Hey guys, Matt here for Science or Fiction.
Ever meet someone so happy that you figure they must be hiding some terrifying secrets?
You know, like your co-worker Brad.
Ugh.
Nothing good could come from hanging out with someone as happy as Brad, right?
Maybe I should give Brad a call.
A few years back headlines were running with the assertion that happiness may be contagious,
like a bizarro awesome version of the flu.
So can the happiness of others make you happy?
Is our best hope for happiness to hang out with happy guys like Brad who refuse to share
everyone’s gloom that it’s only Tuesday and the workweek is lasting FOREVER.
The idea that happiness is contagious comes from a study that followed more than 4,700
people for 20 years and asked them to periodically fill out questionnaires about their wellbeing.
After creating an emotional baseline, the researchers found that emotions fluctuated
based on the participant's social network.
And no, not we’re not talking about their Snapchat followers.
For example, the study found that a good friend who lives about a half mile away can increase
happiness up to 42%, a neighbor can increase happiness 34%, and a spouse can only increase
happiness by about 8%.
Sorry guys.
The study found that happiness doesn’t seem to spread in the workplace however, possibly
because if one person gets a promotion, someone else doesn’t.
Hey wait a minute, does that mean Brad got the promotion?
Ugh, typical.
But some people have their doubts about the study’s findings, arguing that it’s possible
that happy people are just drawn to other happy people.
It could also be that people who live near each other share the same types of environments
that might increase happiness, like safe neighborhoods, affluence, or good employment.
In response to these arguments, the study’s authors said that strangers sharing the same
environment, say a affluent, safe neighborhood, didn’t have the same positive happiness
effect as neighbors who knew each other, concluding that it was the WHO and not the WHERE.
However, detractors remain, even publishing another study based on the same data set and
using the same correlation reasoning.
Using those methods, they were able find that non-transferable traits like height were also contagious.
They found short teenagers who befriended tall kids actually became taller over time.
Man, studies trolling other studies, it happens.
Other serious research has shown that it is actually biological factors rather than societal
ones that determines happiness.
One such study found that 35-50% of happiness was attributable to genetic factors like those
found in your brain, not your neighbor.
In the end, the happiness contagion findings weren’t as conclusive as some headlines indicated.
That “contagion” may be more correlation and less causation, and if there is causation,
it could also be impacted by biological factors.
That’s not to say that you can’t become happy: It just means I might not have to hang
out with Brad to do so.
You just can’t stop smiling, can you?
Yea, I know!
Anyway, what do you think?
Not about the dark secrets Brad is probably hiding behind that cold smile,
about what makes people happy!
Who makes you happier: your significant other or your friends?
Don’t answer if your spouse is in the room.
Especially if she’s a praying mantis.
Check out this video if you don’t get what I mean.
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