social contagion
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
social contagion (countable and uncountable, plural social contagions)
- (pathology, sociology, psychology) The spontaneous spread of behaviour when it is unconsciously copied from one individual by another; a behavior that spreads in this manner.
- 1852, Horace Bushnell, Unconscious Influence: A Sermon, page 4:
- A Peter leads a John, a John goes after a Peter, both of them unconscious of any influence exercised or received. And thus our life and conduct are ever propagating themselves, by a law of social contagion, throughout the circles […]