Happiness Study Finds Three Sources

The semi-annual study on happiness, reported by Australia researchers who surveyed 60,000 individuals, indicates there is a golden triangle of happiness.  The study found three things are needed for a happy life.

“Financial security, a sense of purpose in life, and good personal relationships make up the ‘golden triangle’ of happiness,” they say.

Further, the report says, “Being part of an intimate relationship is the most vital component of wellbeing. Pets are no substitute for human beings….While money does not make us happy, a lack of it makes us miserable. Wellbeing rises up to about $100,000 a year, at which point its healing power drops off dramatically….People are happiest when they are active, and when they have a sense of purpose. Volunteers are amongst the happiest people, though conscripts are not.”

The report found fathers tended to be happier than men without children, but women's happiness stayed the same whether they had children or not.

The researchers said this could be because family was the greatest source of contentment and happiness for men throughout their lives, whereas women were able to maintain social connections beyond the family unit.

Happiness

“We’re happy when we have a rosy view of the future, but we’re also happy that the present exceeds what our expectations were,” [Researcher George] Loewenstein said. Also, quite unsurprisingly, past rewards had less of an impact on contentment as time passed. 

Using MRI data, researchers determined that signals from a region of the brain called the striatum could be used to predict how happy people would be at any given time during the experiment. They then created a smartphone app to test their model on a much wider audience–a total of 18,420 online participants. 

The app featured the same decision-making game as the MRI experiment. Although the subjects were remote and anonymous, the results were still consistent with the model.  “All models are simplifications of reality,” said Loewenstein. “But their central insight that happiness depends on how reality pans out relative to expectation is a correct one, in my view.” 

He noted that, while the idea behind the happiness equation isn’t new, the study is a “strong and interesting” piece of supportive evidence. But can we use this knowledge to boost our own well-being? Lowering expectations as a tactic has already been ruled out, but the study does hint at why you might not feel as elated after reaching an expected goal as you might think. “People are always pursuing goals, and when they reach the goal, they don’t end up being as satisfied as they perceive they’d be–as if happiness is held out in front of us, and we never quite achieve it,” Loewenstein said. 

On the other hand, he suggests that there might be some consolation in realizing that we are all hard-wired this way in order to keep us moving forward.  

From “On the road to happiness, a pleasant surprise beats a sure thing,” Washington Post by Meeri Kim, August 8  

Gross National Unhappiness

Three weeks ago I mentioned the three keys to happiness (see below).  Happiness is a subject I address in my book in several places, using in one of those the example of the country of Bhutan that inaugurated Gross National Happiness 40 years ago as a measure of the welfare of the country. 

This week U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, acknowledged the grinding pressure of a weak recovery on the happiness of our own citizens when he said, “We should seek better and more-direct measurements of economic well-being.”  Further he said this is the “ultimate objective of our policy decisions.”  Persistently weak Gross Domestic Product and employment figures give new meaning to Bernanke’s “dismal science.”  As our chief economist he should pause to consider even more our gross national unhappiness. 

Three Keys to Happiness

Randy Taran, who is founder and chief happiness officer of Project Happiness, writes about Three Keys to Lasting Happiness.  He says, “If you had to choose three keys to lasting happiness, what would they be?  For me, those keys are gratitude, connecting with others and giving.  It is not rocket science, although science has proven how these habits can make you live longer, enjoy better health and get more joy out of life.….Gratitude: A simple practice of writing down or otherwise reflecting on a few things you are grateful for has huge benefits.  Psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough have researched that gratitude is the ‘forgotten factor’ in happiness research.  The benefits of expressing gratitude range from improved physical health to improved mental alertness….Connection:  In our culture, there are all sorts of classic heroes—often loners who make their way despite all obstacles.  Yet, there is an underlying longing for connection that we all share at some level.  The Dalai Lama points out, ‘We human beings are social beings.  We come into the world as the result of others' actions.  We survive here in dependence on others.  Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities.  For this reason, it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.’…Giving: here are many ways of giving; we can volunteer; we can be present for a conversation; we can give gifts to others.  We've all heard the expression that money cannot buy happiness.  Taking that a step further, a 2008 study showed that spending money on others leads to higher happiness levels than spending money on oneself.”

For more see www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-taran/the-key-to-happiness b 10004566.html (July 2011).