Despite researchers conducting hundreds of studies to try to unlock the key to being happy, it seems that the United States is still seeing a decline in happiness. The 2016 World Happiness Report found that there were “significant decreases” in American happiness over the past 10 years.
With all of the self-help books that there are and how much people talk about wanting to be happy, it would seem like more people would have figured it out by now. When asked what people would wish for if they could have anything, you would expect the answer was to be happy. According to a study by Raj Raghunathan, author of “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?” chances are, his subjects didn’t have being happy on their wish-list. In his studies, only …show more content…
Working towards a goal makes people more fulfilled and satisfied with life. It doesn’t even need to be an elaborate goal. It’s just living with purpose.
In 1978, a study was conducted by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer where two groups of nursing-home residents were given houseplants. One group was responsible for keeping the plant alive and were allowed to choose their own schedule. The other group could not choose their own schedule and was told the staff would care for the plant. After 18 months, twice as many people in the group given responsibility for their plant and schedule were alive than the other group.
To further her study, in 1981 Langer tested the role of expectations on people 's lives. A group of eight men over 70 years old spent five days living as if they were their selves of 22 years prior. They told the men that if they were successful, they would feel as they did in 1959. At the end of the study, the men were doing things more independently without the help of canes and other …show more content…
In February 2016 a study published in the British Journal of Psychology found that the more social interactions with close friends a person has, the greater their self-reported happiness. There was one great exception. People with more intelligence are less likely to find happiness in social interactions. Brookings Institution researcher Carol Graham gives the explanation that those with more intelligence “are less likely to spend so much time socializing because they are focused on some other longer term
With all of the self-help books that there are and how much people talk about wanting to be happy, it would seem like more people would have figured it out by now. When asked what people would wish for if they could have anything, you would expect the answer was to be happy. According to a study by Raj Raghunathan, author of “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?” chances are, his subjects didn’t have being happy on their wish-list. In his studies, only …show more content…
Working towards a goal makes people more fulfilled and satisfied with life. It doesn’t even need to be an elaborate goal. It’s just living with purpose.
In 1978, a study was conducted by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer where two groups of nursing-home residents were given houseplants. One group was responsible for keeping the plant alive and were allowed to choose their own schedule. The other group could not choose their own schedule and was told the staff would care for the plant. After 18 months, twice as many people in the group given responsibility for their plant and schedule were alive than the other group.
To further her study, in 1981 Langer tested the role of expectations on people 's lives. A group of eight men over 70 years old spent five days living as if they were their selves of 22 years prior. They told the men that if they were successful, they would feel as they did in 1959. At the end of the study, the men were doing things more independently without the help of canes and other …show more content…
In February 2016 a study published in the British Journal of Psychology found that the more social interactions with close friends a person has, the greater their self-reported happiness. There was one great exception. People with more intelligence are less likely to find happiness in social interactions. Brookings Institution researcher Carol Graham gives the explanation that those with more intelligence “are less likely to spend so much time socializing because they are focused on some other longer term