What generates a person’s happiness is subjective to the individual, yet psychologists claim that the determining factors of happiness are generally the same overall for everybody. In his book Psychology: Themes & Variations, (Thomson Learning Inc, 2007), psychologist Wayne Weiten says that from a list of general happiness factors, some predictors have a low influence rate over one’s happiness, some have moderately good influence and others have a strong influence.
While common ideology suggests that the more attractive, financially-secure and intelligent a person is the happier he or she will be, Weiten claims that such factors do not generally increase one’s level of happiness. He says that “quite a number of factors that you might expect to be influential appear to bear little or no relationship to general happiness.”
Factors That Do Not Predict Happiness
Money
While there is a connection between income and feelings of happiness, the association is surprisingly weak. Although being poor can make people unhappy, Weiten says that once people ascend above the poverty level little relation is seen between income and happiness. “On average, wealthy people are only marginally happier than those in middle class.” Furthermore, it is suggested that people who place extensive emphasis on the pursuit of wealth and materialistic goals tend to be less happy than others who focus on other things, such as family life.
Parenthood
M. Argyle, author of The Psychology of Happiness, says that while people can gain tremendous joy and fulfillment from having children, when compared to childless couples, parents worry more and experience more marital problems. Accordingly however, the good and bad aspects of parenthood apparently balance each other out, as evidence indicates that “people who have children are neither more nor less happy than people without children.”
Intelligence and Attractiveness
Although intelligence and attractiveness are valued traits within contemporary society, when examined in relation to general happiness, researchers have found little association between these factors and happiness.
Moderately Good Factors of Happiness
Health
It seems that good physical health would be an essential triggering factor for happiness, yet researchers have found only a moderate positive correlation between good health and happiness. By itself good health does not produce overall happiness, and people tend to take good health for granted. On the other hand, psychological research has revealed that “individuals who develop serious, disabling health conditions are not as unhappy as one might guess,” generally because people possess the ability to adapt to health problems.
Social Activity
Since humans are a social species, it is not surprising that social interaction does well for one’s happiness. People who are satisfied with their social support and friendships “report above-average levels of happiness.”
Religion
While Weiten writes that researchers are unsure how religious faith fosters happiness, he says that there is a link between religiosity and general happiness. Suggested reasoning for the relationship between the two includes the notion that religion can give a person a sense of purpose and meaning in their life, connect them to a caring, supportive community, and offer a sense of comfort by putting the subject of mortality in to perspective.
Strong Predictors of Happiness
Love and Marriage
According to Weiten, one of the most rated predictors of happiness, although sometimes stressful, is being in love. “Among both men and women, married people are happier than people who are single or divorced … (And) although people complain a lot about their marriages, the evidence indicates that martial status is a key correlate of happiness.” It can be suggested however, that happiness causes martial satisfaction and that perhaps people who are happier tend to have better intimate relationships and evidently more stable marriages.
Work
Unemployment has strong negative effects on a person’s well-being, with job satisfaction said to be significantly connected to general happiness. The question rises again of whether job satisfaction causes happiness or vice versa however, “but evidence suggests that (it) flows both ways.”
Personality
Perhaps the strongest predictor of happiness is personality. A person’s ability to create future happiness is determined by their outlook on life. “Research shows that happiness does not depend on people’s positive and negative experiences as much as one would expect,” but rather on how a person chooses to deal with determining factors. Weiten says that some people, presumably because of their personality, seem destined to be happy in spite of major setbacks, while others seem destined to cling to unhappiness even though their lives may be reasonably pleasant.
Personality characteristics such as extroversion are also apparent predictors of happiness because people who are outgoing, upbeat and sociable tend to be happier than others. Other personality factors such as positive self-esteem, confidence and optimism are also said to increase one’s likelihood of individual happiness.
While of course there are many other things which can bring personal happiness, such as animals, personal morals and hobbies, according to Weiten’s theory a generally happy person is one who has a mate, a stable job and who does not dwell on past experiences. Perhaps the most influential of all factors though, is an individual’s ability and desire to think positively.
Sources:
Argyle, M. "Causes and Correlates of Happiness." In D. Kahneman, E. Diener & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999.
Weiten, W. Psychology: Themes & Variations, Seventh Edition. United States of America: Thomson Learning Inc, 2007.
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