Many people think that the more often positive things happen to you, the happier you are. As it turns out, that isn’t true. Happy people don’t experience a larger amount of happy life events than unhappy people. Happiness depends more on perspective, how prone you are to depression, and getting enough sleep.
Ed Diener and Martin Seligman screened over 200 undergraduates for levels of happiness. Then, they compared the upper 10% with the middle and bottom 10%, the upper being considered extremely happy. It was found that the upper 10% experienced no more positive life events than the other two groups (Barker).
These results are probably surprising for most people. It makes sense to assume that the more happy events you experience, the happier you’ll be. It’s very interesting that an observational study such as this proved the opposite.
In another study, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues asked 909 employed women to record their previous day’s experiences in detail in order to track their moods and activities. They found that most major life circumstances, including women’s household income and various features of their jobs, were correlated only minimally with their happiness (Barker).
In comparison, women’s sleep quality and proneness toward depression were good predictors of their happiness. Based off of these studies, it’s important to remember not to be too jealous when it appears that someone is experiencing many happy events in their life. It’s possible that they’re still not truly happy on the inside.
Works Cited
Barker, Eric. “11 Scientific Studies That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.” The Week. N.p., 25 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. <http://theweek.com/article/index/266837/11-scientific-studies-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity>.
Barker, Eric. “Are the Big Events in Life Most Responsible for Your Happiness?” Barking Up The Wrong Tree. N.p., 7 Apr. 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/04/are-the-big-events-in-life-most-responsible-f/>.
This is like the saying “money doesn’t buy happiness” just because you have a lot of money, doesn’t mean you are happy, and just because you have happy events in your like doesn’t necessarily make you happier either. I found an article though that discusses events that happier people tend to take part in.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-active-times/5-habits-of-genuinely-hap_b_5901450.html
In the article Dr. Chris Aiken discusses how people who follow habits tend to be more happier because they tend to continue to do the same things that make them happy.
I think this is an interesting concept because many times it seems as though doing the same thing can make someone unhappy, but after reading the Huffington post article, I guess it just depends on the habit.
An interesting post to think about. Relating to what the person before me said, I think that it can get tricky when talking about things that can make individuals happy. An event can bring one person happiness and, it can have no effect on another person at all. I do agree that happiness comes down to one’s perspective on life however. I think that the saying “glass half empty, or glass half full” is appropriate for this post. Someone’s happiness can depend on whether they are a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person. I think, as an individual, that it is important to always have a positive mindset. It is interesting to think about if sadness and sad events have any correlation at all or if the conclusion about the two would be similar to this one.
Very interesting post. The one factor that I find difficult about it, is that everyone could find different events and activities “happy.” An event that could make someones whole day, could make someone else very bored or aggravated. Obviously there are some events that generally can be summed up as “good” or “bad,” but I also feel there is a lot of gray area which makes it tough to truly measure this. For example, my mom is a serious runner and a long run for her makes her feel confident and relaxed. It is her definition of happiness and a happy, daily event. For someone else though, a long run could be exhausting and make them feel frustrated or upset. That being said though, I definitely think it is a positive message to realize that everyone’s happiness is unique and should’t always be compared to others.
This is a great reminder of the power of perspective since finals weeks is around the corner. Many people are already putting themselves in the mindset that they are going to fail over finals week and it is still more than a week away! Our biggest motivation comes from ourselves and how we approach a problem. But what I would find interesting would be a several year long observational study watching kids in their top mental development stages ( around kindergarten or first grade) through high school to see if their perception when given work affects how well they do in school. There would be many other variables to consider that would need to be taken inter consideration that could potentially have an effect on any individuals happiness, but i think it would be interesting to see how that all played out. Also it would be able to show that if someone has a negative perception early on was able to change it later or vice versa.
I always have heard the saying “its easier to smile than to let people know why you’re sad”. This seems very relevant to this blog post. I completely agree that people’s own consciences are the worst enemies to having confidence. It seems that no matter how hard you try, nothing is still good enough. Even your best. I believe that there is a fine line that is so often crosses between this being a positive or negative effect on someone. In some cases, the person uses this as motivation and becomes better the next time. The other case can be people shut down and deem themselves not qualified to be successful. Its important for people to take something positive out of constructive criticism and tell themselves that their best is good enough.
Very interesting post! I completely agree with this. This post led me to think about the saying “money is the root of all evil”. I believe a lot of people tend to fake their happiness in order to feel better about themselves. I also agree when you said that it all depends on perspective. Many people can do great things inside of their lives but in the end they are never truly satisfied with themselves. I think this also may go back to a psychological aspect, and how people view their lives. Overall, really great post!