Not Every Culture Sees Positive Emotions the Same Way

From Free Fish Care Tips.

Time reports that the concept of "positivity" may be more culturally subjective than previously thought. This comes from a University of the Washington study that shows some cultures get no benefit from individual positive emotions--sometimes even seeing them as suspicious or dangerous.

The study's authors surveyed around 600 students from three different cultures:  European-Americans, Asian-American citizens, and Asian immigrants. The Asians tended to associate positive feelings with social harmony, while Americans associated those feelings with personal achievement.

Asians' emphasis on social harmony may not be very surprising, but the study also found that the Americans felt more stress relief from positive emotions than the Asian immigrants. Emotions like "happy," "joyful," "proud," and "strong" all reduced stress and depressive symptoms in Americans, but not Asian immigrants, with mixed results among Asian-Americans.

It would be interesting to see a more generalized study on this topic. From what I can tell, this study only looked at university students, which is already a self-selected sample (meaning participants are probably middle-to-upper class with somewhat high goals in life, simply because they are at a university). Surveying lower class people might give completely different results, as might looking at Asians within their native culture instead of Asian immigrants living in America. And there are more cultures in the world than just "European-American" and "Asian"!

Vicarious Happiness from Royal Wedding May Not Be So Bad

Who wouldn't want to be Mr. and Mrs. Plate and Mug?
From The Telegraph.

In recent weeks I've had the curious problem of not being able to find enough news to cover. All the news is old news! Apparently broadcast media in general is going through a similar dry spell, so they have turned themselves over to 24/7 coverage of a wedding between a figurehead monarch and a fashion photographer. This may have some unintended positive consequences, however, as The Boston Globe reports.

Boston College psychologist Joseph Tecce says that people watching the happiness of others often feel happiness themselves. He explains, "There's a Freudian theory called identification that says whenever we identify with someone of a higher social standing than we are, we feel good about it." This identification often relieves the stresses of everyday life.

On the other hand, Ronald Siegel of Harvard Medical School warns us that too much identification may be a bad thing. "If you think the only people who matter are those who are famous," he says, "then the wedding may remind you of how much you don't matter, and that will get you down." You should also be careful about dwelling on all the divorces the royals have gone through over the years, especially if you have had a bitter marriage yourself.

But all in all, it may not be so bad if you mark your calendars for a wedding between two people you've never met. Tomorrow, April 29, Prince William weds Kate Middleton! Be there or be slightly less able to enjoy vicarious thrills!

Casual Friday: Loneliness

From Wine Press of Words.

Today is Friday, a day when many people try to put away their stress and go out with friends, so it seems as good a time as any to discuss the importance of social interaction. I'll be using the excellent book loneliness:  Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick for most of my information, so read that if you want to look deeper.

Most of you probably realize that habitual social isolation affects health negatively, but you may not know to what extent. According to a study done by epidemiologist Lisa Berkman, people with few social ties are two to three times more likely to die of ischemic heart disease, circulatory disease, cancer, respiratory failure, gastrointestinal failure, and all other causes of death. This makes extreme loneliness just about as dangerous as obesity, lack of exercise, or smoke inhalation.

Many researchers were skeptical of such harsh results, but studies since then have supported them. One of the most extensive studies of loneliness was conducted by the authors (Cacioppo and Patrick) themselves. At Ohio State University, they gave volunteer test subjects a battery of tests, including not only daily surveys of their subjective wellbeing, but also objective physiological measurements like blood tests, salivary gland tests, and even sleep tests. The results show that lonely people (especially older people) experience chronic stress at a 25% higher rate, and this stress compounds over a lifetime. On brain scans they are even less happy than normal when they DO finally experience social connection.

Okay, so now that (I hope) I've convinced you that loneliness is a serious health problem, what counts as loneliness? The authors define it as a lack of meaningful social interaction. The interaction has to be meaningful because people standing in a crowded mall can be just as lonely as someone alone in a basement, if not more so. If you feel better with a small group of friends than a large one, that's okay. It's the quality of the interaction that counts, not the quantity.

As for how to get out of a lonely slump, that's a difficult question. You might start by looking for people with similar interests as you. I recommend the website Meetup, which allows you to find groups and clubs in your area, then meet them in person. The important thing is to keep trying, even if it doesn't seem to go well at first (loneliness can amplify negative feelings of yourself, even when you have no cause for concern).

This post is already rather long, so might as well go read the book at this point. Just remember that everyone goes through these feelings at some point, so even if you're lonely, you're not alone.

Utah Professor Researches Holiday Happiness

Happy holidays from the bottom of a stampede! From Dim Bulb.

