26 Aug Happiness and adaptation…what you might and might not know
What really contributes to happiness? How easily do we get used to happiness? What role does the economy and/or the media have on our happiness levels?
In an interesting article, these and other questions are answered by Bridget Grenville-Cleave for Positive Psychology News Daily
One of the key findings from Positive Psychology studies is the so-called adaptation effect, which basically means that you get used to both increased prosperity and increased adversity and return to your natural levels of happiness. If you_ã_ve ever had a promotion at work, you_ã_ll no doubt know that the novelty wears off all too soon…
…The researchers suggest that it is uncertainty itself which is bad for well-being rather than negative events per se, because individuals seem better at adapting to unpleasant certainty than they are at dealing with uncertainty. In other words, better the devil you know. Once the Dow Jones reached rock bottom we knew where we stood, even if we didn_ã_t like it.
And even when happiness levels started improving, people remained pessimistic in their assessments of their own standard of living and the country_ã_s economic situation, which could be explained in terms of downward adaptation. People adjust to lower standards of living and assess them as such, even while their happiness levels seem to adapt and recover.
Read the full and original article, about happiness and related variables, HERE