Behavioral contagion
Encyclopedia
Behavioral contagion is the propensity for certain behavior exhibited by one person to be copied by others either in the vicinity of the original user, or who have been exposed to media coverage describing the behavior of the original actor. Examples of behavioral contagion include:
- Copycat crimesCopycat crimesA copycat crime is a criminal act that is modelled or inspired by a previous crime that has been reported in the media or described in fiction.-Copycat effect:...
, crimes inspired by or replicating another crime - Copycat suicideCopycat suicideA copycat suicide is defined as an emulation of another suicide that the person attempting suicide knows about either from local knowledge or due to accounts or depictions of the original suicide on television and in other media....
, suicide inspired by or replicating another's suicide - Contagious shootingContagious shootingA contagious shooting is a sociological phenomenon observed in military and police personnel in which one person firing on a target can induce others to begin shooting. Often the subsequent shooters will not know why they are firing....
, wherein the initiation of gunfire by one member of a group causes other members to fire their weapons. - Tawning, where one person yawns in response to seeing or hearing another person yawn.
- Tongue protrusion, an infant will immediately after birth protrude tongue in response to seeing another protrude a tongue.
- Mouth opening, an infant will open his or her mouth wide open in response to seeing another open mouth—has been demonstrated 10 minutes after birth and may be a primitive grimace atavism.