Psychologists find pursuit of happiness not a straight pathMarch 12, 2007EAST LANSING, Mich. — Happily ever after isn't a given. Achievable, yes, says a Michigan State University psychologist. But after analyzing years of data tracking people through their lives of joys and sorrows, scientists conclude that major changes in life circumstances - like marriage, divorce, or debilitating illness - can indeed have long-term impact on happiness levels. In the April issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, Richard Lucas, associate professor of psychology, reviews some recent studies that fly in the face of the popular belief that general happiness levels were a constant and impervious to long-term change.
In fact, some downturns do stay down for some people, said Lucas, who also is affiliated with the German Institute for Economic Research. "Even though happiness is heritable and relatively stable, it can change," Lucas said. "Happiness levels do change, adaptation is not inevitable and life events do matter." The party line for most psychologists has been that happiness - or what psychologists call subjective well-being - is largely independent of life circumstances. The dominant model: People adapt to major life events, both positive and negative, and happiness pretty much stays constant through life, even if it is occasionally disrupted. Under this theory, winning the lottery won't make you happier in the long run and while a divorce or even a major illness will throw your life into upheaval for a while, your happiness level will eventually return to where it was at before - that is, its set point. Lucas and his colleagues, however, looked at two large national prospective panel studies, one in Germany and the other in Great Britain. These studies - spanning some 24 years in Germany and 15 years in Great Britain - captured levels of life satisfaction both prior to and after major life events like marriage, divorce, unemployment and illness or disability. Lucas found that not all of life's slings and arrows are created equal. On average, most people adapt quickly to marriage, for example — within a couple of years. People mostly adapt to the sorrows of losing a spouse too, but this takes longer — about seven years. In general, people spike in happiness, then return to previous levels of happiness. People who get divorced and people who become unemployed, however, do not, on average, return to the level of happiness they were at previously. The same can be said about physical debilitation. Numerous recent studies have demonstrated that major illnesses and injury result in significant, lasting decreases in subjective well-being. But Lucas also found that individual differences play an important role, which shows up in the stastics. Behind that statistic that most people adapt to marriage in two years are people who are happier after two years of marriage - and people who are less happy after two years. Lucas stresses that his findings do not undercut the importance of adaptation processes. It also poses more interesting questions. "We see some hints in these studies, like perhaps that people who are positive emotionally tend to bounce back more, or that good social relationships play a role," he said. "We need to understand the variability in the way people react." Michigan State University Science News and Science Current Events Tag Cloud This tag cloud is a visual representation of term frequencies of random science news topics with common terms grouped together and emphasized by their display size. Parkinson’s Disease Flavanols Ozone Childhood Cancer Probiotics Smallpox Cognitive Function Hibernation Nanomaterials Calcium Astrocytes Water Purification Amphibians Helicobacter pylori Hydrogen Fuel Immune Cell Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Fat Cancer Drug Micrornas Eye Cancer Influenza Vaccine SARS Embryonic Stem Cells Cardiac Surgery
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Related Happiness Current Events and Happiness News Articles Lack of happiness hormone serotonin in the brain causes impaired maternal behavior in mice A lack of serotonin, commonly known as the "happiness hormone", in the brain slows the growth of mice after birth and is responsible for impaired maternal behavior later in life. In Pursuit of a Happiness Gene The pursuit of happiness characterizes the human condition. But for those suffering from stress, money trouble or chronic illness, a positive outlook on life can be difficult to find. Now, a Tel Aviv University researcher says we should look to our genes. Brain detects happiness more quickly than sadness People make value judgements about others based on their facial expressions. A new study, carried out be Spanish and Brazilian researchers, shows that - after looking at a face for only 100 milliseconds - we can detect expressions of happiness and surprise faster than those of sadness or fear. Naps with rapid eye movement sleep increase receptiveness to positive emotion Naps with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep refresh the brain's empathetic sensitivity for evaluating human emotions by decreasing a negative bias and amplifying recognition of positive emotions. Stable marriage is linked with better sleep in women Being stably married or gaining a partner is associated with better sleep in women than being unmarried or losing a partner. Legal loophole exposes Canadians to drug advertising banned in US: UBC research A legal loophole is counteracting Canada's ban on direct-to-consumer drug advertising and has exposed Canadians to more than $90 million worth of ads, including those for drugs with life-threatening risks, according to a study by UBC researchers. Why you may lose that loving feeling after tying the knot Dating couples whose dreams include marriage would do well to step back and reflect upon the type of support they'll need from their partners when they cross the threshold, a new Northwestern University study suggests. Tourette syndrome misconceptions only one battle for patients The most disabling aspect of Tourette syndrome is that in 90% of cases, it exists in conjunction with another disorder. New research shows children take a toll on marital bliss What married couples have suspected for years is now proven by researchers at the University of Denver (DU) and Texas A&M - children can add problems and stress to a marriage. Vindictiveness doesn't pay Vindictiveness doesn't pay. This has been demonstrated by a current study at Bonn and Maastricht Universities. According to this study, a person inclined to deal with inequity on a tit-for-tat basis tends to experience more unemployment than other people. Vindictive people also have less friends and are less satisfied with their lives. The study appears in the current edition of the Economic Journal. More Happiness Current Events and Happiness News Articles |
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