You’re not just average of 5 people around you but more…

Just as old Mexican proverb says “Show me who you’re with, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

A 2008 study published by James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis did a network analysis of 4739 individuals followed from 1983 to 2003 in Framingham, Massachusetts.

This paper creates a Happiness cluster in the Framingham social network.

1. Graphs show largest component of friends, spouses, and siblings at exam 6 (centred on year 1996, showing 1181 individuals) and exam 7 (year 2000, showing 1020 individuals).
2. Each node represents one person (circles are female, squares are male).
3. Lines between nodes indicate relationship (black for siblings, red for friends and spouses).
4. Each node is coloured according to the person’s happiness on a spectrum from blue (unhappy) to yellow (happy).

This examination of the social network clearly indicates that happy people tend to be connected to one another.

Fig 1 Happiness clusters in the Framingham social network (from Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis)

The paper further analyses how probability of your happiness is affected, for example:

Fig 2 Social distance and happiness in the Framingham social network. Ego is subject, and alter is his/her network. (from Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis)

1. If your friend is happy your probability of happiness increases by ~15.5%

2. If a friend of friend is happy your probability of happiness increases your probability by ~9.8%

3. If a friend of friend of friend is happy your probability of happiness increases your probability by ~6%

Author of LEADING FROM ANYWHERE, David Brukes offers a wonderful context to this, “Now six percent might not seem like much, but consider that other studies suggest that if I gave you a $10,000 raise, that would only trigger about a 2 percent increase in your happiness”.

Many studies support the general wisdom that your friends and network really do determine your well being and future. While it doesn’t mean you have to be always deliberate about whom to befriend, but it certainly means being more conscious of majority of those who are around you. You are average of your network, so from time to time look around and make sure you are surrounded by people who bring your average up.