Are You a Transmitter or a Receiver?

Some people are more likely to be transmitters of emotions, while some are more likely to be receivers, readily becoming infected by other people's moods. Transmitters are often highly expressive in both words and gestures. "It's easy for others to see how they feel," Cacioppo says. Those who have the upper hand in a relationship, such as a boss, may be more likely to transmit emotions, since people in subordinate positions pay more attention to those they perceive to be above them.

There is also a breed of people who, consciously or not, want to make you feel as they do, because they're emotional bullies, and inflicting their moods on others makes them feel powerful. Then there are energy vampires — the drama queens and the chronic complainers of this world — who can suck the life out of you with their crises and negativity, often without realizing it. People who are primarily receivers, by contrast, often have strong internal reactions to emotional events. Their heartbeats may speed up or they may get butterflies in their stomachs when they're nervous, Cacioppo says. You probably know if you're one of them because your hands get clammy or your heart races before you give a presentation at work. People who are highly attuned to others' emotions and adept at reading expressions are also more susceptible to catching emotions.

Women are especially sensitive to absorbing others' moods, says Ross W. Buck, Ph.D., a professor of communication sciences and psychology at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Socialization has something to do with it, since women are raised to tune in to others' feelings, Buck says. Recently researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch, in Galveston, studied 553 couples to see how one spouse's emotional state affected the other's. Although a husband's depression had a profound impact on his wife's well-being, the converse wasn't true.