Happy Individuals Research Articles

Doing good, feeling good: causal evidence from volunteers

Volunteers are reputedly healthier and happier than their non-volunteering counterparts. But is this a causal link or are healthier, happy individuals simply more likely to volunteer? Some papers have attempted to identify the causal relationship using an instrumental variable methodology, mostly relying on measures of religiosity as instruments for volunteering – however, religiosity may also affect health thus calling into question the validity of this approach. We rely on a novel instrument, a measure physical proximity to volunteer opportunities, to help identify the causal link from volunteering to health and happiness using econometric regression techniques. We find that volunteering is a robustly significant predictor of health, and positively affects life satisfaction for all but those aged under 35.

Happiness and Hostile Attributions in a Cross-Cultural Context: The Importance of Interdependence

Although the association between happiness and a positive attitude towards other people is well documented, little is known about the attributional processes that characterize happy individuals when they are faced with negative social events. Because of the impact of culture on social relationships and self/other-construal, both attributional style and subjective happiness may be influenced by culture. To examine the interplay of factors that may be associated with happiness, we propose a model in which interdependence predicts happiness, but only for individuals who do not have an inclination to make hostile attributions about the others. In order to determine whether the identified patterns are culture specific or culturally universal, we have conducted our study in three culturally diverse countries: the United States, Poland and Japan (N = 707). We expected that level of happiness would be linked to interdependent self, and that it would be also associated with lower levels of hostile attributions. We also predicted an interaction between levels of interdependent self and hostile attributions in explaining level of happiness. Results mostly confirmed our predictions and remained consistent across all studied countries. We conclude with emphasis on the importance of embracing both negative and positive aspects of experience when studying wellbeing, especially in a cross-cultural context.

Brain Functional Basis of Subjective Well-being During Negative Facial Emotion Processing Task-Based fMRI

Subjective well-being (SWB) is the eternal pursuit of all mankind. Individual differences in SWB may reflect the way of emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies have partly examined the neural mechanism of the individual differences in SWB using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the individual differences in SWB and brain functional connectivity during facial emotion processing task. Here, we applied negative facial emotion processing task-based fMRI to explore the brain functional basis of the individual differences in SWB. Results showed that SWB is positively correlated with the activation of right posterior cingulate cortex, left interior temporal gyrus and left angular gyrus for the comparison of negative stimulus and neutral stimulus, revealing that happy individuals may be more proactive to use attention transfer and behavioral inhibition strategies to decrease negative experiences during negative emotional processing. In addition, high SWB is associated with strong functional connectivity between high-level cognitive networks (e.g., frontal-parietal network) and low-level perceptual networks (e.g., sensorimotor network), and weak functional connectivity within default mode network and within low-level perceptual networks, indicating that the self-reflection, emotional regulation and cognitive control during negative facial emotion processing underlies the individual differences in SWB. These findings provide a novel insight to characterize the brain functional basis of the individual differences in SWB.

Los intentos de construcción de nuevas subjetividades sociales. El proyecto de Cambiemos

La autora describe las estrategias narrativas del gobierno de Cambiemos en la Argentina, a la luz de nuevas formas de la política en el mundo. Reflexiona sobre los intentos de construcción de una subjetividad social que tiene como nudo pletórico el retorno al individuo feliz, trabajador y emprendedor.

Happiness and Inflammatory Responses to Acute Stress in People With Type 2 Diabetes.

BackgroundPositive psychological characteristics in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are associated with better health and longevity, and one plausible physiological mechanism involves lower markers of inflammation. Positive affect is related to lower basal inflammatory markers and smaller inflammatory responses to acute stress, but this association in people with T2D remains to be examined.PurposeTo examine the relationship between happiness and inflammatory markers at baseline and in response to acute stress in people with T2D.MethodsOne hundred forty people with T2D took part in laboratory-based stress testing. We aggregated daily happiness ratings over 7 days before stress testing. During the laboratory session, participants underwent two mental stress tasks—the mirror tracing and the Stroop task. Blood was sampled at baseline and post-stress (up to 75 min post-stress) to detect plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Associations between happiness and inflammatory markers and responses were analyzed using multivariable linear regressions.ResultsGreater daily happiness significantly predicted lower baseline and post-stress IL-6 concentrations, and lower baseline MCP-1, after adjusting for covariates. The association between happiness and reduced basal IL-6 maintained after further controlling for daily sadness. We did not find significant associations between daily happiness and inflammatory responses to acute stress. No associations were detected for IL-1Ra.ConclusionsHappier individuals with T2D have lower inflammatory markers before and after acute stress, albeit independent of stress responsivity. Findings could provide a protective physiological pathway linking daily happiness with better health in people with T2D.

