Monkeys, haters and mirror neurons

The last few weeks, there was a spate of negative comments left by anonymous posters on various blogs including those of MBAJ, MBAC and TyCoon. The phenomenon even spawned a post by Where'sMyDesert trying to preempt the haters by posting possible anonymous comments herself! I didn't (and don't) feel the need to engage in this discussion for several reasons, so I won't get into that.

I did however come across a link to an interesting post that is sort of related to this, on Instapundit, which he teased as 'WHY READING NASTY BLOG COMMENTS (and blogs) can be bad for you.' Apparently there are scientific studies out there that suggest that we do indeed mirror the emotions of those around us and that negativity (or something positive) can affect our behaviour.

Spend time with a nervous, anxious person and physiological monitoring would most likely show you mimicking the anxiety and nervousness, in ways that affect your brain and body in a concrete, measurable way. Find yourself in a room full of pissed off people and feel the smile slide right off your face. Listen to people complaining endlessly about work, and you'll find yourself starting to do the same. Link. Mirror Neurons. Business Management.

So I guess there might be some merit to moderating the comments on your site to get rid of the negativity. More importantly, this theory encompasses so much more than just some random anonymous comments. Now that decision about which B school to choose takes on a whole new aspect! Do you want to go to a snotty, cut-throat school or would you rather go somewhere else (SFW, just that link though, dunno about the rest of the site, I've never even heard of it :) ), where you're surrounded by happy people. It's going to affect your brain after all!