Reaching Age 50 May Make You Happier Than Ever Before

From She Knows.

Are you over the age of 50, yet feel happier than at any other period of your life? According to this story from The Times of India, you're not alone. These results come from an Engage Mutual survey of 1,500 people aged 50 or older. Forty percent of the respondents said they are happier than ever before, and 66% said they are more confident.

So why might middle-aged and older people be happier? Respondents theorized that it may be because they have paid off their mortgages, achieved some success in their careers, and felt the satisfaction of watching their children grow up and settle into adult life.

"It is heartening that so many are finding that being in your fifties can be the most rewarding time of your life," a spokesman for Engage Mutual says. "With increased life expectancy, being 50 is considered to be relatively young these days."

So what do YOU think about all of this? I find the results encouraging because they give me something to look forward to. However, according to some researchers (most notably Daniel Gilbert), people are utterly terrible at remembering past emotional states, which means these survey results may be invalid. A more accurate method that doesn't rely on memory would be to do a multi-decade study, surveying people's present emotional state over the course of many years.

This study from October, which basically came to the same conclusions with better methods, is more what I'm talking about. But the more approaches the better, I guess!

SPECIAL REPORT: Happy Movie Pre-Order!!

Buy buy BUY!!

Yes, I'm selling something, but hopefully that's okay because you'll like it. We at the Happy movie are selling a pre-release DVD for $19.99. Order now and get it in time for Christmas!

This is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Roko Belic's latest documentary feature. It is a journey across 14 countries on 5 continents featuring interviews with extraordinary everyday people, as well as positive psychology superstars Ed Diener, Richard Davidson, Sonja Lyubomirsky, the people and leaders of Bhutan, and many more. Also features appearances by Daniel Gilbert and the Dalai Lama.

So head over to our buy page for more info. You can get special deals on three- and ten-packs if you have a lot of Christmas shopping to do. You can also try our "Award Winner" pack, which includes Happy, the Oscar-nominated Genghis Blues, and the multi-award-winning Indestructible, an inspiring documentary about an ALS patient who travels the world one last time. If you like T-shirts, you can also get those in children's or adult sizes.

And that's not all! Roko Belic, the man himself, will personally sign all pre-order DVDs of Happy! We won't stop until his signin' hand falls off! He has worked very hard on this film for four years, and now it's ready for release.

I have seen the film many times (I even transcribed it word-for-word) and I can attest to both its emotional power and its educational value for people learning about happiness science. It never loses its ability to move, especially when seeing it with a crowd (like I did in San Francisco).

So give it a try. This limited edition pre-order will end December 31. After that, you'll have to wait until the official release.

iPhone App Tracks Happiness, Finds Out Sex is Number 1!

From cnet.

Today in obvious news:  cnet reports on results from the iPhone app Track Your Happiness. It turns out that people are happiest during sex and moments of intense focus. Both rated 90 out of 100 on the app's happiness scale...BUT there's no indication of when people gave their ratings (i.e.:  if they waited or if they interrupted their activity to fiddle with the app).

This app comes from Harvard researchers Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth. You may have heard about it recently because of its implications to mind wandering, but the other results are new. The app features a basic happiness survey like the ones used by many positive psychology researchers. The study gathered around 250,000 happiness responses from 2,200 people.

These iPhone happiness apps are a somewhat-new phenomenon. You can sign up for Track Your Happiness here. If you're in the UK, you can also try Mappiness, which maps the location and time of your happiness ratings. If you have an iPhone (and you don't mind being interrupted throughout the day), give 'em a try!

Most British People Think Money is the Number One Cause of Unhappiness

British people:  "Mmm, money money money!"
From Webshots.

A new survey by BBC Radio 3 says that 65% of Brits consider money to cause the most unhappiness. This is much larger than the 32% who responded with "family problems," the 27% for "health," and the 21% for "welfare of their children" (!!!). The survey was done to kick off Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival, which has the theme "The Pursuit of Happiness" this year.

The actual effect of money on happiness is somewhat debatable, but most researchers seem to agree that after you have enough money to live a middle-class existence, more money won't significantly affect your happiness. On the other hand, Daniel Gilbert just recently authored a study that says money DOES affect happiness past the middle class--it's just that most people don't know how to spend it effectively.

