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It’s one of those three inalienable rights we’re guaranteed from the U.S. Declaration of Independence–and also the subject of a lot of recent study. Just this week, we learned that the Pew Research Center found happiness associated with being an old, male Republican:
Americans grow happier as they age, surveys find. And a new Pew Research Center survey shows the tendency is holding up as the economy tanks.
Happiness is a complex thing. Past studies have found that happiness is partly inherited, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, and that old men tend to be happier than old women.
Ted Stevens comes to mind.
Or maybe it’s location. According to LiveScience, in June the American Journal of Preventive Medicine will report:
people who live on, say, Hawaiian beaches have fewer bouts of stress, depression and emotional problems than people who live in the misty hollows of Appalachia.
Sounds reasonable, but don’t jump on the geographic bandwagon yet… Another Pew telephone survey from 2006 suggests these general trends:
- People who worship frequently are happier than those who don’t.
- Married people are happier than the unmarried.
- Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks.
- Republicans are happier than Democrats.
- The rich are happier than the poor.
- Dog owners and cat owners rate the same.
- Sunbelt residents are happier than everyone else.
Fair enough. But I suspect there’s not really some universal standard for reporting a personal state of happiness. Furthermore, such survey results are hard–if not impossible–to interpret. Consider: What does happiness mean to you? A house, dog, and 2.3 kids? Health? The biggest toys? Freedom? Family? Charity work? Education? Love? Sex? A child’s smile? What about cultural differences between regions?
Hence, despite that such studies have a habit of bouncing round the internet every time they’re published, I’m skeptical we can extrapolate much useful information, though perhaps they do prompt a fun dialog. And so folks, who’s ‘happy‘ and what do you make of all this?
May 19th, 2009 at 9:49 am
stress depression
… people who live on, say, Hawaiian beaches have fewer bouts of stress, depression and emotional problems than people who live in the misty hollows of Appalachia. Sounds reasonable, but don’t jump on the geographic bandwagon yet … …
May 19th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Correlation vs causation, anyone?
And they probably mean Republicans are smug, not happy per se. Also, I don’t believe for a second that the rich are happier than the poor.
May 19th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Happiness is obviously an emotion. As such it would be a result of chemical balances that would probably not be under total control of the individual. It should be enjoyed when present and aspired to when not but we should understand that as humans we have very little control over this aspect of our lives.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Cultural expectations should play an important role in self-reported happiness. If you’re part of a religion that asserts that virtuous people are happy and sinful people are unhappy, then you’re probably going to self-report “happy”. Being part of a happy group tends to increase self-perception of happiness (“smile and the world smiles with you”)
But let’s address the most pointed aspect of this post: Republicans are happier than Democrats. Does this mean that they’re doing something right, or that Democrats are doing something wrong with their lives? That depends on what you derive your happiness from.
First, a slight digression. The other day, a Republican Senator declared that he was determined to prevent any empathetic justices from being confirmed by the Senate. At the same time, a conservative cartoonist, Ramirez, published an editorial cartoon showing two astronauts working on the Hubble Telescope. One was asking the other, are we making these improvements so it can see more accurately or with more empathy? It would seem, then, that conservatives don’t like empathy.
So we’ve got happy but unempathetic Republicans and less happy but more empathetic Democrats. What this suggests to me is that the true discriminating factor here is selfishness. The Republican says “I’ve got mine” and smiles happily. The Democrat says “The world is full of suffering” and frowns. Yes, the Republican is happier. Is that the kind of happiness you want?
May 19th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Generalizing some? You can’t lump Republicans and Democrats into two camps like that.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Yes, it’s a gross generalization, Tom, and I’m sure that there are a zillion individual exceptions. The generalization was made in the context of the equally gross generalization that Republicans are happier than Democrats — for which there are also, I’m sure, a zillion individual exceptions.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:08 am
So why is it the shrinking party?Only 1 out of 5 claim to be Republicans in recent polls.If this pew survey is so,apparently several of these “happy” people have jumped ship.Now does that seem happy?
May 19th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
One scientifically interesting point from this study might be proximity to the equator as a potential predictor of greater happiness, or at least a diminished proclivity toward depression. Perhaps a solar effect? Does the sun make us smile?
May 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Neither this item nor any of its links that I followed mentioned the presence of a strong social network or a friendly neighbourhood or village. Certainly for me (male, Canadian, urban, 69) the neighbourhood is a great source of happiness. Could the silence on this be a result of the Usanian reluctance to acknowledge the importance of the broad social context? There are other points where a more comparative approach would be welcome. For example if religious people in the US are happier than their non-religious fellow citizens, the question arises of what it is about Usanian society that makes religious people happier. Canada is far less religious that the US yet usually scores above the US in comparative happiness surveys, for example this one at http://www.fortunebound.com/happiness/boomer-tips/1543-bigger-is-not-better-in-happiness-and-life-satisfaction
And by the way your Declaration of Independence can’t guarantee anything; it is not your constitution. Does ignorance of your laws make you happier?