Happiest People Revisited

In a past Psychological Science article, Diener and Seligman (2002) explored the characteristics of extremely happy individuals and found that strong social relationships characterized the entire group. The study was popular, perhaps because the authors focused on the very happiest people, not merely on correlations across the entire spectrum of subjective well-being. In the current study, we replicated and extended the earlier paper here by examining, in a world sample, the differences between the happiest individuals and unhappy and averagely happy people. We largely replicated earlier findings; basic need fulfillment and social resources were two ingredients for high subjective well-being. Replicating and extending the earlier findings, we found that, compared with the averagely happy people, the happiest people were more likely to come from societies high in subjective well-being and social capital. To achieve very high happiness, it is helpful not only to have desirable personal circumstances, but also to live in a prosperous happy society with strong social support. As in the original study, although a few characteristics seemed virtually necessary for subjective well-being (SWB), no characteristic guaranteed it. We also uncovered variables separating the groups that might be outcomes of SWB, for example, helping others, exercising, and not smoking.

Sad people are more accurate at expression identification with a smaller own-ethnicity bias than happy people.

Sad individuals are more accurate at face identity recognition, possibly because they scan more of the face during encoding. During expression identification tasks, sad individuals do not fixate on the eyes as much as happier individuals. Fixating on features other than the eyes leads to a reduced own-ethnicity bias. This background indicates that sad individuals would not view the eyes as much as happy individuals, and this would result in improved expression recognition and reduced own-ethnicity bias. This prediction was tested using an expression identification task with eye tracking. We demonstrate that sad-induced participants show enhanced expression recognition and a reduced own-ethnicity bias than happy-induced participants due to scanning more facial features. We conclude that mood affects eye movements and face encoding by causing a wider sampling strategy and deeper encoding of facial features diagnostic for expression identification.

Intentional happiness: 7 paths to lasting happiness

What is Happiness? Aristotle answered this by saying is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. Happiness is a choice! It is also attractive, healthy, and being connected, but it takes effort. That being said, what inhibits our happiness, and how can mental health and nursing practitioners find happiness and fulfillment in their professions, when far too many suffer from profession burn-out, due to the high stress nature of their jobs. In my keynote, I will address practical tools that are applicable to both them and their patients. Several factors have a direct impact on our level of life satisfaction and fulfillment, including fear (of change, fear of success, and fear of failure), comparisons, selfishness, the burden of perfectionism, lack of forgiveness (and self-forgiveness), our inner critic, and toxic relationships. When these mental and emotional roadblocks are removed, our inner joy will be freed from constraints and returned to our awareness. The “7 Paths to Lasting Happiness” reviews several of these roadblocks and provides both principles and take action exercises for individuals to learn from, and through its application to ultimately achieve genuine happiness, including: first path- loving yourself a) personal brand b) perfectionism c) inner critic and d) comparisons; second path- gratitude a) attitude of gratitude and b) university of adversity; third path- forgiveness a) forgiveness equals freedom and b) self-forgiveness is the key; fourth path- follow your passion a) getting out of your comfort zone brings growth; fifth path- nourish your spirit a) faith vs. fear and b) meditation and purpose; sixth path- loving relationships a) love languages b) criticisms and toxic relationships c) authentic listening and d) trust; seventh pathservice a) the antidote to selfishness. Thousands of individuals have taken this life satisfaction survey, and various graduate students throughout the world, (including Singapore, UK, and The Philippines and others) have used it as part of their graduate thesis. It is intended as a tool measuring current level of happiness. It could be used before and after treatment to show changes in level of happiness. That’s quite a statement and so true, but what actually makes us happy? In my experience working with people and organizations from all walks of life, there are some specific attributes and actions that happy people focus on consistently. Listed below are five of the most important principles: Be grateful First of all, most happy individuals have a relentless “attitude of gratitude” approach to life even when life is not perfect. Being grateful when life is good, is relatively easy, but actively choosing to be grateful in the midst of adversity is a big key to happiness. As I say, we are all graduates from the “University of Adversity” called life, and remember, it’s not an easy road for anyone. Be forgiving Second, happy people have the ability to forgive themselves and others relatively quickly. In many ways, forgiveness equals personal freedom from the baggage of hurts and resentments. Even more importantly, the consistency of self-forgiveness brings increased happiness. Related: How to Forgive Yourself: 5 Steps to Self Forgiveness Be passionate and know your purpose in life Third, happy people know their purpose in life and as a result have passion, the fuel which supports their vision. They are lovers of learning throughout their lives. Surround yourself with positivity Fourth, happy people tend to surround themselves with other positive-minded individuals. They limit or eliminate toxic-relationships from their lives and bask in the positivity and love of their intentionally created relationships. Love and accept yourself as you are And finally, happy people choose to love and accept their imperfect selves by gifting that same patience, kindness, and understanding they likely already give to others.

