What Do Happy People Do?

Post date: Jan 12, 2012 6:41:05 PM

On the topic of happiness, I am reminded of an article I read many years ago entitled "What Do Happy People Do?" by John P. Robinson and Steven Martin. The paper focused on comparing daily activities with personal happiness.

Generally, engaging in social activities is associated with happiness. Happy people are especially likely to socialize with friends and relatives and attend religious services. They also like to read the newspaper.

Unhappy people watch a lot of TV. They apparently surf the web a lot too and don't have sex enough. They often don't have a job.

Happy people tend to be on the busy side. With unhappiness found in moderate to gross amounts of down time. However, unhappiness was found in the extreme of being rushed. So don't over do it.

Correlation does not prove causation. It stands to reason that when you are already unhappy, it is hard to make the effort to be social. By the same token, can an unhappy person become happy by getting out there, reading, and cutting back on TV?