약 20년간의 심리학 연구들 끝에 연구자들은
ㄱ) 유전이 행복의 반 정도를 결정하고
ㄴ) 환경(돈, 좋은 집, 좋은 주거 환경 등의 물리적 환경들)이 10% 정도를 결정하고
ㄷ) 의도적 활동들(좋은 친구들과의 사귐, 여가 활동 등)이 40% 정도를 결정
행복의 반이 유전에 의해 정해진다. = 행복의 반이 내 성격에 의해 정해진다.
"행복의 40% 정도만 내 노력으로 바꿀 수 있다"
많은 연구들을 보아 온 결과
"좋은 사람들과 어울리는 일"만큼 여러분의 인생을 풍성하고 행복하게 해 주는 일이 없어 보입니다.
우리는 뼛속까지 사회적인 동물이라는 과학적 연구/증거
ㄱ) 외로운 사람들이 건강이 안 좋고, 빨리 죽고, 우울증 등 각종 정신 질환 및 신체적 질병에 취약하고 하는 반면
ㄴ) 사람들과 좋은 관계를 맺고 있는 사람들이 면역력이 좋고, 건강하고, 장수하고, 병이 걸리더라도 빨리 회복하고
ㄴ) 우리 뇌도 상당히 사회적 기능에 맞춰 발달되어 있음(영장류는 자신이 속한 사회적 집단이 복잡할수록 뇌가 발달함 등등)
We all want to feel happy, and each of us has different ways of getting there. Here are 10 steps you can take to increase your joie de vivre and bring more happiness into your life:
Be with others who make you smile. Studies show that we are happiest when we are around those who are also happy. Stick with those who are joyful and let rub off on you.
Hold on to your values. What you find true, what you know is fair, and what you believe in are all values. Over time, the more you honor them, the better you will feel about yourself and those you love.
Accept the good. Look at your life and take stock of what’s working, and don’t push away something just because it isn’t perfect. When good things happen, even the very little ones, let them in.
Imagine the best. Don’t be afraid to look at what you really want and see yourself getting it. Many people avoid this process because they don’t want to be disappointed if things don’t work out. The truth is that imagining getting what you want is a big part of achieving it.
Do things you love. Maybe you can’t skydive every day or take vacations every season, but as long as you get to do the things you love every once in a while, you will find greater happiness.
Find purpose. Those who believe they are contributing to the well-being of humanity tend to feel better about their lives. Most people want to be part of something greater than they are, simply because it’s fulfilling.
Listen to your heart. You are the only one who knows what fills you up. Your family and friends may think you’d be great at something that really doesn’t float your boat. It can be complicated following your bliss. Just be smart, and keep your day job for the time being.
Push yourself, not others. It’s easy to feel that someone else is responsible for your fulfillment, but the reality is that it is really your charge. Once you realize that, you have the power to get where you want to go. Stop blaming others or the world, and you’ll find your answers much sooner.
Be open to change. Even if it doesn’t feel good, change is the one thing you can count on. Change will happen, so make contingency plans and emotionally shore yourself up for the experience.
Bask in the simple pleasures. Those who love you, treasured memories, silly jokes, warm days, and starry nights—these are the ties that bind and the gifts that keep on giving.
One of the most quoted facts about happiness goes as follows:
50% of happiness is determined by your genes.
10% of happiness is determined by the circumstances in which you live.
40% of happiness is determined by your actions, your attitude or optimism, and the way you handle situations.
These figures are often quoted by positive psychologists to back up claims that at least a part of our happiness is man-made. It’s a comforting message: despite the fact that there is a certain genetic disposition to be happy, there are many things in life that we can change to be happy. 40% is a large margin of manoeuvre! Imagine that we could control 40% of the weather, or the traffic on the our way to work.
According to these theories, happiness would look like this:
The famous 50-10-40% formula is prominent in work done by positive psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky. Based on a body of research in this field, she and her colleagues argued that approximately 50% of variance in happiness is determined by genes, and 10% of variance in happiness is determined by circumstances. Automatically, that would leave 40% that we can influence.
Except that, there is a lot that’s wrong with the figures and the interpretation.
Variance in happiness does not equal happiness
To start with the first important nuance: these figures explain the variance in happiness – or the variation in happiness between different people. That is, genetic factors – or the presence of heritable personal traits – can explain about 50% of the difference in happiness levels between two people. It’s a small, but important detail. It means that if one person scores a 7 out of 10, and another person scores an 8, 50% of that 1-point difference could be due to genetic traits. That is not the same as saying that for a person that scores an 8, half of its level of happiness, or 4 points, are due to genetics.
Why 50% genetic, and not 40% or 60%?
Where does this theory come from? A 1996 study by Lykken and Tellegen compared well-being levels of samples of pairs of identical and non-identical twins in Minnesota, either raised together or apart. This differentiation allows to test both the impact of same or different genetics (identical vs non-identical) vs same or different environment (raised together or apart), e.g. both nature and nurture effects. Namely, identical twins share the same genes, and non-identical ones do not.
Lykken and Telleken found that the correlation of levels of well-being of identical twins in both cases are around 50%, significantly higher than for non-identical ones (2-8%). As such, they conclude that around half the variation is determined by genetics. This would leave another half determined by other factors. But it is important to note that this particular study has a limited sample. The smallest groups consists of only 36 pairs or 72 people. From a sample of twins in Minnesota, it is hard to draw so strong conclusions for human population as such.
Is it so simple?
The variance in happiness is not the full answer. In a comment of the preference of positive psychologists to favour well-rounded figures, Todd Kashdan notes a couple of other issues with genetics.
The first points is that personal traits – influenced by genetics – are not stable over life. Traits are shaped by a process called ’emergenesis’. When a characteristic is ’emergenic’, it is affected by the interaction of a couple of genes together. This might result in a behavioural predisposition to be extravert, self-controlled, or any other trait. (And similarly, there is not one ‘happiness gene’).
So far so good. But the way these genes work out is affected by many other factors. One example Kashdan mentions is that toxins or nutriments in a person’s environment can switch genes ‘on’ and ‘off’. In turn, the functioning of an individual gene can affect such an emergenic factor. If you add or take away a block from a tower, it will look different.
This reminds me of another example I learned about at a course on happiness. A certain individual may have a genetic predisposition for leadership. But if he grows up in an environment where resulting actions are suppressed, the talent will not come to fruition. As such, genes could be seen as ‘enabling’ factors, that only result in an outcome (such as happiness) when underlying conditions are met.
Genes interact with the environment
Another important issue notes is the interaction of genes and environment. In the same article, Kashdan writes that
Much of what influences our personality has to do with the presence of (positive and negative) life events and our response to choice points. Do I approach or avoid my co-worker who regularly demeans me? Do I wake up early and workout or sleep in? Do I ask out the girl I’ve had a crush on for months or do I keep my feelings to myself? No single decision matters but the patterns do. The decisions we make, the people we surround ourselves with, and the behaviors we engage in, are the building blocks for the quality of our lives. Small changes accumulate over time leading to large changes in who we become.
Our personality is the result of a complex process, in which genes and environment interact. Can we really put a hard number on that?
Happiness is not a formula
My answer is no. There is no comfortable formula for happiness. What we can say, is that our genes play an important role in determining happiness. But so do other factors, including our circumstances, environment, and our actions. Happiness is not a hard science. It is a way too complex phenomenon to quantify. But maybe that’s one of the reasons why it is so fascinating.
Rather than like a pie chart with three elements, happiness may rather look like a complex system:
