REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1631927
The Spread of Mind: Psychological Contagion in Theory and Critique
Provisionally accepted
- 1Integrated Knowledge Systems,, Dallas, TX,, United States
- 2Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
- 3Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Psychological contagion involves the transfer and 'snowballing' of emotions, perceptions, or behaviors within or across individuals, often through subtle, automatic, or unconscious mechanisms. This narrative review synthesizes cross‑disciplinary evidence and proposes a mechanism‑level Cascading‑Resonance Model of PC. Drawing on neuroscience, social psychology, media studies, and diffusion theory, we identify nine mechanisms that instantiate a three‑layer process involving individual resonance, interpersonal synchronization, and group‑level cascade. We summarize empirical patterns across cross-modal domains, map mechanisms to observable indicators and intervention levers, as well as offer falsifiable propositions for measurement and platform‑level testing. We further explore the role of contagion in modern-day controversies and anomalous experiences. Findings are preliminary and based on conceptual synthesis rather than exhaustive meta‑analysis, so we highlight priority directions for causal, multilevel research and policy evaluation.
Keywords: behavioral mimicry, emotional contagion, suggestion and expectancy effects, memetic transmission, Narrative review, psychological contagion
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 15 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Houran, Dagnall, Sapkota and Lange. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Neil Dagnall, n.dagnall@mmu.ac.uk
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.