What makes you feel happy, a big house, a nice car, or a sexier or more considerate partner? Fortune and fame may make you happy, even just to finish everything on schedule, you will feel happy. However, psychological research shows that none of these factors one can significantly increase your happiness.
Case with money. According to the 2000 US Census data, the city of Holland, Michigan Hope University psychologist David Myers G (David G. Myers) confirmed that there is an interesting contradiction between wealth and happiness. Myers found that since 1950, the US per capita purchasing power has tripled. Is this projection, the Americans happiness in the year 2000 should be 3 times in 1950, when it?
From the beginning of 1957, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has been conducting a survey, Americans assess their levels of happiness. Myers compared these surveys and economic data later discovered, consider themselves "very happy," the proportion of people quite prominently stabilized at around one third of the total number. Although generation economic conditions a lot better than the previous generation, they did not feel happier.
Why is that.
Evolution of trouble
Evolutionary theory that if certain characteristics more conducive to future generations to survive and multiply, these characteristics will be passed on to the next generation. A feature of which is that, compared to the positive side, we are more likely to notice negative aspects. Those negative changes in the environment of the most sensitive people, may be the most likely to survive, perhaps because of a negative change dangerous signal. And our ancestors, our brains are always concerned about the trouble.
Genetic disorders?
Personality different from nature, because a great personality differences between individuals. At the same time, human life personality is relatively stable. Thing came and went, and our customary response characteristics and the outside world but, as always.
Personality can determine a person's "happiness baseline", which is probably innate. Why, then, different people, happiness levels will substantially different?
A 1996 study of twins published in answer to this question. American University of Minnesota Oak Teli root (Auke Tellegen) and the late David Lykken (David Lykken) will grow up together or separately reared for the survey, study their happiness monozygotic and dizygotic twins similarity. These comparisons enable researchers to determine the degree of difference between happiness and our genes related differences. They found that individual differences in happiness between about 80% are from genetic differences.
Everyone has an innate happiness baseline, largely determined by our genes. For example, the customary nature can explain the status quo, no matter what happened in life, we eventually will gradually return to their baseline happiness.
Psychologists have found that personality traits of many people appear to be normal, in fact, have a high happiness baseline. In the 1998 article, a social psychologist at Baylor University, Christina De Neifu (Kristina DeNeve, currently teaching at Creighton University, USA) and Missouri - Columbia University psychologist Harry Vince Cooper (Harris Cooper, currently teaches at Duke University, USA) together with the study of the relationship between personality and well-being of 148 cases were reviewed. The results may not be surprising, they found that people feel happy but also more outgoing, friendly and trust others, due diligence. Happier people are more willing to believe that they can control their own lives, and less likely to produce anxiety and mood swings.
Related to happiness of a personal nature seems to have success and personal achievement and relevant. So, happiness (or at least meet) fulfilled through hard work and to get it?
"Pursuit / buy" happiness = happiness?
American capitalist system is based on that we can pursue to buy happiness or assumptions, this belief stimulate competition and worships money and ideas. Studies have shown that a lack of correlation between wealth and happiness, people had to cast doubt on this assumption. In fact, the wealth of competition not only can not be happy, but will make people bother.
This psychologists and dignitaries take their own comparisons tendency called "upward comparison." As we all know, this will cause discontent. Combined with the National Opinion Research Center, 1989 --1996 survey data, Davis Graduate School of Management of the University of California R Michael Hagerty (Michael R. Hagerty) analyzed the distribution of wealth and happiness between social groups relationship. He found that the greater the income gap between social groups, people are more dissatisfied with their lives. By 1972 - 1994, data were collected from the United States and seven other countries to analyze, Hagerty found in a particular country, along with narrowing the income gap, the average level of life satisfaction will increase accordingly .
It seems that when we realize that other people better off, their satisfaction on the on the contrary, downward comparison (compared to the situation of those people worse than us) makes it easier for us to meet. But we seem to be more inclined upward comparison - sounds like bad news, maybe the mass media hype on this tendency played a role in fueling.
