This study investigates the mechanisms underlying the spread of emotion from one individual to another. Subjects who were either very high or very low in nonverbal expressiveness were paired to create equal numbers of same-sex dyads in which both members were higiily expressive, both were unexpressive, or a high and a low were paired together. Moods were assessed both before and after a britf waiting period during which talking was not allowed. The results suggested that social comparison processes are, in part, responsible far mood convergence. Consistent with previous findings, the expressive members of high-low dyads exerted more influence on moods of the unexpressives than vice versa.
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