I recently came across an interesting article on the science of happiness in Harvard Magazine recounting the emergence of \u201cpositive psychology\u201d as a field of study, its findings and the emergence of new research areas such as the study of joy instead of happiness.<\/p>\n
Many of the findings will be familiar to the readers of my previous posts on happiness. However, a few of the research results were surprising such as the fact that having kids tends to slightly decrease happiness.<\/p>\n
Here are two interesting paragraphs:<\/p>\n
\u201cNobel Prize-winning psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman of Princeton (see \u201cThe Marketplace of Perceptions,\u201d March-April 2006, page 50) asked thousands of subjects to keep diaries of episodes during a day\u2014including feelings, activities, companions, and places\u2014and then identified some correlates of happiness. \u201cCommuting to work was way down there\u2014people are in a terrible mood when they commute,\u201d Etcoff says. \u201cSleep has an enormous effect. If you don\u2019t sleep well, you feel bad. TV watching is just OK, and time spent with the kids is actually low on the mood chart.\u201d Having intimate relations topped the list of positives, followed by socializing\u2014testimony to how important the \u201cneed to belong\u201d is to human satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGilbert reconsiders his grandmother\u2019s advice on how to live happily ever after: \u201cFind a nice girl, have children, settle down.\u201d Research shows, he says, that the first idea works: married people are happier, healthier, live longer, are richer per capita, and have more sex than single people. But having children \u201chas only a small effect on happiness, and it is a negative one,\u201d he explains. \u201cPeople report being least happy when their children are toddlers and adolescents, the ages when kids require the most from the parents.\u201d As far as settling down to make a living\u2014well, if money moves you into the middle class, buying food, warmth, and dental treatment\u2014yes, it makes you happier. \u201cThe difference between an annual income of $5,000 and one of $50,000 is dramatic,\u201d Gilbert says. \u201cBut going from $50,000 to $50 million will not dramatically affect happiness. It\u2019s like eating pancakes: the first one is delicious, the second one is good, the third OK. By the fifth pancake, you\u2019re at a point where an infinite number more pancakes will not satisfy you to any greater degree. But no one stops earning money or striving for more money after they reach $50,000.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"