Even though we have no direct competition with others, this tendency will be happy with the goal of linking would be counterproductive. Although more research is needed to support Georgia Southern University psychologist William D McIntosh (William D. McIntosh) and the University of Georgia L Martin Leonard (Leonard L. Martin) has proposed such a theory: repeated eyes locked on the goals are more likely to feel happy.
To achieve the degree of association between the object and the feeling of happiness, everyone is different, and some tend to "no association", others prefer "extremely relevant." McIntosh and Martin believe that the two most relevant people, mostly because they are being forced to focus on achieving the specific objectives of this matter. Because I believe happiness depends achieve the target, as long as the goal has not been realized, they will feel anxiety and stress. They believe that happiness only in the future will come.
However, these had been cherished goal, once achieved, will be followed by adaptation to, they will return to the original baseline happiness. When they realize that their level of happiness has not changed permanently, these people often conclude that happiness has not yet come, happiness depends on reaching the next target.
Psychologists have found that the human good thing about the future of self-deception. We tend to believe that the future increase in happiness, life will be better than now. This tendency is to cultivate out by the media and advertising, and they are always boasting, then buy something or get some kind of success, we can get greater satisfaction. I believe that happiness depends achieve the goal of people tend to choose a new target, and make yourself believe that this time they finally found a way to happiness "real" way.
This happiness and perseverance to achieve their goals linking choice seems to be supported by a lot of observations. So, success is not more people look happy? Psychologists who study results support this relationship, but the fact that our assumptions differ.
In 2005, the University of California, Riverside psychologist Sonia Lyubomirsky (Sonja Lyubomirsky) and her colleagues, the conclusions of several studies were reviewed, these studies show that happiness and success was directly proportional. They are also a number of longitudinal studies and some of the experiments were analyzed (longitudinal study refers, in particular before and after the success achieved, the test will be the subject of those experiments will be before you start a task, to induce participants produce happy, neutral, and negative feelings), these two studies suggest that happiness and positive attitude is an important prerequisite for success. Happy people are not necessarily happier after a successful, but they are often more likely to feel happier than those who are not so successful.
Lyubomirsky conclusion is that success and happiness about - but the success is the result of happiness, rather than the cause of happiness. The most likely explanation is that happy people have other contribute to the success of a personal nature. Positive attitude can help lead to a strong forward momentum, and contributed to collaborate with others.
Make the best of it
"Heart Flow" experience can stimulate our interest, so that we are fully committed to do, so forget those who would destroy our happiness thing.
Clermont Graduate School of American psychologist Mihaly Hay (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) concluded that, more likely to feel happy are those experiencing the so-called "core flow" (flow) of the people. "Heart Flow" is the word, is Hay in 1975, in a book written in accordance with thousands of interviews raised. Since then, he has published several books on the "heart flow". He will "heart flow" can be defined as people threw himself into the cause of curiosity and stimulate interest in personal experience. This is not to say that the "heart flow" experience is sure to be very interesting (though usually true), but that the "heart flow" means containing wholeheartedly get involved. Those tasks can have a "heart flow" can not be too monotonous boring, it does not make people it also has a sufficient challenge, requiring a person to concentrate.
By incorporating the concept of core streams, western psychology, Eastern Vipassana (mindfulness) thought included. Vipassana thought participants were asked to judge not only pay attention to the current - immersed in what is happening now in. Unfortunately, this state of mind is not the code of conduct of the majority. This is a skill through practice (such as meditation) in order to learn.
Why flow through the heart, the more people, the more easy to feel happiness? From Carl Rogers (Carl Rogers) to Fritz Pearce (Fritz Perls), many distinguished psychologists are mental health is described as living in the moment. Perhaps, contact the heart and mind of happiness stream flow requirements between now fully concentrate on the relevant. When we are fully committed to do when it is impossible to re-focus on the past and future, it is impossible to feel self-existence - past, future and self-awareness, we meet often destroy lives.
Although more and more research on happiness, but there is no simple answer. Happy complex roots, but the operation of the internal ideological understanding of the way gives us the opportunity to make our way in the pursuit of happiness, to better arrange the investment of time and effort. Psychologists might support numerous non-psychologist once said the words: Happiness is not the end, but along the way to enjoy the scenery.
(Written by: Michael Wiedemann / Michael translation Rui)
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