What determines happiness?
Genetics – 50%
Аn astounding 50 percent of the differences among people’s happiness levels can be accounted for by their genetically determined set points. Еach of us is born with a particular happiness set point that originates from our biological mother or father or both, a baseline or potential for happiness to which we are bound to return, even after major setbacks or triumphs.
The set point for happiness is similar to the set point for weight. The implication of this finding for happiness is that like genes for intelligence or cholesterol, the magnitude of our innate set points—that is, whether it is high (a six on a seven-point scale) or low (a two) or in between (a four)—governs to a large extent how happy we will be over the course of our lives.
So, although you may be made temporarily ecstatic or miserable by what comes to pass, it seems that you can’t help eventually returning to your set point. And as far as anyone knows, this set point cannot be changed. It is fixed, immune to influence or control. If the set point is genetically determined, it’s presumably rooted in our neurobiology.
Intentional Activity - 40%
40 percent of the differences in our happiness levels are still left unexplained. What makes up this 40 percent? Besides our genes and the situations that we confront, there is one critical thing left: our behavior. Thus, the key to happiness lies not in changing our genetic makeup (which is impossible) and not in changing our circumstances (i.e., seeking wealth or attractiveness or better colleagues, which is usually impractical), but in our daily intentional activities.
With this in mind, our pie chart illustrates the potential of the 40 percent that is within our ability to control, the 40 percent for room to maneuver, for opportunities to increase or decrease our happiness levels through what we do in our daily lives and how we think.
Circumstances – 10%
Perhaps the most counterintuitive finding is that as the chart shows, only about 10 percent of the variance in our happiness levels is explained by differences in life circumstances or situations—that is, whether we are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, married or divorced, etc.
Why do life changes account for so little? Because of a very powerful force that psychologists call hedonic adaptation.
Why does hedonic adaptation occur? The two biggest culprits are rising aspirations (e.g., the bigger house you buy after your windfall feels natural after a while; you experience a sort of “creeping normalcy” and begin to want an even bigger one) and social comparison (e.g., your new friends in the new neighborhood are driving BMWs and you feel you should too).
As a result, even as people amass more of what they want with every year, their overall happiness tends to stay the same.
So, the bad news about hedonic adaptation is that it ultimately dampens your happiness and satisfaction after any positive event or uplift. But there is good news too. Human beings are actually lucky to have the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, as it’s extremely useful when bad things happen. Some studies of hedonic adaptation show, for instance, that we have a phenomenal ability to recover much of our happiness after a debilitating illness or accident.
We cannot and will not adapt to everything. But the evidence for hedonic adaptation, especially with regard to positive events, is very strong. Human beings adapt to favorable changes in wealth, housing, and possessions, to being beautiful or being surrounded by beauty, to good health, and even to marriage.
Research psychologists have even tried to bottle this experience by investigating it systematically—for example, asking whether people show hedonic adaptation to such significant life events as marriage, sudden wealth, or chronic illness. It turns out they do.
Using this spectacular data set, scientists showed that alas, marriage has only a temporary effect on happiness. It appears that after the wedding husband and wife get a happiness boost for about two years and then simply return to their baseline in happiness, their set point. It seems wise not to share this bit of news with newlyweds.