New study reveals how happiness science influences the personal lives of researchers
· News-MedicalMany of the world's leading happiness researchers say they consciously spend more time with loved ones after seeing the evidence, according to a new paper.
Earlier this year, Aknin took part in a Zoom call with 12 other international leaders in well-being science. On the agenda? What their collective 600 years of happiness research and their own lived experiences reveals about living a good life and the future of the field they helped to create. Their reflections were captured in a recent paper published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
The key takeaways:
"Having relationships is one of the most reliable predictors of happiness that has emerged from a robust body of evidence spanning the social sciences," says Aknin, who co-authored the paper with Harvard University's Säde Stenlund and Kelsey O'Connor, a senior researcher at Luxembourg's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
"We know that having just one person you can count on is extremely consequential. Having more relationships and more communities that you feel a part of compounds that sense of well-being."
Some of the leading models on happiness suggest that roughly 10 per cent of one's happiness is attributable to one's life circumstances – things that are big and relatively difficult to change, like where you live, your age, your employment status or your relationship status. But as much as 40 per cent of one's happiness is related to "volitional activities" or how you choose to spend your time.
But there was also a united aim to make sure this work can be practically applied, rigorously tested and used to better people's lives.
"With many large and threatening realities taking place in the world right now, I sometimes worry that the pursuit of happiness can seem trite. But one reason I remain committed to the scientific study of happiness is that happiness in and of itself predicts a number of valuable outcomes, including the motivation to help other people," she explains.
"Generosity is not zero-sum."
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