We found that social networks have clusters of happy and unhappy people within them that reach out to three degrees of separation. A person's happiness is related to the happiness of their friends, their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends—that is, to people well beyond their social horizon. We found that happy people tend to be located in the center of their social networks and to be located in large clusters of other happy people. And we found that each additional happy friend increases a person's probability of being happy by about 9%.
Social Networks and Happiness, Nicholas A. Christakis & James H. Fowler.
(This publication is actually full of statistics you can read in reverse: if richer people are more happy, it might be that happy people advance easier and are therefore richer. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.)