The Relationship between Happiness and Fear of Childbirth in Nulliparous Women

Background & aim: Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being. Happy individuals tend to interpret and process feeling in a positive way. Accordingly, the response to the pain may alter due to the effects of subjective elements on the pain perception. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the level of contentment and fear of childbirth (FOC) in nulliparous women referring to the healthcare centers of Mashhad, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 370 nulliparous women who were selected through multistage sampling method from urban healthcare centers in Mashhad, Iran, 2014. Data collected using demographic and obstetric questionnaire, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, and Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire (CAQ) (an instrument for measuring the FOC). Data analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent samples t-test, regression, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, Tukey honest significant difference (HSD), Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficient tests with SPSS software version 11.5. Results: The mean levels of happiness and FOC were 123.97±18.82 and 45.80±7.57, respectively. There was a significant correlation between happiness and FOC (p <0.001, r=-0.285), i.e. happier women experienced less FOC. Also Vaginal delivery was the preferred choice of the happier women (P=0.033, t=2.152). Conclusion: Considering the relationship between happiness and FOC, the necessary measures should be taken to improve happiness in pregnant women in order to increase their tendency toward normal vaginal childbirth.

ÇEŞİTLİ DEĞİŞKENLER AÇISINDAN BOŞANMIŞ BİREYLERİN ÖZELLİKLERİ

Family, the first and the most important social environment of individuals, is the most natural ambience where its members can find love, compassion, close attention and care required for their psychological and physical health. Family has a very important place for happiness of individual. With this point of view, it can be asserted that it is possible for the society to be healthy by having families consisting of happy individuals. If it is considered that family ensures the balance between the society and individual, problems experienced in the family also directly affect the society. While some families ensure this balance, some may fail about this issue. This failure of families cause to start a process, which mostly result in divorce, and this may negatively affect the family members, particularly the children. In this study, characteristics of families in the divorce process, opinions of woman and man regarding the divorce, and condition of children experiencing separation of parents were examined by considering the effects of divorce phenomenon on individual, family, and society. Within the scope of study, the data obtained from interviews performed during the preparation of social study report on 95 families, who litigated to Ankara Family Courts for divorce suit between 2010 and 2015, were evaluated. Before conducting the study, permissions were taken from the judge of Family Court in charge. The social study reports prepared by experts of court (psychologist, pedagogue, and social worker) were examined following the permission process. In examination of social study reports, the data of the study were obtained by asking the questions regarding; individuals’ age, marriage age, education, income status, employment status, duration of marriage, the number of children, status of living with stem family during marriage, which party is seeking divorce, how long they were in the divorce process, with whom children were staying during the divorce process, if or not there was sibling separation during the divorce, if children were able to meet their parents regularly during the divorce process, presence of physical violence in the family, alcohol use in the family, the cause of divorce for woman, the cause of divorce for man, and marriage type of the couple in the divorce process. The obtained data were analyzed statistically

Having it all and not having yourself

The paper uses the example of the movie Happiness (1998) to analyze cultural ideas on which the (de)construction of a happy American family and happy individuals who "have everything" is based. The paper also analyzes the director's reflexive imagining of every character in the film, whose appearance is based on cultural attitudes and values of individuals, and which arises as an obstacle for establishing intimacy with other people and achieving happiness. Thus, this paper strives to show how culture paradoxically becomes "an obstacle to itself", or rather, how culturally determined attitudes about oneself and others function as an obstacle in achieving culturally determined goals and life purposes.

