Why your Conservative neighbour is happier than you
Tue, 2008-08-12 08:59
#1
Lard Tunderin Jeezus
Why your Conservative neighbour is happier than you
Tue, 2008-08-12 08:59
#2
Lard Tunderin Jeezus
quote:
The exuberance displayed by Barack Obama's supporters might make Republicans look like geriatric chess enthusiasts, but a new survey suggests that conservatives are happier than liberals - and offers one reason why.Liberals, claim New York University psychologists Jaime Napier and John Tost, have a tougher time rationalising social and economic inequality than conservatives.
The recent surge in home foreclosures, for instance, is due to poor economic choices on the part of borrowers, a conservative might think. Liberals, on the other hand, seethe at predatory lenders and lax government regulation of the mortgage industry.
The result: conservatives mix a martini and hit the country club, while liberals write angry letters and stage protests.
Of course, American political views aren't so binary, yet the happiness divide seems to be real. Previous studies, including a 2006 survey from Pew Research Center have found the same general trend, much to the delight of conservative pundits like George Will, who noted that "liberalism is a complicated and exacting, not to say grim and scolding, creed.
....This trend held for non-Americans, as well. Right-wingers in the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were all happier than liberals, on average. And the poorer - and presumably more unequal - a country, the greater the happiness divide.
[url=http://www.newscientist.com/blog/shortsharpscience/2008/08/why-conservat... [/url]
Tue, 2008-08-12 09:05
#3
quote:
people not bothered by social or economic disparities tend to be happy.
They probably also tend to be on the "good side" of the disparity.
But, of course, if you're content with the status quo, you'll be more content. If you're not - if you're disturbed by suffering and injustice - you'll be less happy, more angry, less content - and, it is to be hoped, motivated to do something about it.
Tue, 2008-08-12 09:13
#4
quote:
Originally posted by RosaL:But, of course, if you're content with the status quo, you'll be more content.
Yup, this is all a little bit self-evident. Reminds me of the stat I picked up in a Women's Studies course back in the '80s, that, statistically, married men are happier than married women, and single women are happier than single men.
Maybe that's changed a bit by now, though [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
[ 12 August 2008: Message edited by: jas ]
Tue, 2008-08-12 09:21
#5
I'd be quite happy to be paid what a New York University psychologist gets for writing newspaper filler content.
Tue, 2008-08-12 15:10
#6
Sure don't the likes of Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh appear to be the embodiment of Joy.