Are holidays a happy time, or are you so stressed out that you just want them to be over? According to this story from The Daily Utah Chronicle, University of Utah professor Trish Henry is looking into this question--and hosting a seminar for those in the latter category. Seeing as a recent American Psychological Association (APA) survey found that 61% of Americans feel a lack of money will stress them out during the holidays, a seminar like this could be helpful. An additional 42% are apparently stressed out by gift-giving in general.

Stress can also come from the prospect of family gatherings. Even when family members have been away from each other a long time, we all know that old conflicts can suddenly bubble up again, making people dread family reunions in general.

All is not lost, though. Professor of educational psychology J.G. Farr says, "If you can find meaning, and it doesn't have to be all about money, then it tends to make you have a happier holiday season." This may bode well for Americans because, as I've written previously, happiness tops the list of holiday wishes, not commercial products.

What about all of you? Are you feeling the stress of the holiday season coming on or are you looking forward to it?

Comfort Food, Sex Found to Change Brain Chemicals for at Least Seven Days

Google Image results for "comfort food and sex"
were not encouraging, so this is what you get.
From I Just Love Food.

Today in the somewhat obvious news department:  WTOP reports that researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that both sex and comfort food reduce stress. The study may seem like a waste of time, but the researchers also discovered the neural pathways by which the stress reduction occurs, and that the reduction lasts for a longer period than previously expected. These findings may eventually aid people with sex addiction (if you believe in that sort of thing) or extreme obesity.

You can read the study itself here at PNAS. The researchers found that sucrose triggers most of the stress dampening in the brain. Here's a quote for the technically inclined:

"Moreover, sucrose intake increases mRNA and protein expression in the BLA for numerous genes linked with functional and/or structural plasticity. Lastly, stress dampening by sucrose is persistent, which is consistent with long-term changes in neural activity after synaptic remodeling."

Mm mmm! nothing gets me hot, bothered, and hungry like protein expression in the BLA!

Happiness Class Now Offered at Duke Law School

From Duke Law Map.

Ashby Jones of the Wall Street Journal reports that Duke Law is now offering a class entitled "Well-Being and the Practice of Law." This makes a lot of sense, given that lawyering is an incredibly stressful occupation--so much so that around 1/3 of lawyers say they would choose another profession if they could.

As for what's in the class itself, American Lawyer magazine's Dimitra Kessenides explains:

"Four weeks in, they’ve already tackled Aristotle (as part of a consideration of the philosophical roots of happiness) and renowned psychologist Albert Maslow, the founder of 'humanistic' psychology (in a review of pre-World War II scientific research on happiness)."

The class goes on to cover Martin Seligman and the like. So it sounds like an extremely comprehensive review of happiness through the ages, from ancient times to the present day. This is an interesting approach (different from other happiness classes I've heard of) that may or may not relieve stress. For students who are truly stressed out, a class like this may only act as a Band-Aid. The world needs lawyers, but law is not a profession for everyone, so I hope those who are troubled will put happiness ahead of status and money to find a career that suits them. In any case I wish Duke Law and its students all the best!

Hey, do you like this blog? If so, follow me on Digg and vote up the stories I post! Also, don't forget to click the social networking links on this site to re-tweet, re-share, and re-whatever. I'd like to get more people involved in the comments section, so this blog can be as interesting as possible!

Australian School Teaching Positive Psychology to Alleviate Test Anxiety

From The Sydney Morning Herald.

More Australian news for you today:  The Sydney Morning Herald reports that schools are teaching students life coaching and positive psychology skills because of greatly increased stress levels. Over the past five years, students appealing their test scores for psychological reasons have increased 30 percent--greater than the increase in the student population. So either students are getting craftier in how they improve their grades or they really are more stressed out.

Dr. Anthony Grant of the University of Sydney's psychology department says, "The children of today, particularly those in selective schools, are under more pressure than they have ever been before." Dr. Grant studied 56 high school students and found that life coaching decreases levels of depression while increasing hope and resilience. He became interested in the subject because two or three principals called him per week asking for positive psychology classes. Another study from the University of Sydney found that high-stakes testing harms motivation.

I don't have much more to say about this story, but I do have a SPECIAL MESSAGE for those who read this blog every day (hopefully you exist):  I might not be able to update this blog until next Tuesday because I'm attending the Global Happiness Summit near San Francisco! I'll try to take pictures and tell you how it goes, but I don't know if I'll have the time or the Internet connection to update while I'm there. It'll be a change of pace for this blog, but that's okay because variety is actually a big component of happiness!