Happiness - Page 18 of 27

Being Happy Is Not Just “In Your Genes” — You Need More…

How the same genes can be linked to both happiness and depression.

How the same genes can be linked to both happiness and depression.

Certain genes linked to mental health can lead to both happiness and depression, a new review concludes.

It all depends on the environment in which a person is brought up.

Supportive environments can lead to positive biases in seeing the world (essentially: happiness).

Unsupportive environments can lead to the opposite.

Professor Elaine Fox, the study’s first author, said:

“‘Cognitive biases are when people consistently interpret situations though particular mental ‘filters’ – when people have a cognitive bias that emphasises negative aspects or thoughts, they are more at risk of mental health disorders.
There is a lot of research about these biases, and a lot of research about genes that may make people susceptible to mental ill health.
However, we suggest that it could make more sense to bring together these two areas of research.”

Professor Fox is currently researching how genes and the environment combine to affect our cognitive filters.

Professor Fox said:

“If you take a gene that is linked to mental illness, and compare people who have the same genetic variant, it becomes clear that what happens to their mental health is based on their environment.
We suggest that while no gene ‘causes’ mental ill health, some genes can make people more sensitive to the effects of their environment – for better and for worse.”

She continued:

“If you have those genes and are in a negative environment, you are likely to develop the negative cognitive biases that lead to mental disorders.
If you have those genes but are in a supportive environment, you are likely to develop positive cognitive biases that increase your mental resilience.”

The study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry (Fox & Beevers, 2016).

Winning man image from Shutterstock

Make-Up Changes Your Social Status Differently For Men And Women

Dominance and prestige are two ways of achieving high status.

Dominance and prestige are two ways of achieving high status.

Women think other women with make-up on are more ‘dominant’, new research finds.

The idea of dominance is linked to threat and jealousy, the researchers also found.

Women thought other women wearing make-up were more likely to be attractive to men and promiscuous.

Men, though, think women with make-up on are more ‘prestigious’.

Dr Viktoria Mileva, the study’s first author, said:

“While both sexes agree that women with make-up look more attractive when it comes to “high status,” it really depends on who is looking.
Men think women with make-up are more ‘prestigious’, while women think women with make-up are more dominant.
Research suggests that ‘high status’ can be obtained through two main routes.
Either you are dominant, which means you are happy using forcefulness or manipulation to make people follow you.
Alternatively, you can gain high status by prestige; by having positive merits and qualities that make other want to follow you.”

Dr Mileva continued:

“We did some follow-up studies as to why women might feel that women with make-up are perceived as more dominant, and it looks like it might be related to jealousy and threat potential — women rating women with make-up said they would be more jealous of them, thought they were more promiscuous, and would be more attractive to men than their non-make-up wearing counterparts.
For example, at a job interview, knowing whether the hiring committee will consist of men or women might influence a female candidate’s decision about wearing make-up.
Whether the interviewers will view her as attractive, dominant, and/or prestigious can affect her and the interviewers’ actions and perhaps the outcome of the interview itself.
Thus, understanding the potential implications of cosmetics use are important not only for the wearer, but also for the perceiver.”

The study was published in the journal Perception (Mileva et al., 2016).

The Parental Happiness Gap Is Largest In The US

Do children make you happier? It depends in which industrialised country you live.

Do children make you happier? It depends in which industrialised country you live.

Non-parents are happier than parents, especially in the United States, new research finds.

The happiness gap between parents and non-parents is greatest in the US across 22 industrialised countries.

The reason could be down to policies that are relatively unsupportive for families, argues the report prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families.

Dr Matthew Andersson, one of the study’s co-authors, said:

“The United States, without any standard paid leave available to mothers or parents — or any standard vacation or sick leave to support raising a dependent child — falls strikingly behind all the other countries we examined in terms of providing for parents’ happiness and overall well-being.”

In countries where government policies provide more support for families, parents may even be slightly happier than non-parents.

Researchers compared data from European countries, Russia, the US, New Zealand and Australia.

Money did not work as well as giving parents flexibility, the study’s authors write:

“Another striking finding was that giving money to parents in child allowances or monthly payments had less effect on parental happiness than giving them the tools — such as flexible work time — to combine employment with parenting.”

The study also found that having larger families had relatively little influence on happiness.

Americans were generally found to be happy people, especially in comparison to the French.

The research is yet another instalment in the debate on how children affect parental happiness.

Not all studies, though, agree that non-parents are happier.

As I wrote in the article “10 Current Psychology Studies Every Parent Should Know“:

“…research has found that, on average, parents feel better than non-parents each day and derive more pleasure from caring for their children than from other activities (Nelson et al.,. 2013).
Fathers, in particular, derive high levels of positive emotions and happiness from their children.”

