Happiness networks

Professors James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis conducted a social network analysis to "evaluate whether happiness can spread from person to person and whether niches of happiness form within social networks." Their study was summarized in the British Medical Journal article Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. (See http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/)

Results (with minor edits): "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 and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%. Similar effects are seen in coresident spouses (8%), siblings who live within a mile (14%), and next door neighbors (34%). Effects are not seen between coworkers. The effect decays with time and geographical separation."

Conclusions: "People's happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected."

It appears that your chances of happiness increase greatly if you are connected to happy people who are themselves connected to a great many happy people. Be a central node in a network of happy people, or at least be close friends with such a node.

Does this social network component of happiness explain the fascination and attraction we feel toward celebrities? Do we see famous people as "uber-nodes" that we would like to connect to and thus further our own happiness?