You should head over to BBC's article because it lists a whole lot of other statistics from the results. It also goes into the generational divide, with younger people putting much more stock in loneliness and anxiety as causes of unhappiness. I'm kind of shocked that "welfare of their children" ranks among the bottom, but that just shows how much I know!

Whoops, Looks Like Money CAN Buy Happiness (Even Beyond the Poverty Line)!

Scrooge McDuck:  happiest duck in the universe?
From Joshua Kennen.

Science is a fickle mistress. Sometimes she merely confirms what we already think we know, and sometimes she turns common wisdom on its head. According to a new study linked in the Harvard Crimson, “money can buy many, if not most, if not all of the things that make people happy.” The study comes from one of my favorite people, Daniel Gilbert, along with Elizabeth Dunn and Timothy Wilson.

The researchers hypothesize that money's traditional inability to provide happiness comes not from money itself, but from humanity's general lack of knowledge about longterm happiness. In other words, if consumers actually knew the best way to spend money, it would make them quite happy. Instead, people base their purchasing decisions on price and superficial factors that won't matter to them as time goes on.

This story holds sentimental value for me, because my very first post on this blog was about different salary-based thresholds for happiness. Seems like only yesterday! (Actually it was only a bit less than two months ago.) If this new Daniel Gilbert study is true, it would overturn that previous study, as long as people spend their money more wisely. Which they probably won't, but oh well.

One Out of Two Australian Men Want to Trade in Their Girlfriends for Someone New

Think this kangaroo is satisfied with his current relationship? Think again. From sydney-australia.biz

Is Australia a nation of criminals? Maybe, but apparently it's also a nation of men dissatisfied with their partners. The Herald Sun reports on a new study that shows half the Australian men surveyed think that the key to happiness is a different woman. This is higher than the 44% of women surveyed who want a new man. Perhaps even more shocking are the whopping three-quarters of men who say their current relationships are not fulfilling enough.

Now don't go thinking that this is a problem with romance. According to Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness (a book I reference a lot), people are often dissatisfied with what they have, as long as there are other choices available. This, of course, is also a part of common wisdom. Just remember the phrase, "The grass is always greener on the other side." The point is that unhappiness with choices is a part of the human psyche, not necessarily a problem with the relationship itself. If this is the case, then all these roving Australian men will probably NOT feel happy within a new relationship, unless they feel they have no other choice.

So, anyone feel like sharing? What do you think about romantic relationships and their relation to happiness?

Weekend Viewing

Yes, another new weekly feature! Weekend Viewing is a chance to share interesting videos, so you can take a break from reading (and I can take a break from writing).

To get the ball rolling, I've chosen a TED Talk by Daniel Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert is the author of Stumbling on Happiness, the book that got me into this subject in the first place. This video was recorded in 2004, before the book was published. It should serve as a good introduction for those of you new to the science of happiness, but it's also extremely informative if your an old hand at the subject.

So without further ado, watch this video and enjoy your weekend!

Different Cities = Different Salaries for Happiness?

Hello world.

Source:  Wikipedia

For the inaugural post of this happy blog, we have an interesting story by Phil Izzo from The Wall Street Journal. Phil writes that a new study has found that overall happiness in America drops off after a salary of $75,000 a year. In other words, once you make $75,000 a year (on average), a raise won't make you any happier.

But as we all know, $75,000 can't buy as much in New York as it does in Wyoming, so the article goes on to compare the "happiness salaries" of several major American cities. According to the chart, New York City has the highest happiness cap at $163,500, while Fort Smith, AK, at $62,250 has the lowest.

Psychologists have long known that money doesn't buy happiness--as long as you're above the poverty line (read Daniel Gilbert's book Stumbling on Happiness for more information). This may be the first time a specific price has been put on happiness, though. Depending on how you look at it, this could be good news or bad news. On the one hand, people in Fort Smith apparently require less to be happy. On the other, it's probably a sign that they make less to begin with, so they may have less opportunity to reach the goal anyway.

What do YOU think?

Also, since this blog is just getting started, what would YOU like to see more of? It's lonely being a new blog, so leave us a comment or three. You can also email me specifically at ds@thehappymovie.com.