Is your mind wandering right now? Will it begin doing so before you get to the end of this article? Newly published research by two Harvard University psychologists suggests the odds are close to 50-50. Using data collected from a specially designed iPhone app, the researchers — stay with me now — report we spend nearly 47 percent of our waking hours thinking about something other than what’s happening in front of us. Moreover, they write in the journal Science, this lack of focus tends to make us less happy. “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy ... Read More
Conversational Well-Being: Quality Over Quantity
September 25, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Research repeatedly finds a correlation between happiness and more gregarious individuals, but it hadn't determined what element of sociability — bubbling over with shallow, inconsequential conversation or exchanging content of personal significance — leads to contentment. New research suggests that less small talk and more substantive conversation causes increased happiness. (Middle school girls around the globe, take note.) What is just as important as pure, outright outgoingness is the nature and content of social interactions, whether trivial or substantive Matthias Mehl, Shannon ... Read More
Happiness Is on the Rise. Thanks, Freedom
September 12, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Is economic development the key to national happiness? Once nations have covered the bases for most of their citizens — checking off the basic necessities of food, water, shelter and safety — what is left? Do we stop measuring success by our GDP and tell government to stop pursuing happiness and focus on its capture, á la Bhutan? A standard government response to such mandates might be to ladle out cash, but recent research suggests more money alone doesn't make us happy — what makes us happy is having more than our neighbors. So with Western nations having established an economic ... Read More
I’m Happy as Long as I Make More Than You
July 10, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
One of the first rules taught in any introduction to microeconomics class is that an increase in consumption ability, otherwise known as income, increases utility, and utility is a measure of satisfaction. In English, more money equals more happiness. While this premise is perhaps simple-minded and even a caricature (imagine Scrooge or Mr. Burns nodding with pleasure), don't judge economists too harshly. The idea demonstrates what motivates individuals in the marketplace and the labor force. The principle reflects attitudes in much of the developing world, where satisfying everyday needs is ... Read More
Money Makes You Less Likely to Savor Small Pleasures
May 24, 2010 • By • 7 Comments
The notion that money can’t buy happiness has, in recent years, been backed up by a lot of psychological research. But this confirmation of time-honored wisdom begs the question: Why the hell not? The wealthy have access to an array of pleasure-producing goods and experiences, so why are they no happier than the rest of us? A team of psychologists has come up with a plausible answer, one that validates yet another piece of folk wisdom. Affluent individuals, and less-wealthy people with money on their minds, are less likely to slow down and savor the Snickers. Writing in the journal ... Read More
Optimism Seems to Strengthen Immune System
February 25, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Does an optimistic attitude boost one’s immune system? University of Kentucky psychologist Suzanne Segerstrom has been studying this subject for years, and her latest research, just published in the journal Psychological Science, provides evidence of a link between upbeat expectations and immunological strength. In a study of 124 first-year law students, Segerstrom and her co-author, Sandra Sephton, examined the relationship between personal optimism and cell-mediated immunity (CMI), which plays a central role in protecting against viral infections. At five points over the course of the ... Read More
Get Politically Engaged, Get Happy?
February 14, 2010 • By • 2 Comments
As the United States gears up for midyear elections, getting involved in a campaign might not only be a great opportunity to participate in democracy — it might make you feel better. Two psychologists — Malte Klar, a practicing psychologist in Germany, and Tim Kasser, professor at Knox College — have found a clear link between political activism and a person's sense of well-being, and have shown that even a very small engagement with political activism can boost one's sense of vitality. "Activists live a happier and more fulfilling life than the average person," said Klar, who ... Read More
Who Needs God When We’ve Got Mammon?
November 24, 2009 • By • 21 Comments
From Dostoyevsky to right-wing commentator Ann Coulter we are warned of the perils of godlessness. "If there is no God," Dostoyevsky wrote, "everything is permitted." Coulter routinely attributes our nation's most intractable troubles to the moral vacuum of atheism. But a growing body of research in what one sociologist describes as the "emerging field of secularity" is challenging long-held assumptions about the relationship of religion and effective governance. In a paper posted recently on the online journal Evolutionary Psychology, independent researcher Gregory S. Paul reports a ... Read More
No Pain, No Gain Applies to Happiness, Too
November 4, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
If you're working out to prepare for swimsuit season, learning a new language for upcoming travels or clocking late hours perfecting a presentation for work, you may experience stress in the moment, but you will have greater happiness on a daily basis and in the long run, according to a new study in the Journal of Happiness Studies. Researchers found that people who engage in activities that increase competency, such as exercising, studying or working, experience decreased happiness, lower levels of enjoyment and higher levels of stress while doing so. Yet in spite of the negative effects ... Read More
Money Can Buy Happiness — If You’re Paid By the Hour
October 8, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Why are Americans such workaholics? The issue has long perplexed sociologists, who have put forth various theories on why workers in the U.S. tend to put in longer hours and take shorter vacations than their counterparts in Europe. Why do so many Yanks believe earning extra income is more important than enjoying leisure time? Newly published research provides a possible answer. Americans, it turns out, are more likely to be paid by the hour than workers in most industrialized nations. And people who get paid an hourly wage are more likely to link well-being to income. In the Personality ... Read More
