This paper examines the relationship between social networks and happiness. It suggests that a key stimulus to human happiness is exposure to the happiness of others.

Researchers used data from 4,739 individuals enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study between 1971 and 2003. Happiness was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale.

Key Findings:

• Clusters of happy and unhappy people appear in social networks. Happy people tend to appear in the center of their social networks and within large clusters of happiness.
• Happiness can be associated across three degrees of separation within a social network.
• The spread of happiness requires physical proximity: the strongest effects are observed when individuals live within half a mile of one another.
• The effect of one person's change in happiness on another person's happiness lessens over time.

A more complex understanding of the role of social networks in determining happiness may have implications for the administration of public and community health.

This paper examines the relationship between social networks and happiness. It suggests that a key stimulus to human happiness is exposure to the happiness of others.