《中英對照讀新聞》引用自自由時報2009.2.1
感到開心？散播出去吧
Happiness is infectious and can "ripple" through social groups such as family and friends -- but work colleagues are apparently immune to each other’s moods, according to a study published Friday.
快樂是有感染力的，能夠在家庭及朋友等社會團體間像漣漪般散布；不過同事很明顯地對其他人的情緒免疫，一份週五公布的研究指出。
The effect creates "clusters" of happy and unhappy people, both socially and in geographical terms, said the study, stressing that contentment "is not merely the province of isolated individuals."
研究指出，就社會性及地域性，（漣漪）效果都會分隔出快樂及不快樂者的群體；而且滿足「不只是獨立個體的專屬品」。
But while the mood of neighbours and friends can have more impact on people than that of live-in partners, work colleagues are not affected by a happy person in their midst, said the study in the British Medical Journal.
雖然鄰居跟朋友的情緒比同在一個屋簷下的伴侶還更有影響力，職場同事卻不會被其中某人的快樂所影響，刊登在「英國醫學期刊」的研究指出。
"Changes in individual happiness can ripple through social networks and generate large scale structure in the network, giving rise to clusters of happy and unhappy individuals," said the study’s authors.
「個人開心程度的改變會透過社交網絡散布出去，並在網絡中創造出大型的社群結構，讓開心與不開心者的團體區分開來」，論文作者表示。
"Most important from our perspective is the recognition that people are embedded in social networks. The health and well-being of one person affects the health and well-being of others, as human happiness is not merely the province of isolated individuals."
「從我們的角度來說，最重要的是瞭解到人都是社會網絡的一環；一個人的身心健康會影響其他人的身心健康，因為人類的快樂不是各別個體的專屬品。」
新聞辭典
infectious：形容詞，有感染力的，如an infectious smile，有感染力的笑。
province：名詞，領域、範圍，It’s not my province.（這不是我的專長領域。）
well-being：名詞，（身心）健康。中文的翻譯雖然與health類似，但在英文的使用上，特指人的健全發展，不但是身體上的健康，也包括心理上的滿足。
《總笑長說：這份研究是在西方社會(美國)做的，所以可能有文化上的差異，而無法完全顯現在東方的台灣。但是可以確定的是：每個愛笑俱樂部都會產生『快樂群聚效應』只是或多或少，或快或慢。》
Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study
James H Fowler, associate professor1, Nicholas A Christakis, professor2
1 Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA , 2 Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Correspondence to: N A Christakis christak@hcp.med.harvard.edu
Objectives： To evaluate whether happiness can spread from person to person and whether niches of happiness form within social networks.
Design： Longitudinal social network analysis.
Setting： Framingham Heart Study social network.
Participants ：4739 individuals followed from 1983 to 2003.
Main outcome measures： Happiness measured with validated four item scale; broad array of attributes of social networks and diverse social ties.
Results ：Clusters of happy and unhappy people are visible in the network, and the relationship between people’s happiness extends up to three degrees of separation (for example, to the friends of one’s friends’ friends). People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals. A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km ) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25% (95% confidence interval 1% to 57%). Similar effects are seen in coresident spouses (8%, 0.2% to 16%), siblings who live within a mile (14%, 1% to 28%), and next door neighbours (34%, 7% to 70%). Effects are not seen between coworkers. The effect decays with time and with geographical separation.
Conclusions： People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.
更新日期:2008/12/05 19:05蔡佳敏
快樂是有感染力的，這份快樂可以「擴散」至家人和朋友等社會團體，不過同事之間顯然不受到彼此心情的影響。 這份研究報告說，不論是社會上或地理上，這種傳染效果都能產生「成群」快樂和不快樂的人。這份報告強調滿足感「不僅僅是隔離個體的範圍」。
根據這份研究報告，地理位置也能影響到快樂與否：如果一個住在距離你方圓1.6公里內的朋友感到快樂，你自己感到快樂的可能性即增加25%。 研究人員發現，一個快樂的人增加他們同居人快樂的可能性為8%，提升住在附近的兄弟姊妹快樂的可能性14%，增加鄰居快樂的可能性達34%。
> 這份研究報告說：「同事之間無法在快樂程度上造成影響，這暗示社會背景也許會減低情緒狀態的擴展。」英國醫學雜誌在這份研究報告最後附上一篇評論。倫敦大學>學院教授史泰普托（Andrew Steptoe）及密西根大學公共衛生學院教授狄茲魯（Ana Diez Roux）在這篇評論中，稱這項發現很具「開創性」。 他們說：「如果可以透過社會關係感染快樂，也許能間接促成公共健康的傳遞，且對政策設計和社會關係調停上具有重大含意。」 > 這項研究在1971年至2003年間，追蹤5124名年紀介於21到70歲的成年人。
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