Submitted by Sue-Marie on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 1:42pm.
A link to this article was on www.msn.com today, which I access to get to my hotmail account. This is a funny spin on positive psychology, and an example about how the way one reads results of a study may be more telling than the actual study! The article comes from slade.com. It made me wonder who their corporate sponsors are. Oh wait, it was on msn.com. I see!
A study suggests extreme happiness may be bad for you.Findings: 1) "The highest levels of income, education and political participation were reported not by the most satisfied individuals, but by moderately satisfied individuals." 2) Extremely happy people "earned significantly less money" and earned lower school grades than moderately happy people. 3) They "may not live as long," either. Theories: 1) Happiness makes you complacent and kills your drive. 2) It makes you slow to adapt. 3) It makes you too optimistic and insufficiently vigilant about your health. 4) It may overstimulate your cardiovascular system. Researchers' conclusions: 1) "Happiness may need to be moderated for success." 2) "Extremely high levels of happiness might not be a desirable goal." Human Nature's conclusions: 1) Success may need to be moderated for happiness. 2) Extremely high levels of success might not be a desirable goal.
A link to this article was on www.msn.com today, which I access to get to my hotmail account. This is a funny spin on positive psychology, and an example about how the way one reads results of a study may be more telling than the actual study! The article comes from slade.com. It made me wonder who their corporate sponsors are. Oh wait, it was on msn.com. I see!
A study suggests extreme happiness may be bad for you. Findings: 1) "The highest levels of income, education and political participation were reported not by the most satisfied individuals, but by moderately satisfied individuals." 2) Extremely happy people "earned significantly less money" and earned lower school grades than moderately happy people. 3) They "may not live as long," either. Theories: 1) Happiness makes you complacent and kills your drive. 2) It makes you slow to adapt. 3) It makes you too optimistic and insufficiently vigilant about your health. 4) It may overstimulate your cardiovascular system. Researchers' conclusions: 1) "Happiness may need to be moderated for success." 2) "Extremely high levels of happiness might not be a desirable goal." Human Nature's conclusions: 1) Success may need to be moderated for happiness. 2) Extremely high levels of success might not be a desirable goal.