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If, as the adaptation-level phenomenon implies, our emotions tend to balance around normal, then why do some people seem so filled with joy and others so gloomy day after day? What makes one person normally happy and another less so? Reviews of research (Diener, 1984; Myers, 1993) indicate there are several predictors of happiness (see the table below). Remember, though, that knowing that two variables correlate does not tell us whether one causes the other. For example, many studies indicate that religiously active people tend to report greater happiness and life satisfaction. Is happiness conducive to faith? Or does faith enhance happiness?
| Researchers Have Found That Happy People Tend to | However, Happiness Seems Only Minimally Related to Other Factors, Such as |
|---|---|
| Have high self-esteem | Age |
| Be optimistic and outgoing | Race |
| Have close friendships, or a satisfying marriage | Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful) |
| Have work and leisure that engages their skills | Educational level |
| Have a meaningful religious faith | Parenthood (having or not having children) |
Whether at work or leisure, most of us derive greatest enjoyment from engaging, challenging activities. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990; pronounced chick-SENT-me-hi) and his colleagues discovered this after interrupting volunteers several times a day with an electronic paging device. When beeped, the people would note what they were doing and how they were feeling. Usually, they felt happier if mentally engaged by work or active leisure than if passively vegetating. Ironically, the less expensive (and usually more involving) a leisure activity is, the more absorbed and happier people are while doing it. People are happier gardening than sitting on a power boat. They're happier when talking to friends than when watching TV. Indeed, happy are those whose work and leisure absorb them, enabling them unself-consciously to "flow" in focused activity.
When Downward Comparisons Lead Upward Comparing ourselves with those worse off can sometimes prompt us not only to count our blessings but to share them. Self-made millionaire Eugene Lang (center) did just that during an address to the graduating class of the public grade school he had attended in Harlem. After reflecting on their poverty, he suddenly offered to pay the college costs of any who graduated from high school. (With his active support during the next 4 years, most did graduate from high school and over half went on to college.)