Originally published February 15 2006
Psychologists study the relationship between happiness and success
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, led a study that found happiness is related to success.
While everyone knows that successful careers and relationships make people happy, new research suggests this process works both ways.
"Perhaps happy people also have a lot of good things come to them because of their happiness, their sociability, their energy," said lead author Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.
Her team's 53-page review of more than 225 epidemiological, longitudinal and experimental studies strongly suggests that happiness is literally its own reward: That it breeds success, just as success can breed happiness.
She pointed out that throughout most of its history, psychology has tended to focus on what goes wrong with people emotionally -- only recently has it switched that focus to the exploration of "good" emotions like happiness, contentment and joy.
* In an infant study, babies who smiled and laughed more developed stronger bonds with their caregivers.
* Mumerous studies showed that happier people tended to do better on job interviews, secure better jobs, and then get better job-performance ratings while working.
* Happiness may even improve health: Experimental studies suggest good mood boosts immune function and reduces colds.
Researchers assessed each photo for what experts call "Duchenne smiles" -- a certain play of facial muscles that only occurs during truly happy, unposed smiles.
"In these yearbook studies, women who showed Duchenne smiles when they were in college had happier marriages by age 52," she said.
In another study, college freshmen tested as very happy in college made more money 16 years later, she said.
The new review should help change psychologists' view of the happiness/success relationship, said James Maddux, professor and director of the clinical psychologist training program at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va.
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