The Science of Optimism
Everybody wants to be happy. But it comes more easily for some people than for others, which leads a lot of pessimistic folks to resign themselves to a darkly colored existence. While scientists don’t deny that some people are more predisposed to happiness, they encourage pessimists to take heart—at least
some aspects of leading an optimistic life can be learned.

By Eric Schneider

    Think every cloud indeed has a silver lining? You may have more reason to think positively—research showing that optimism may benefit human health continues to mount. And one of the latest studies on the subject provides even more reason for optimism: The world, despite seemingly endless sources of anxiety, is getting happier.
    Driving the rise in happiness are the spread of economic prosperity and democracy, coupled with advances by women and minority groups, according to the World Values Survey based at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (Perspectives on Psychological Science 7/08). The study shatters the conventional wisdom that basic happiness levels remain relatively unchanged; a study-based Happiness Index rose in 40 countries between 1981 and 2007, and fell in 12. While previous research has found that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn’t buy much of it, the study found that people of rich countries skew happier than those of poor nations. The study also gave great weight to the role of freedom that people have to determine the path of their own lives...

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