The Digest guide to ... happiness

10 years of the Research Digest You can will yourself happier. Nathaniel Hawthorne likened happiness to a butterfly, "which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." Poetic but probably wrong according to recent psychology research. A study earlier this year found that people who made a conscious effort to improve their mood while listening to upbeat music felt happier afterwards than those who just listened passively. Happiness breeds success. It's obvious that success in love and work makes most people feel happier, but there's also evidence that the causal direction runs the other way too. Studies have measured people’s happiness and then observed their success over subsequent years, simultaneously controlling for other extraneous factors that might have caused both the happiness and later success. These studies found that happiness tended to precede fulfilling work, satisfying relationships and a long life. Short-term mood boosters also trigger increased altruism and sociability. Other people experience more misery than you realise. We tend to put on a brave face in public, which may explain why psychologists have found that we tend to underestimate other people's experience of negative emotions - even our close friends. Related to this, there's evidence that we need to be careful about promoting happiness. Although well-intentioned, happiness campaigns may lead people to cope less well with their n...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs