Kyla Miller: A Writing Portfolio

The Happiness Gene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, let’s try not to get too bogged down by scientific talk. This next study, which was conducted in 2011 takes a geneticists perspective on the happiness gene. This study found that the variation in the serotonin gene was the “key” to figuring out the happiness gene. Previously, the serotonin gene was found to be associated with mental health and the ability to selectively process positive and negative emotional stimuli. This current study used a case-control association on a group of Americans, and the results showed that the individuals who had more efficient versions of the serotonin gene also reported higher levels of life satisfaction (Neve, 2011)! This finding was a huge step in the right direction towards looking at happiness from a scientific, hereditary, and ultimately “set point” theory.

 

Well that’s all good and great, but even if happiness were to be hereditary, what about the events in our life that largely have been thought to determine happiness? Essentially, our life circumstances. Are you married, divorced, or widowed? How much money do you make? Are you chronically ill? Certainly these events have to have some bearing on your happiness, right?

 

Lykken & Tellegen (1996) did just that. They looked at the ways in which people changed their circumstantial outcomes and how that could affect their happiness. This study used a birth-record based sample that measured happiness using the Well-Being Scale and the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. The study used longitudinal data of middle aged twins born in Minnesota between 1936 and 1955. The participants were asked things like, “My future looks bright to me” and “I’m naturally cheerful”. Through their responses, they found that main circumstantial outcomes, such as education level, socioeconomic status, family income, marital status, or religion could account for a whopping 3% of the variance in well-being (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996). WHAT? Only 3%? Based on their sample, they were able to estimate that the hereditability of the stable component of subjective well-being was close to 80% (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996). The study also suggested that a person’s baseline levels of cheerfulness, contentment, and psychological satisfaction are largely hereditary. Overall, the study came to the conclusion that how you feel right now is about equally genetic and circumstantial, but how you feel ON AVERAGE over the course of the next 10 years is over 80% genetic (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996).

 

Fascinating right? So there seems to be a lot of proof that says that happiness is largely, if not completely genetic, despite life circumstances that can be out of your control as well. Well, this is really only half of the story. Let’s hear a bit about those who have a more positive outlook on things—those psychologists who believe that happiness is flexible and within our control.

 

Flexible Theories