An Assessment of the Correlation between Happiness and Mizaj (Temperament) of University Students in Persian Medicine

Background: Mizaj (Temperament) is one of the fundamental concepts of Persian Medicine (PM) and identifying this concept is crucial for providing various healthcare recommendations and for the treatment of patients. In PM, various indices can indicate a person’s Mizaj, one of them is the happiness of people. From this perspective, people with warm Mizaj are happier than people with cold Mizaj. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between happiness and Mizaj. Methods: In order to conduct this Cross Sectional (descriptive-correlational) study based on convenience sampling method, 610 participants completed the 29-item Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and the 10-item Mojahedi Mizaj questionnaire (MMQ). The study started since September, 2016 and ended in November, 2016 in Tehran, Iran. The collected data were compared by chi-squared test. Results: The frequency of happy individuals in warm, temperate, and cold Mizaj groups was 85.2%, 79% and 58.2%, respectively. According to the results of chi-squared test, individuals with cold Mizaj were significantly less happy than people with warm and temperate Mizaj. However, there was no significant difference between warm and temperate Mizaj groups. Moreover, the level of happiness in people with wet Mizaj was not significantly different from people with dry Mizaj. Conclusions: There is a significant correlation between happiness and an individual’s Mizaj. Accordingly, one of the hypotheses regarding indices of Mizaj identification in PM is strengthened. This index can be used in researches associated with designing and validating Mizaj evaluative scales in PM to differentiate cold and warm Mizaj.

The happiness of undergraduate students at one university in the United Arab Emirates

Numerous studies show that happy individuals are successful across multiple life domains including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health. Research indicates also that one impediment to increasing the happiness of society is a failure to understand that happiness can be measured, understood, and enhanced. This study explores college students’ happiness over seven life domains: self, educational institution, family, social relations with friends, living environment, freedom, and future financial security. The purposes of the study are to determine the degree of students’ happiness and identify which life domains have the greatest or least influence on their well-being. Participants are 654 male and female students at one federal university in the UAE. The study used the Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale, which assessed the first five domains, and a researcher-developed survey for two additional domains of the freedom students have, and future financial security. The study found that students were mostly happy. However, they showed moderate happiness with their educational institution. Happiness was significantly greater for female students than for male students throughout all domains. Finally, Emirati students showed more happiness than non-Emirati Arab students over five domains: family, self, living environment, the freedom they have, and future career security. The findings help policy makers reach informed decisions regarding domains in need of attention and suggest ways in which happiness can be enhanced.

Bliss is ignorance: How the magnitude of expressed happiness influences perceived naiveté and interpersonal exploitation

Across six studies, we examine how the magnitude of expressed happiness influences social perception and interpersonal behavior. We find that happiness evokes different judgments when expressed at high levels than when expressed at moderate levels, and that these judgments influence opportunistic behavior. Specifically, people perceive very happy individuals to be more naïve than moderately happy individuals. These perceptions reflect the belief that very happy individuals shelter themselves from negative information about the world. As a result of these inferences, very happy people, relative to moderately happy people, are more likely to receive biased advice from advisors with a conflict of interest and are more likely to be chosen as negotiation partners when the opportunity for exploitation is salient. Our findings challenge existing assumptions in organizational behavior and psychology by identifying a significant disadvantage of expressing happiness, and underscore the importance of examining emotional expressions at different magnitudes. We call for future work to explore how the same emotion, experienced or expressed at different levels, influences judgment and behavior.

Happy People Have Children: Choice and Self-Selection into Parenthood.

There is mixed evidence in the existing literature on whether children are associated with greater subjective well-being, with the correlation depending on which countries and populations are considered. We here provide a systematic analysis of this question based on three different datasets: two cross-national and one national panel. We show that the association between children and subjective well-being is positive only in developed countries, and for those who become parents after the age of 30 and who have higher income. We also provide evidence of a positive selection into parenthood, whereby happier individuals are more likely to have children.