May 19th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Geez, people. Happy is happy. Of course it’s totally subjective. How could it not be?
May 19th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Let’s not be too hasty with the view that happiness is an emotion. Cetainly manypeople, including probably, some the respondents in the survey use “happiness” to refer to a feeling, an emotional state, of pleasure, contentment, etc. But that is not the only way to understand the term and I suspect many people even today use a different meaning. For instance, happiness was understood by classical hedonists, past and present, as an absence of pain and anxiety. Stoics see happiness in terms of tranquility that comes from detachment, and don’t forget the sense of happiness used by Aristotle as meaning the flourishing of person when all that persons potentials as a specific human being are being actualized. In Aristotle’s case, pleasure would be a by-product of happiness but not something sort for its own sake.
So I urge caution when interpreting such surveys that use a notoriously slippery term such as happiness.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
I’m happy.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I SAID I’M FUCKING HAPPY!!!
May 20th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Axel: Actually, it has been interpreted to, via the 9th Amendment. Now stop being so cranky!
Signed,
-A happy areligious Democrat on a cloudy day
May 20th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I think the data makes perfect sense, and, I have to say that I disagree with the idea that the rich are not likely to be “happier” overall than the poor. One has to consider what “happiness” might consist of for differing groups.
For example, there are many studies that indicate that lower social status creates psychological and physiological stress in primate groups. The way various primate groups allocate resources among all ranks of the hierarchy is key to determining how much stress each particular rank is subject to. Social structures where resources are allocated in a “despotic” way as opposed to an egalitarian one tend to be the most stressful for the primates at the lower end of the social order. Guess which one humans utilize?
So then we have to consider the “old male Republican” issue and happiness. This is also not a surprise at all. Older males (particularly white and Hispanic males as opposed to black males) are still found in greater proportion in positions of power, both in the home and in society at large. The Republican issue is also not difficult when you consider what the party tends to stand for, Conservatism. Keeping things the same. The same social structure, the same family structure, etc. Who tends to want to keep things the way they are? Why, those who are happiest with them, and who are benefiting from them disproportionately.
Democrats tend to want things to change. Remember Obama’s tag line? Hope and Change? Who tends to want things to change? Obviously, it would be those who are not benefiting from things as they are at the present, who hope to create not just any change, but change that puts them in a more advantageous position. So, the results of this survey do not surprise me, nor in my opinion do they show any clear cause for questioning self reporting of happiness as a viable method. The results are exactly what should be expected based on the numerous studies of social hierarchy in primates.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
That’s purely American.
Northern Europeans – mistier, rainier and colder than Appalachia – are the happiest in the world.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I am 71 and often believe I am happier than when I was younger. It may be because I am closer to death than when I was younger. I am healthy and nothing is imminent, but I am aware that my time on earth is now limited. We are reasonably well off, healthy and have a great family situation. We intentnionally wish to enjoy the time we have left on this earth. Also, I belive I have learned to appreciate the beauties of this earth and the people I know, more than ever before. Even if something goes wrong I can still enjoy a beautiful sunset, etc………..BUT I do remember the glory days of our youth and the intense drive to succeed when our family arrived. I like my past, too!!
December 7th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Actually the ninth amendment has nothing to do with the Declaration of Independence, which is an important historical document signifying our break with foreign meddling while spelling out our own intentions, yet not in any means a part of our laws. The ninth amendment refers to the assumption that individuals have rights (inalienable ones) above and beyond what is referred to in the previous amendments. I will admit however, that the assumption does include the rights professed in the Declaration, but for the sake of a technicality, it is actually not a part of our law. The Declaration itself doesn’t protect us, the 9th amendment does it on its own, though maybe to open to interpretation. One must read the other literature of our founders to understand what they thought rights were and what the 9th amendment was assumed to protect. Right to a job was not one of them, nor was right to health care. Rights were assumed only to be those things one was born with that could never be granted by another…but could be taken by tyrants if we fail to be vigilante (and often taken in the name of “rights” that can be granted.)
As a side note: left out but intended to be implied in the right to pursuit of happiness (judging by the founders’ own correspondences) was the right to property.
pps: I don’t think income or education level have as much to do with party preference as worldview does. Party preference CANNOT be generalized in demographic terms this way, it is a matter of personal philosophy. Many Buddhist Democrats are happy, while many Christian Republicans are. The Republicans are just less likely to meddle in the lives of others, though they still, admittedly, do way to much of that.
I am an Atheist Libertarian and am, despite many economic setbacks due to mistakes only I can claim ownership to (I can’t blame others), I am happy. I wonder if there’s a survey showing happiness levels in those who own their mistakes vs those whom blame others.