[Glock]

They are all "contagious," meaning they spread primarily through social groups. Check out this fascinating article that came out a couple of weeks ago.

If a close friend or family member gets divorced, your chance of divorce increases by 75%. But if the divorcee is a "friend of a friend," the chance of divorce goes up by much less. Thus, the "degrees" of social "separation" between you and divorced people offers you some protection from its influence.

The same pattern shows up in longitudinal studies of obesity and child-bearing. You're much more likely to get fat if your family and friends do first. And women are more likely to have kids when those closest to them start doing so.

This provides good support for fat-shaming -- but it means that the people you are most likely to influence with fat-shaming are people you know well.

(I searched for a thread on this article and did not find one.)

[malc]

How about healthy things, like fitness and not eating too much? I think you see the same effect with getting married too.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

This research was published 2 years ago I think, but it's good that it's getting into popular media.

One of the big findings was that being friends with happy people could make you happy, and that being friends with wealthy people could make you wealthy. This effect also held true for 'friends of friends.'

Part of networking, for me, is the ability to build a social circle around yourself reflecting qualities that you want in your own life. Most people are stuck with their social circles from work or school, and don't have the ability to build up new ones from scratch. So they're stuck with socialising with whatever fat poor slob that's in their circle.

[Glock]

The "contagion" effect of social networks explains why it is important to participate in the forum.

[Damascus]

This concept is as old as time. Birds of a feather flock together. Water raises to its own level. People gravitate to those most like them. I went to Ivy League Schools for undergrad and graduate school. Most of my friends peers are competitive individuals who want the most out of life. They work hard and play hard. This forces me to stay on top of my game socially and economically. I tell anyone who wants to change their life to evaluate those around them.

When it comes to dating, attractive women tend to hang out with other attractive women. (generally speaking). If there is an ugly or fatty in the group its because the other girls are feeling sympathetic. However if that ugly or fatty is causing the other women's social value to decline they will dump her in a hot minute.