Inspiration Contagion Effects: Elevated Thoughts and Transcendent Emotions

Abstract

This study investigates the phenomenon of inspiration contagion on Reddit’s GetMotivated subreddit, where inspirational posts may trigger similarly inspirational responses in user comments. Extending prior work on emotional contagion, the study disentangles thought contagion (the transfer of thematic ideas) from emotional contagion (the transfer of specific feelings), with a focus on self-transcendent emotions (e.g., admiration, gratitude, optimism) and motivation-related emotions (e.g., curiosity, desire, realization). Using topic modeling and mixed-effects models, our results show strong evidence for both forms of contagion. Thought contagion was strongest when comments thematically aligned with the original post, particularly in narratives about "overcoming struggles and finding motivation''. For emotional contagion, gratitude demonstrated the most powerful same-emotion transfer effect. Motivation-related emotions did not show direct transfer, but posts expressing curiosity were found to elicit admiration in comments. These findings clarify the distinct mechanism by which inspiration spreads in online communities.