Emotional Contagion

Born and bred in contemporary Pakistani society, I often felt the conscious need of being relevant to certain groups of people following fixed views socially. These groups naively or ignorantly forced me to think/do with certain filters on. This phenomenon is known as Emotional Contagion, which Elaine Hatfield, who teaches social psychology at the university of Hawaii presented a view on EC as the phrase "emotional contagion" embodies the idea that humans synchronize their own emotions with the emotions expressed by those around them, whether consciously or unconsciously.

This exists globally, in every individual’s mind which manipulates them to act in a certain manner. Eventually, the state of questioning led me into talking surveys to understand this phenomenon in detail. After that process, I focused on the similarities found in each of them which helped me understand the fact that during the process of emotional contagion, the victim is never able to maintain a single expression and that is exactly what I went through myself.

His/her expression varies as it is forced. In my work I am presenting variations of different

Expressions (of myself) which are designed using the technique of line art and dismantled which makes it hard to understand.

Concluding my project, I have visualized the awful feeling felt during the constant shift of expressions on my face caused during the act of emotional contagion.