Research on HAPPINESS

RE: Reaearch on HAPPINESS

Hi Sharon,

I must be odd then, according to that article. I have found great happiness when I am with my child and among other children, andsufferedabject misery in marriage.

I am going to be honest - whenever I see 'gender issues' written in relation to something, I immediately switch my deaf aid off.

Love,
Patsy.
[:-]

RE: Reaearch on HAPPINESS

Patsy, I can't see where it says it's unusual to be happy around children - what am I missing? and stats usually say that married people are happier, although of course that does not denyyour experience. I have read some research which says that single women are happiest.
And I thought this bit below about men and women was interesting: sorry deafness doesn't work on the page, butI don't want people to think it's a feminist attack on men - it's just apiece of research about gender differences. I shouldn't have used the word "issues" maybe.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN
Men often complain about their wives' volatility. Now research confirms that women really are both happier and sadder. Positive and negative emotions are not polar opposites — you can have both in your life. Women experience more of all emotions except anger. First it was found that women experience twice as much depression as men. Next, researchers found that women report more positive emotion than men, more frequently and more intensely. It all points to men and women having a different emotional make-up. Cognitive psychologists say that men and women have different skills related to sending and receiving emotion. Women are expressive; men conceal or control their emotions. Women convey emotion through facial expression and communication; men express emotion through aggressive or distracting behaviour. Does the difference lie in biology, social roles or just women's willingness to report emotion? That's up for debate.

Regards,
Sharon

RE: Reaearch on HAPPINESS

Hi Sharon,

Here's the bit about 'children'....

'Public surveys measure what makes us happy. Marriage does, pets do, but children don't seem to (despite what we think).'

One can find anything to measure statistics, and such things nearly always come down to pointing out the differences between men and women, as if we didn't already know the differences. We live among members of the opposite sex every single day.

I wonder if these people ever live in the real world?

Love,
Patsy.
[:-]

RE: Reaearch on HAPPINESS

Thanks Patsy, I missed that bit. Hmm......I wonder how many peole would say their children make them unhappy then? - I guess there must be quite a few as families can be unhappy units to be in. I know you're very proud of your son, and he sounds a lovely person - (and very helpful when I was in a fix that time!)
Mine have given me a few unhappy moments, to be honest, but I know (as far as I can) that my general happiness level has been boosted by being a Mother.
As for stats - well, I suppose they are a possible part of the answer to thequestion of "how we know what we know". They can be seen as massageable and nebulous and therefore meaningless - but if we all relied on just our own experience of the world to make sense of it, then that would be limiting for us . They are a way of taking a huge number of people's experience and making it available to at least look at. (eg - the obvious one here - lung cancer is caused by smoking, and you reduce your risk of that disease to the almost infinitisimal by not smoking. Repeatedsurveys reveal the same stats. )
Sharonx