Personal values, subjective well-being and destination-loyalty intention of international students.

What are the factors that predict international students’ destination-loyalty intention? This is the main question this paper addresses, using an online survey among 396 (short-term, N = 182) and (long-term, N = 214) international students at a Norwegian university. Structural equation model-AMOS was conducted to examine relationships among personal values, subjective well-being and destination-loyalty intentions. The results showed that: (1) universalism was positively related to subjective well-being for short-term students; and (2) subjective well-being was positively related to destination-loyalty intention for all groups. We found that relatively stable and happy individuals might be important for ensuring destination-loyalty intentions. Results also indicated that personal values that emphasize justice and equity are also important for short-term international students’ well-being.

Happiness as an additional antecedent of schadenfreude

The current study examined whether dispositionally happy individuals feel less happiness when another person experiences a misfortune. Happy individuals are known to be less vulnerable to upward comparison information. In addition, schadenfreude is elicited by upward comparison targets (e.g. high achievers and tall poppies). Thus, it was assumed that happiness would decrease schadenfreude. The lower level of hostile feelings in happy individuals, which are elicited by threats to one’s person and inferiority heightened when confronted with a high achiever, was hypothesized to decrease schadenfreude. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted with scenario experiments, and the hypotheses were supported in both studies. Regression analyses revealed a significant direct effect of happiness on a reduction in schadenfreude. How not feeling schadenfreude when witness another person’s misfortune helps people maintain and/or increase their happiness is discussed.

Does Drinking in Moderation Lead to Higher Life Satisfaction?

This paper presents a study of the impact on a person’s life satisfaction of moderate alcohol consumption. Using a large dataset (N = 1.5 million) which covers the period 2005–2010, I find that moderate drinkers tend to be more satisfied with their life than abstainers. In order to check the robustness of the result found using the linear regression model, an instrumental variables (IV) approach is adopted. I exploit the fact that those who were interviewed after a holiday were more likely to report that they had consumed alcohol. The IV approach suggests that moderate alcohol consumption has little causal effect on life satisfaction. The positive correlation between moderate drinking and life satisfaction seems to be largely due to selection—that is, happy individuals tend to drink in moderation, rather than vice versa.

What differs between happy and unhappy people?

This study explores the determinants (demographic, personal, behavioural, and social) by which happy and unhappy people differ. The primary sample from which the participants were chosen was a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4000). On the basis of the distribution of overall happiness the sample of the highest (the happy group) and the lowest 10 % of participants (the unhappy group) were selected. The happy group (N = 400) represented the upper end of the happiness distribution, while the unhappy group (N = 400) represented the lower end of the distribution. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics (age, gender, income, and education), ratings of subjective health status, satisfaction with specific personal and national domains (IWI-International Wellbeing Index), trust in people, and trust in institutions. Frequency of various leisure activities, and involvement in the community life were also reported. The differences in examined variables were analysed between the two groups. Results showed that the happy individuals were younger, with higher income, and with higher education than unhappy ones. After controlling for age, income, and education level, the happy people were found to be more satisfied with personal and national wellbeing domains, of better subjective health status, reported higher trust in people and institutions, and were more engaged in leisure activities and community life than the unhappy ones.

Subjective well-being, social buffering and hedonic editing in the quotidian

A previous study on the relationship between subjective well-being (SWB) and hedonic editing—the process of mentally integrating or segregating different events during decision-making—showed that happy individuals preferred the social-buffering strategy more than less happy individuals. The present study examined the relationship between SWB, social-buffering and hedonic outcomes in daily life. In Study 1, we used web-based diaries to measure the frequency with which individuals utilised social and non-social buffers as well as daily levels of happiness. Consistent with the previous finding, happy individuals utilised social buffers more frequently than less happy individuals. Interestingly, the utilisation of social buffers had a positive effect on daily happiness among all participants, regardless of individuals’ levels of SWB. In Study 2, we found that although the use of social buffers yielded similar effects across groups on online evaluations of events, happy individuals showed a positive bias in global evaluations of past events. This finding suggests that how one construes and remembers the outcomes of social buffering may shape the different hedonic editing preferences among happy and less happy individuals.