Is Happiness Contagious? - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
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Saved by 4 people (-1 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-12-09
- Leitang on 2009-06-28 - Tags no_tag
- Yukonsyl on 2009-04-25 - Tags happiness , research , psychology , reasoning
- Afeeney on 2008-12-16 - Tags socialnetworks , happiness
- Jamused on 2008-12-09 - Tags contagious , freakonomics
Public Sticky notes
They use Fowler and Christakis’s approach on another dataset, and show that it leads to the unlikely conclusion that height, headaches, and acne are also contagious. The more likely explanation, of course, is that all are subject to similar environmental influences. For instance, the same jackhammer causing your headache is likely causing mine.
Highlighted by jamused
There are (at least) three reasons why happiness is correlated within social networks.
Highlighted by yukonsyl
Interestingly, the same issue of the BMJ contained a very careful article by Ethan Cohen-Cole and Jason Fletcher making precisely this point. They employ a pretty cheeky research strategy: if you want to show that a research design is silly, show that it leads to silly conclusions.
Highlighted by yukonsyl
researchers can too easily draw false conclusions about contagion
Highlighted by yukonsyl
“epidemic” reflects a shared environmental influence, like each newspaper receiving the same press release
Highlighted by leitang
Public Comment