Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jan;101(1):50-67.
doi: 10.1037/apl0000037. Epub 2015 Jun 29.

Catching rudeness is like catching a cold: The contagion effects of low-intensity negative behaviors

Trevor Foulk  1 , Andrew Woolum  1 , Amir Erez  1
Affiliations

Catching rudeness is like catching a cold: The contagion effects of low-intensity negative behaviors

Trevor Foulk et al. J Appl Psychol. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

In this article we offer a new perspective to the study of negative behavioral contagion in organizations. In 3 studies, we investigate the contagion effect of rudeness and the cognitive mechanism that explains this effect. Study 1 results show that low-intensity negative behaviors like rudeness can be contagious, and that this contagion effect can occur based on single episodes, that anybody can be a carrier, and that this contagion effect has second-order consequences for future interaction partners. In Studies 2 and 3 we explore in the laboratory the cognitive mechanism that underlies the negative behavioral contagion effect observed in Study 1. Specifically, we show that rudeness activates a semantic network of related concepts in individuals' minds, and that this activation influences individual's hostile behaviors. In sum, in these 3 studies we show that just like the common cold, common negative behaviors can spread easily and have significant consequences for people in organizations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles