The One Factor That Determines How Happy You Are


No doubt, someone in your life—whether it’s a college roommate, your mom, or a therapist—has asked you the dreaded question: “Are you happy?” The tricky thing about answering is, how do you even decide just how happy you are? According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, your answer isn’t about how well you’re doing in general, but if you’re doing as well (or better) than you expected to be doing.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge studied subjective happiness by having participants play a gambling game and asking them how happy they were at various intervals during the game. Turns out, how much money the participants won had very little effect on their overall happiness. Rather, it was whether participants took home more cash than they expected to that determined their happiness levels.

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So, basically, happiness is all about expectations. Researchers found having a surprisingly positive outcome was the best indicator of a person’s happiness—like if you’re set up with a guy who you think will be a dud and he turns out to be great, or you wind up loving a new restaurant you thought you’d just feel “meh” about.

There are a couple of takeaways here: First, take chances, even though you’re not sure what the outcome will be. If the result is more positive than you anticipated, you could end up blissed-out. Second, it’s a good idea to work on managing expectations. When you go into things hoping that they’ll turn out just so, you’re way more likely to end up disappointed. (It’s why you should never plan out these five big life moves.)

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