyclist mentioned that people who passionately follow a sport start looking like the equipment they use to pursue the sport. Though that might be construed as a far fetched thought by some, but the strength of contagion is undeniable.
There is a fine line between comprehending the construct of ‘contagion’ with feelings like competition. Contagion is beyond comparing ourselves with others, skewing more toward appreciation leading to modeling the source of appreciation – like a contagious smile having a domino effect of many smiles. Martin Seligman, one of the pioneers of the ‘Positive Psychology’ revolution that studies human strengths and virtues, as against the vast history of studying human deficit, has drafted the Handbook and classification of strengths that has one interesting criteria for any strength to be included. He delineates that a characteristic is a strength when it does not generate envy or jealousy in others but sparks admiration and emulation. This could be one of the tests we may adopt to proactively filter-in the strengths in others that are worth imbibing. This may also be the criteria that we may accept for exuding the strengths that we possess that are strengths in the true nature of the word hence making ‘contagion’ an invigorating and symbiotic exchange.
If we pick up the actions, energy, or thoughts of everyone around does that imply a possible strategy of being in environments that are conducive to how we perceive ourselves at our highest best? I personally feel it in every physical fitness class- if the person next to me is sighing, grunting or rolling her eyes there is this unexplainable sapping of physical energy as opposed to when someone is exuding energy and enthusiasm. That is what the word ‘Satsang’ means- keeping the company of the ‘highest truth’- manifested as experiencing people, scriptures or chants- and letting that truth simply percolate inside. This also means being aware when the energy within us is being sucked out by the surroundings so that we may consciously move out of that field.
All kinds of virus are in the air- 'debilitating' like a unhealthy relationship as well as 'buttressing' like a great piece of writing that resonates within – we need to differentiate and chose to catch the one that we want. The strength of contagion is also undeniable changing all lives it touches- we need to decide what kind of ‘carrier’ we wish to be- so that we selectively catch and spread only that which is beautiful!
As I weave together my scattered but related thoughts on the idea of “Contagion” bubbling in my head I am reminded of this amusing writing I had once read….an attractive girl in a class full of boys decided to leverage the contagious characteristic of a ‘yawn’ to find out whether the guy in the last row of the class whom she had been secretly admiring has reciprocal feelings for her. She hence decided to fake a ‘yawn’ hoping to catch the guy yawning back because of the inexplicable urge for anyone to yawn watching someone else perform this act. As she yawned and turned back, she found the whole class yawning!! Though not very successful in this anecdote, ‘contagion’ is a phenomenon more ubiquitous than we realize.
In fact I would audaciously state that it’s almost a continual act we engage in, deliberately or otherwise. Assuming this is true, the implications are mighty. If we are tuning in to all the wavelengths around us how does that mould us as an individual, especially if it’s sans our individual volition?
There is an interesting phenomenon in Psychology called ‘Introjection Identification’ where one takes in of someone else’s qualities, especially of someone we like or admire. All of us must have experienced, sometime or other, people around us emulating our actions or repeating our words, without it ever dawning on them. One need not even be emotionally close to the person for this to occur. So whether total strangers compare the hours you spend working-out with theirs and attempt to ‘catch up’ , your acquaintances start using the terms or ideas that you identify as your signature or your friends changing their wardrobe to match a close version of yours, the introjection is omnipresent and needs almost no conscious trigger. In fact once a pro-cyclist mentioned that people who passionately follow a sport start looking like the equipment they use to pursue the sport. Though that might be construed as a far fetched thought by some, but the strength of contagion is undeniable.
There is a fine line between comprehending the construct of ‘contagion’ with feelings like competition. Contagion is beyond comparing ourselves with others, skewing more toward appreciation leading to modeling the source of appreciation – like a contagious smile having a domino effect of many smiles. Martin Seligman, one of the pioneers of the ‘Positive Psychology’ revolution that studies human strengths and virtues, as against the vast history of studying human deficit, has drafted the Handbook and classification of strengths that has one interesting criteria for any strength to be included. He delineates that a characteristic is a strength when it does not generate envy or jealousy in others but sparks admiration and emulation. This could be one of the tests we may adopt to proactively filter-in the strengths in others that are worth imbibing. This may also be the criteria that we may accept for exuding the strengths that we possess that are strengths in the true nature of the word hence making ‘contagion’ an invigorating and symbiotic exchange.
If we pick up the actions, energy, or thoughts of everyone around does that imply a possible strategy of being in environments that are conducive to how we perceive ourselves at our highest best? I personally feel it in every physical fitness class- if the person next to me is sighing, grunting or rolling her eyes there is this unexplainable sapping of physical energy as opposed to when someone is exuding energy and enthusiasm. That is what the word ‘Satsang’ means- keeping the company of the ‘highest truth’- manifested as experiencing people, scriptures or chants- and letting that truth simply percolate inside. This also means being aware when the energy within us is being sucked out by the surroundings so that we may consciously move out of that field.
All kinds of virus are in the air- 'debilitating' like a unhealthy relationship as well as 'buttressing' like a great piece of writing that resonates within – we need to differentiate and chose to catch the one that we want. The strength of contagion is also undeniable changing all lives it touches- we need to decide what kind of ‘carrier’ we wish to be- so that we selectively catch and spread only that which is beautiful!
posted by Garima at 2:48 AM
1 Comments:
Super!!! I like the topic and almost admire the narrative style of the discourse. Yes we have it very much in our societal, professional and personal interactions - the 'Contagion'. There is an interesting book out recently named 'Wisdom of the Masses' - some parts of the book resonate with the same thought.
The 'Introjection identification' is similar to the psycho-therapeutic definition of 'Protective identification'. The theoretical concept of Protective-Identification is defined as a defense mechanism. As an ego adaptive strategy, Protective-Identification allows the ego to remain defensively attached to internal objects. As a form of protection against trauma or feared loss or abandonment by the object, the infantile ego resorts to oral assimilation defenses in order to preserve harmonious internal ego-object relations and ego-object cathexes. It is argued that Protective-Identification as a defense operates at the regressed level of primary narcissistic identification with the object at the cost of integrated ego autonomy.
Here the idea is not to connote the concept as a state of psychological anomaly or atrophy, but to suggest the interesting underpinning of societal and cultural influences that bring about a tendency to 'belong to a common' . And that this may possibly be rooted in a conundrum of self identity or the lack of it, makes it very interesting. The great Amartya Sen argues that this ultimately leads to a state of unrest by promoting reductionist division of people by race, religion, and class.
Great though and articulation!!! Cheers...
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