Languishing: the accidental contagion

A few weeks ago a business professor wrote an article that travelled so fast and embedded itself so effectively, that it seemed to immediately define the current emotional experience of upper middle class professionals across North America. All of a sudden, everyone was languishing.

Languishing became the nom de guerre for our collective emotional battle. Even my friend Adrian, a resourceful, positive, can-do fellow who has the chutzpah to both lead a large corporate team and build an entire house (cottage) by himself, was suddenly languishing.

Don't underestimate the power of a single word. When helping an organization create a new brand, or evolve an old one, I spend a lot of time interviewing people. Inside and outside the organization. Ideally top to bottom. During these interviews patterns start to emerge. I collect their words into groups and at some point I try to put a name to each grouping. Sometimes the name I put down crystallizes exactly what the organization has been thinking but couldn't express. It helps them define their brand.

Perhaps this was the perfect word to brand this phase of the pandemic (for those with enough privilege to merely languish at least). After all, at one point we were all grieving. But was everyone languishing before Adam Grant wrote this article? By naming the emotion was Grant helping? Psychologists will tell you that one of the best ways to manage emotions is to name them (as anyone with little kids knows). Or perhaps more insidiously was Grant creating a contagion himself?

There's a concept called 'emotional contagion', the idea that emotional states and related behaviours can spread rapidly among people without their awareness. Emotional contagions are spread in person, we smile when we see someone smile at us; and online via the words and pictures we view. Emotional contagion can be particularly useful to those who want their message amplified, like marketers, or writers.

Languishing, a dramatic, over-the-top word that begs for a physical flourish to accompany it, is an appealing way to describe something. It's autological - self-referential, it describes itself. Like other autological words it seems to evoke a more intense emotion. It's appealing when seen or heard. Once it appears, it begs to be spread. Were we really all languishing when Grant published his article? Or did it spread? What great irony that in an effort to describe the pandemic's effect on us, Grant might have managed to create his own contagion.

I'd imagine most of you remember that weird experiment that facebook conducted ON SOCIETY several years ago. This was before facebook was known to be the evil, manipulative creature it is recognized as now. For two weeks in January 2012, data scientists skewed what over 700,000 facebook users saw. They manipulated their newsfeeds to show some people happy, positive content and others sadder posts. At the end of these two weeks the researchers saw that the words these users had viewed had influenced their own online behaviour. Talk about being sad, and you make people sad. Talk about being happy, and you make people happy. Talk about languishing and you make people... languish?

The idea of emotional contagion has existed since Gustav Le Bon observed the close contact spread of emotions (often negative and violent) within the Paris Commune in Psychology of Crowds. Le Bon compared it to the recently-understood linear spread of a microbial contagion. Later research recognized that the spread is in fact dialogic, meaning it relies on an active subject driving a dialogue which creates a ripple effect of emotional experience. The 'Summer of Love' is a good example. Leaders like Timothy Leary shaped the 'peace and love' attitudes that spread through urban areas that summer of 1967.

Just as emotional contagion can pass from person to person, it can also be transferred from person to product. If a person is feeling happy they are more likely to feel favourable about a product. When a person is experiencing negative emotions they are more likely to be rigid and closed to new ideas.

Like good leaders, smart marketers can use emotional contagion to their advantage. They can spread a desired emotion by characterizing it in an appealing way and placing it in the right context. While negativity might sell newspapers, it doesn't sell most other products. As evidenced by the popularity of a gum ad, perhaps it is time for a more optimistic and adventurous emotion to spread. This is a good job for us relentlessly positive marketers... go forth and spread it!

Cameron Stark is Partner, Growth + Operations at creative, branding and design collective Hard Work Club. hardworkclub.com