Isn't Happiness Just Part of Our Personality?
According to research studies, demographic factors such as age, race, gender, education, marital status, and income explain about ten percent of our happiness.1 For example, if we're married, we're a little happier than single people, if our income is middle-class, we're happier than lower-income earners, and if we're female, we're about as happy as males but experience both our positive and negative emotions more intensely. So ten percent of our happiness is due to these deomgraphic differences. About 50 percent of our happiness comes from our genes, according to a well-designed study of twins by Tellegen and colleagues.2 But interestingly, Bruce Lipton, a cellular biologist, and many others have shown that our environment can control the expression of our DNA. That means our environment, not our genetics, control who we are. When we change our environment, we can control the 50 percent of our happiness that is related to our genes. The remaining 40 percent of our happiness is totally in our control. We can introduce activities, people, things, mindsets, and beliefs that make us either happy or sad. It's up to us. In conclusion, there's only ten percent of our happiness that we can't really control. We have an opportunity to significantly increase our happiness. In an article in the Spring 2006 issue of Tricycle, Andrew Olendzki said, "All experience is shaped within a matrix of cause and effect. Our mental attitude of aversion or pleasure is a product of one's dispositions - nothing more than learned responses built up during a lifetime of acting and reacting in the world - understand this and one can have an immediate breakthrough liberating the mind." A great example of this is research by Tomarken, Davidson and colleagues.3 They found there is a happiness set-point in our brains. This means that happiness is a trait-like measure in the brain. This point can move left (happier) or right (unhappier) over time. Davidson has also shown that monks who meditate have a capacity for happiness that is 7-8 times what non-meditators have. Exercising the "compassion muscle" of the brain strengthens the feeling of the emotions associated with it - enthusiasm, alertness, interest, and happiness. Getting back to our original questions -- is happiness part of our personality? -- the answer is yes and no. It may or may not be part of your natural personality. And if it's not, you can acquire it like any skill. The way to do that is with practice. Notes 1 Studies range from 8% to 20% in their correlation of happiness and demographics. See Campbell, A., Converse, P.E., and Rodgers, W. (1976). The Quality of American Life. Russell Sage, New York. Also Andrews, F. M., Withey, S.B. (1976). Social Indicators of Well-Being: America's Perception of Life Quality, Plenum Press, New York. 2 Tellegen, A., Lykken, D.T., Bouchard, T.J., Wilcox, K.J., Segal, N.L., and Rich, S. (1988). Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1031-39. 3 Tomarken, A. J., Davidson, R. J., Wheeler, R. E., & Doss, R. C. (1992). Individual differences in anterior brain asymmetry and fundamental differences of emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 676-687. Sandi Smith is COO of the American Happiness Association. Join AHA and help others find the secret to happiness Your dollars support our very important outreach programs. AHA serves various populations, such as the unemployed, foster families, gang leaders, veterans, seniors, widow(er)s, and other at-risk groups. You will be positively changing the world, helping these people regain hope, learn emotional control, and be happier, one person at a time. You also receive for yourself and your family, The Top 10 Happiness Boosters Revealed eBook, teleseminar and workshop discounts, bonus surprises throughout the year, and much more for only $33/year. Find out more about AHA membership here. Thank you for your support of our work.
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Yes, and no.
