“Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone.” Emotional contagion and the theories that if one person starts smiling, others around him do too. Plus, mirror neurons and the interesting findings that there are neurons in our brains that react instinctively to a frown or a smile by putting our faces in similar positions.

“Opposites attract” - DISPROVEN. I don’t have the exact references but Margaret Neale of the Stanford Graduate School of Business uses references that in relationships, couples and friends that have similar values tend to stay together or friends longer.

Oooh! Here’s a fun one! “Work like you don’t need the money” Amy Wrzesniewski’s research on work as a job, career, or calling shows that people who see their work as a calling tend to like their job more, and to do a better job at work.

“Small steps, quantum leaps” (or any other idiom that means “small steps lead to success”) Albert Bandura’s research on mastery experiences shows that self-efficacy (the belief that I-think-I-can) is built best through small successes.

Thanks, Caroline!