Are we really Happy?

Do we know if we are really happy?

This question was asked by Norman Schwartz and colleagues who are researching the different ways in which people evaluate their sense of life satisfaction (Schwartz and Strack, 1991).

In one of these studies, they analyzed the influence of mood on satisfaction assessment. Before asking survey participants what their level of satisfaction was, they were asked to make several photocopies. Some of the participants found 10 stotinki*, secretly left before, on the photocopier. The result of this simple manipulation was surprising. Finding the penny for the lucky ones turned out to be a sufficient condition in the interview to declare higher levels of well-being, unlike the others.

The researchers confirmed the results by introducing other elements of mood manipulation by offering chocolate to participants before the study; others were interviewed on a sunny day, and others in cloudy weather or after a win or loss of a favorite team. As a result of these experiments, we come to the conclusion: the mood we are in at the moment determines 41% to 53% of our sense of well-being in life.

*stotinki – a Bulgarian coin currency