http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pursuit-of-happiness/2009/01/23/1232471590768.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

Above is a link to the article, The Pursuit Of Happiness, published in January in The Sydney Herald. This article explains how many activities– happiness, sadness, smoking or drinking habits, and preferences or tastes— are heavily influenced by our social networks. One study found that a person’s chance at happiness increases the more they are connected to happy people. The two main factors which affect the strength of a friend’s happiness “infection” impact are the frequency of social contact and the strength of the relation. This spread of happiness through a network of friends is very similar to the spread of other phenomena, such as obesity or habits. However, the spread of obesity is based on the adoption of norms(you see your friends change weight, your idea of an acceptable weight changes) while the spread of happiness is based on the idea that people unconsciously adopt the manner and facial expressions of those around them. While the mechanism of social contagion might vary upon the activity, the study found that the effect of friends on a person’s behavior is limited to three degrees of separation. One researcher advises seeking out new friends with lifestyles we aspire to have and to be wary of not only friends who have traits we don’t want to share, but also those friends who hang out with such people. Lastly, the article outlines briefly another study, which claims out position within, is social network is influenced by your genes.
This article directly ties into our class discussions. In class we discussed that close network of friends share similar interests and traits as you. This article claims that close friends share similar traits because they spread throughout the close network. The articles also incorporates the idea of local bridges, structural balance, three degrees of separation, as well as, the different positions within a network. While your immediate friends might have the lifestyles you would like, one of your friends could be a local bridge to another set of people who have traits you dislike, say smoking. This friend could start smoking because he is influenced by that group of friends. He in turn carries the smoking habit to your immediate group of friends.