There is also some evidence that first and second children provide the biggest boost to happiness, although it is relatively short-lived:

“First and second children provide parents a boost in happiness up to a year before they are born but the third does not, new research finds.
The increase in happiness lasts around one year from birth, after which some parents’ happiness returns to its usual pre-baby levels.”

The study is to be published in the American Journal of Sociology.

Image credit: Christos Tsoumplekas

8 Current Psychology Studies Every Lover Should Know

The power of nonconformists, neural synchrony, pathological personality traits and more…

The power of nonconformists, neural synchrony, pathological personality traits and more…

1. Men and women prefer nonconformists

When it comes to dating, both sexes prefer a non-conformist partner, research finds.

Although most people know a rebellious man is sexy; the results upend the common assumption that men prefer women who play by the rules.

Women in the study guessed that the personality trait of conformity would attract men, but it didn’t.

The study’s authors write:

“Women overestimated how attracted men would be to the conformist women.
People think that men prefer conformist women, but this impression is discrepant from reality.”

2. Neural synchrony

People who find each other’s emotions easy to read are naturally drawn to each other.

Reading emotions successfully gives people the feeling of understanding and connectedness.

Brain scans showed that interpersonal attraction was linked to a kind of neural synchrony.

The study’s authors explain:

“Individual changes in interpersonal attraction were predicted by activity in the participant’s reward circuit, which in turn signaled how well the participant’s ‘neural vocabulary’ was suited to decode the other’s behavior.”

3. Similar height

People choose partners who are a similar height to them because it’s in our genes, a new study finds.

For years its been known that people tend to choose partners who are a similar height to themselves.

This is despite the well-known preferences women have for taller men.

The link between partner’s height is surprisingly accurate, Dr Tenesa said:

“Using one partner’s genes for height, we estimated the height of the chosen partner with 13% accuracy.

4. Pathological pulling power

People with pathological personality traits — such as impulsiveness and neuroticism — have more luck in love.

Those with certain dark personality traits tend to have more partners and more children.

The conclusions come from almost 1,000 heterosexual men and women with a wide range of personality traits.

Find out more in the study’s full description.

5. Don’t smile (guys)

Women find swaggering or brooding men more attractive than happy guys, research finds.

Less smiling makes a man look more masculine, it turns out.

The results were the exact opposite for women.

Professor Jessica Tracy, the study’s first author, said:

“While showing a happy face is considered essential to friendly social interactions, including those involving sexual attraction — few studies have actually examined whether a smile is, in fact, attractive.
This study finds that men and women respond very differently to displays of emotion, including smiles.”

6. Shock finding: young and thin!

Women who are almost underweight are most attractive to men, a recent study finds.

Dr Lobke Vaanholt, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Although most people will not be surprised that extreme thinness was perceived as the most attractive body type, since this prevails so heavily in media, culture and fashion, the important advance is that now we have an evolutionary understanding of why this is the case.”

And, the simple reason men find a low BMI attractive is that it signals youth.

7. Expansive posture

Both men and women look more attractive when they adopt an expansive posture, a new study finds.

Expansive postures include having the arms outward rather than folded, generally leaning backwards or with the legs apart rather than crossed.

Expansive gestures tend to signify openness and dominance, which is why they are seen as more attractive.

The researchers recorded a speed dating event and used data from the dating app Tinder to verify their hypothesis.

In both cases people were more likely to be picked when they adopted more expansive postures.

8. A glass of wine

One or two glasses of wine can make the drinker look more attractive to others, a recent study finds.

Three or four glasses, though, does not make a person look more attractive than when they are sober.

This is different to the ‘beer goggles’ effect, which is well known: that alcohol makes other people look more attractive.

This is the first study to show that it works both ways, as the authors explain:

“The present study suggests that alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness of the consumer by other people.”

A New Part Of The Happiness Equation Discovered

Equation that can predict your happiness has a new term.

There is a positive trait that protects against envy.

People who are more generous are better protected against envy, a new study suggests.

Those who give more away to others also experience less envy when they see that others have more.

It may help more generous people cope with the depressing sight of seeing others doing better than ourselves.

The conclusions come from a study which investigated how people’s happiness fluctuates with their own fortunes and those of others.

Researchers developed an equation to predict people’s happiness.

Dr Robb Rutledge, who co-led the study, explained:

“Our equation can predict exactly how happy people will be based not only on what happens to them but also what happens to the people around them.
On average we are less happy if others get more or less than us, but this varies a lot from person to person.
Interestingly, the equation allows us to predict how generous an individual will be in a separate scenario when they are asked how they would like to split a small amount of money with another person.
Based on exactly how inequality affects their happiness, we can predict which individuals will be altruistic.”

The study involved a series of games in which people gambled and were also offered the chance to share their winnings with others.

Mr Archy de Berker, who co-led the study, said:

“…generosity towards strangers relates to how our happiness is affected by the inequalities we experience in our daily life.
The people who gave away half of their money when they had the opportunity showed no envy when they experienced inequality in a different task but showed a lot of guilt.
By contrast, those who kept all the money for themselves displayed no signs of guilt in the other task but displayed a lot of envy.”

In other words: it is useful to be generous, because it is linked to less envy when others have more.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications (Rutledge et al., 2016).

Winning man image from Shutterstock

Swearing: 7 Miraculous Effects On The Mind

Seven ways in which swearing can actually be psychologically positive.

Seven ways in which swearing can actually be psychologically positive.

Here are some of the good things about bad words:

1. Swearing makes you stronger

Swearing is not just a reaction to feeling angry and a way of letting off steam.

Swearing in moderation can make you feel stronger.

It is a type of coping mechanism.

Of course, swearing doesn’t work so well if used repeatedly.

It should be saved for when you really need it, such as:

2. Reducing pain

There is a very good reason why we swear when injured: it reduces the pain.

A study has found that people are able to submerge their hands in ice water for longer while they repeat swear words.

Try it: what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than swearing like a trooper with your hand in a bucket of ice water?

Dr Richard Stephens, an expert on the psychology of swearing, said:

“Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon.
It taps into emotional brain centres and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain.
Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists.”

3. Wake up!

Swearing activates parts of the brain that are vital to the ‘fight-or-flight’ response.

Hearing someone swear can give us a jolt of excitement that can enliven dull proceedings.

A well-placed swear word can do wonders to get people’s attention.

Talking of which:

4. Light swearing can persuade, damn it!

Lack of passion can be fatal to our attempts to persuade others of our point of view.

Show your passion, however, and people have one more emotional reason to come around to your point of view.

One unconventional way is by using a little light swearing.

Light swearing can be useful even in a relatively formal situation like a lecture.

When you show some feeling, the audience notices, credits you with sincerity and is more likely to take your message to heart.

(Note: the study only tested the use of ‘damn it’, nothing strong. Read more about the study.)

5. Sign of a good vocabulary

People who know more swear words also have stronger verbal abilities, a recent study found.

Knowing how to swear, then, is not a sign of a poor vocabulary — in fact it signals a better vocabulary.

One caveat: this study does not test or suggest that using lots of swear words is a sign of a larger vocabulary.

It only tested (and found) that knowing them is linked to a larger vocabulary.

6. Make friends

Oddly, swearing can actually be a sign of happiness.

“Social swearing” is a way of bonding people together.

It can be intended to be friendly and often appears when people are relaxed and happy.

Think of a group of police officers or doctors happily swearing away together.

7. Swearing is an emotional expression

Swearing is closely related to the emotions — as such it can be an important form of expression.

Ms Amy Zile, author of a study on the subject, said:

“Our study found that when we raised people’s emotional arousal level they became more proficient at swearing such that they were able to produce a greater number of different swear words and expressions in a one-minute period.
This provides experimental support for the theory that swearing is emotional language.”

The obligatory health warning

Taboo words are taboo for a reason — hearing them can make others feel very uncomfortable.

Swearing is also highly inappropriate in many situations.

Image credit: Jeff Gill

This Simple Depression Treatment Takes Just 1.5 Hours

Could it be better than antidepressants and with fewer side-effects?

Inducing a mild fever in people with depression can relieve their symptoms for up to six weeks, new research finds.

The study suggests that ‘whole-body hyperthermia’ might be a useful new treatment for depression.

Dr. Charles Raison, who led the study, said:

“Our hope is to find better and faster-acting treatments for depression than the antidepressants currently in use.
We think that using heat to stimulate the skin activates serotonin-producing cells in the mid-brain, which then produce a change in how the brain functions.
In a way, one might think of this pathway from the skin to the brain as a deep-brain stimulator crafted by evolution.
We tap into this pathway because heat makes the brain feel happy.”

The small study included 16 people with depression who had their body temperature raised to 38.5 degrees Celsius or 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is around the temperature of a mild fever.

They were compared with another group who received a placebo treatment involving fans and lights which did not actually heat them up.

Dr Raison said:

“Our sham intervention was so realistic that most of the participants (10 of 14) thought they were receiving the real treatment.”

People in the real treatment condition were heated with infrared lights and coils over about an hour and half.

They were then left to cool down for around an hour.

Participant were followed up two, four and six weeks later.

Those who received the real treatment improved by about one level of depression severity.

For example, those who were moderately depressed reported only mild depression after the treatment, while those who were mildly depressed were ‘normal’ after the treatment.

Dr Raison said:

“We were surprised to see that the effect (of reduced depression symptoms) was still present six weeks after the initial treatment.”

The researchers think the treatment works partly because it stimulates parts of the brain involved in the regulation of mood, such as the orbitofrontal cortex.

