Psychology Courses/Psychology 104: Social PsychologyCourse
- AuthorJanelle Barowski
Janelle is a tutor for Nursing and Health Administration. She has an Associate's degree in Nursing from Middlesex College. She also has a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Nursing Administration and Leadership from Western Governors University. She currently is a practicing pediatric and geriatric nurse.
View bio - InstructorNatalie Boyd
Natalie is a teacher and holds an MA in English Education and is in progress on her PhD in psychology.
View bio
Discover the latest research on things that make people happy, and the causes of happiness. In addition, learn about what makes people happy, and materialism.Updated: 11/21/2023
Table of Contents
- What Makes People Happy
- Causes of Happiness
- List of Things That Make People Happy
- Lesson Summary
Happiness has been a long-sought-after concept by society. What makes people happy has been the focal point of psychologists, scientists, and philosophers for centuries. Research has shown that three main concepts make people happy. These three factors that affect happiness are:
- meaningful relationships with others
- maintaining a pleasant hobby or work environment
- giving back to the community or those in need
The first factor is having a close relationship with friends and family. Having an effective support system is crucial for leading a joyful life. Supportive relationships can promote wellness, stress reduction, and be valuable resources when life proves challenging. When a person is satisfied with their familial, friendship, and romantic relationships, they tend to be happier in general. By definition, people are social creatures who seek out social interaction with others.
The second factor that contributes to happiness is having a rewarding hobby or feeling fulfilled or satisfied in a person's employment position. A person's employment is where they spend the majority of their waking hours. If they spend their time doing meaningful work that makes them feel happy, they are more likely to be satisfied with their life. Participating in a hobby is another factor that plays into happiness. Advancing in a personal hobby allows the person to have a sense of accomplishment through their increased skillset in a particular area. It can also aid in stress reduction.
Finally, giving back to the community and others who need assistance is another way that can lead to a happy life. Giving back to others feels good. It's an innately positive act that benefits others. Contributing to charitable causes with monetary donations, provided goods, or volunteering services is an excellent way to boost a person's morale. It can also promote the building of relationships within a community.
Happiness and Material Goods
It has long been debated whether material goods alone can provide happiness. This is in line with money buying happiness through physical goods. Research has shown that this is not the case. The wealthiest people are not necessarily the happiest people. In addition, it is not necessary to be wealthy to feel satisfaction and joy in life.
Happiness cannot be bought through the acquisition of material objects. It is best achieved through the maintenance of meaningful experiences and relationships with others, while being balanced with self-care and stress reduction.
Research has shown that people are most happy after their necessities are met through wealth. This means that they are clothed, housed, and fed comfortably. All their basic life needs are met. Any wealth acquired above this level does not necessarily represent a higher rate of happiness through material goods.
Focusing on material goods and wealth acquisition can leave some people unhappy and stressed. Materialism may take them away from their family and hobbies. Or, it can lead them to have a job that they do not enjoy doing in exchange for a larger paycheck. Wealth can only lead to happiness when it provides the basis needed for survival.
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There are many causes of happiness, and factors that contribute to happiness. They are listed in the previous section, and the next section as well. Affective forecasting is the ability for a person to predict their feelings in the future. This includes their future happiness level, and what can cause a person to be happy or sad.
Some people are better at predicting affective forecasting than others. Research has shown that most people are ineffective at predicting the causes of their happiness.
For example, many people would assume that money and material possessions would lead to happiness. They may work longer hours to acquire more money to buy more objects, just to find out that is not the cause of their happiness. Instead, they may have been happier reducing their hours at work to spend more time at the beach with their families. It has been proven that close relationships are a better predictor of happiness than wealth.
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Now that this lesson has thoroughly defined happiness, its causes, and its relation to material goods, this section will cover examples of things that make people happy. The following is a list of things that make people happy:
- spending quality time bonding with friends and family
- practicing meditation
- reflecting on gratitude and being consciously aware of what a person has
- give back to others through charitable donations or volunteer work
- laughter releases oxytocin, a hormone related to happiness
- practice self-care routines that promote wellness and rest
- regular exercise works to reduce stress and promote hormones that result in increased satisfaction
- avoid large mistakes and be forgiving when they occur
- ensure that there is enough sleep during the evening
- eat at regular intervals and eat nutrient-dense meals
- do not compare the actions of an individual to others, and be happy with what can be accomplished
- promote positive thinking by forgiving others
- lead a healthy life that promotes freedom of choice
- connect with nature as a grounding experience
- set achievable goals and work to achieve them
- Work hard to master a skill or hobby that is enjoyable
- performing work that a person enjoys for their employment
- decluttering and cleaning will promote organization
This section covered a comprehensive list of things that make people happy. Many of these concepts focus on maintaining mental health by decreasing stress and increasing interpersonal connections with others. Other actions focus on exploring personal interests and helping others. Some interventions can be universally applied, while others will depend on the person.
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Happiness has been thoroughly studied, as people attempt to understand how people can achieve happiness. Research has shown that materialistic people are less happy than people who are not. This shows that material goods do not necessarily produce happiness. However, spending time with loved ones is most likely to result in happiness for individuals. Doing work that a person genuinely enjoys doing can also lead to happiness. There are many other ways a person can promote their joy, many of which are individual to their interests and goals.
Affective forecasting is defined as the ability for a person to predict their feelings in the future. This includes their future happiness level. Some people are better at predicting affective forecasting than others. This is because some individuals believe their decisions will have a bigger impact on their emotions than they actually will. So, they will act, and not receive the boost of happiness that they were anticipating.
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Video Transcript
What Makes People Happy?
Think about a time when you felt particularly happy. What was it that made you happy? Was it because you had loved ones near? Because you were surrounded by a beautiful landscape? Because you had just accomplished something important? Or were you happy because you had lots of money?
'What makes you happy?' That seems like a simple question, but the truth is that many people don't know. Or, as psychologists have discovered, they think they know the answer, but really don't. Psychological research on happiness has identified several things people have in common: the types of things that make them happy, the things they think will make them happy, and the differences between the two.
Let's start by looking at what actually makes people happy. As you might expect, research shows that the best indicator of a person's happiness is the quality of his or her close relationships. Whether you're talking about romantic relationships, family dynamics, or simply close friendships, the happier you are in your social engagements, the happier you are in general.
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Besides close relationships, there are two other things that predict happiness in people: having a job or hobby that they love and that challenges them and helping others through volunteer work, random acts of kindness or another type of prosocial behavior.
All three of these things make sense. I'll bet you weren't very surprised that solid relationships, engaging ways to spend your time and prosocial behavior all contribute to happiness.
Materialism and Happiness
But what about money? After all, if you don't have any money, it's very easy to believe that lots of money will make you happy. But that's not what psychologists have found.
Once your basic necessities are met, research has shown that additional money does not have a lot to do with happiness. So, while billionaires may fly on private jets to luxurious spas all over the world, it doesn't mean that they are any happier than people who drive 10-year-old cars and fly coach.
However, focusing on money and material things can make you profoundly unhappy. Research has shown that people who put a lot of emphasis on money and things are not as happy as non-materialistic people.
Affective Forecasting
The things that make people happy and unhappy seem pretty intuitive. But do people really understand what makes them happy?
Affective forecasting is the process of guessing how you will feel under specific future circ*mstances. Affect is just another word for emotion or mood. If I said that tomorrow you were going to lose your job, break up with your partner and fail a test, I'll bet you could pretty accurately predict what your emotional state would be.
But how effective are people at affective forecasting when it comes to happiness? Not very; research has shown that most people make consistent errors when guessing what will make them happy in the future.
Think about this: if you could either be a powerful CEO of a large company, making tons of money, or work part-time at a small company, barely making enough to cover your bills, which would you choose? Which do you think would make you happier?
If you're like most people, you probably said making lots of money would make you happier. But, as you might have guessed from the research on money and happiness, that's not the case for most people. When you think more deeply about the jobs, you'll realize that a CEO of a large company might make a lot of money, but she also works very long hours at a stressful job.
Compare that to the part-time job where bills are being paid, but there's not a lot of extra money left over for luxuries. However, at a part-time job, you'll have more time to spend with your loved ones.
In reality, psychologists have found that less money and more time with loved ones tends to make people happier, as long as basic necessities are being taken care of. However, most people make errors in affective forecasting because they will choose things that are unlikely to make them happy (such as a lot of money) over things that have a high likelihood of making them happy (such as time with family and friends).
There are many theories why people are not effective at affective forecasting. Some psychologists believe that the problem is with the impact bias, where people believe that something will have more of an impact on your emotions than it actually will. Others believe that the issue lies in the projection bias, which is when you project your current wants and desires onto the future. Other theories as to why people are not good at guessing what will make them happy in the future include the tendency to not think about the concrete details of a situation that might happen in the future and the tendency to forget your reactions to things in the past.
Lesson Summary
There are three main things that make people happy: close relationships, a job or past-time that they love and helping others. On the other hand, money and material things do not have a lot to do with happiness, and people who emphasize them are less happy than those who do not. No matter how intuitive these things seem, people make affective forecasting mistakes all the time by making decisions based on things that are unlikely to make them happy, such as making a lot of money, instead of based on things that will make them happy, such as spending time with loved ones.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this lesson, you should be ready to:
- Identify the three main things that tend to make people happy
- Discuss what people think will make them happy versus what actually makes them happy
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