Extreme heat may also help to shift people’s focus from their own thoughts onto what is going on in the outside world.

In other words it could be an adaptive response to the heat.

Hyperthermia has been used as a cancer treatment in Europe for years, but this is some of the first work applying it to depression.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry (Clemens et al., 2016).

Image courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

10 Myths About Dating Sex and Marriage Everyone Should Know

It turns out that opposites do not attract, women’s libido is just as strong as men, and more…

It turns out that opposites do not attract, women’s libido is just as strong as men, and more…

Many of people’s beliefs about dating, sex and marriage are plain wrong, a new book claims.

Professor Matthew D. Johnson, a clinical psychologist and author of the new book, said:

“People assume that they know how relationships work.
It feels like love should be intuitive and not something that can be studied scientifically.
Not so!
Scientists have learned a lot about intimate relationships – much of it counterintuitive.”

Here are ten of the myths:

Myth: Opposites attract.
Myth: Having children brings couples closer.
Myth: Men have a stronger libido than women.
Myth: Having access to innumerable online profiles of potential partners increases the likelihood of finding Mr. or Ms. Right.
Myth: Children raised by other-sex couples are better off than children raised by same-sex couples.
Myth: Premarital counseling or relationship education programs prevent discord and divorce.
Myth: Good communication is the key to a happy relationship.
Myth: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.
Myth: Couples who are “matched” by online dating services are more likely to have satisfying relationships.
Myth: Living together before marriage is a good way to determine whether you’re with the right person.

There are, of course, many good reasons for couples to live together before marriage, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will help them choose the right partner.

Professor Johnson explained:

“People think that it makes sense to do a trial run.
‘Let’s see how well we get along when we’re living together.’
What could be more intuitive, right?
But, it turns out that living together before engagement increases the chances of dissatisfaction and divorce down the road.
Why?
The current thinking is that couples who move in together for convenience may end up drifting into marriage instead of making a purposeful decision to get married.
For example, maybe a couple is already spending several nights a week together and they don’t see the reason to write two separate rent checks every month, so they move in together.
Then, they’re living together for a while and their family starts asking: ‘When are you two getting married?’
Pretty soon the inertia of their relationship pulls them into marriage as opposed to making a deliberate decision to marry.”

The book “Great Myths of Intimate Relationships: Dating, Sex, and Marriage (Great Myths of Psychology)” is published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Alcohol’s Long-Term Effect On Your Happiness May Surprise You

Could giving up alcohol make you happy or miserable?

Could giving up alcohol make you happy or miserable?

Long-term happiness is not much affected by normal alcohol intake, new research finds.

So, giving up won’t necessarily make you miserable.

However, alcohol does make people feel happier in the short-term.

All those little bouts of happiness, though, don’t add up to a measurable difference in the long-term.

The only exception to this situation, the researchers found, was people with an alcohol problem, who became less satisfied with life over time.

The conclusions come from a study which looked at people’s happiness over more than a decade and linked it to their alcohol intake.

A second study had drinkers track their happiness levels moment-by-moment on their iPhones.

Both studies included tens of thousands of individuals.

The study’s authors conclude:

“…while iPhone users are happier at the moment of drinking, there are only small overspills to other moments, and among the wider population, changing drinking levels across several years are not associated with changing life satisfaction.”

The study was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine (Geiger & MacKerron et al., 2016).

The First Happiness Genes Have Been Discovered

Study may also offer key insights into depressio

Study may also offer key insights into depression.

A massive study including hundreds of thousands of people has discovered the genetic variants which (partly) determine our happiness.

Dr Alexis Frazier-Wood, one of the study’s authors, said:

“We report that we found three genetic variants associated with subjective well-being – how happy a person thinks or feels about his or her life.
We also found two genes harboring variants associated with depressive symptoms and 11 genes where variation was associated with neuroticism.”

The study involved analysing data from many other studies.

The meta-analysis pooled data from 298,000 people.

Of course the genes themselves do not totally control how happy we feel.

Dr. Daniel Benjamin, one of the study’s authors, explained:

“Genetics is only one factor that influences these psychological traits [including happiness].
The environment is at least as important, and it interacts with the genetic effects.”

Professor Meike Bartels, another of the study’s authors, said:

“This study is both a milestone and a new beginning: A milestone because we are now certain that there is a genetic aspect to happiness and a new beginning because the three variants that we know are involved account for only a small fraction of the differences between human beings.
We expect that many variants will play a part.”
Locating these variants will also allow us to better study the interplay between nature and nurture, as the environment is certainly responsible – to some extent – for differences in the way people experience happiness.”

Professor Bartels continued:

“The genetic overlap with depressive symptoms that we have found is also a breakthrough.
This shows that research into happiness can also offer new insights into the causes of one of the greatest medical challenges of our time: depression.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Genetics (Okbay et al., 2016).