海角大神

Overall, people around the world have grown happier during the past 25 years, according to the most recent World 海角大神 Survey (WVS), a periodic assessment of happiness in 97 nations. On average, people describing themselves as 鈥渧ery happy鈥� have increased by nearly 7 percent.

The findings seem to contradict the view, held by some, that national happiness levels are more or less fixed.

The report鈥檚 authors attribute rising world happiness to improved economies, greater democratization, and increased social tolerance in many nations. Along with material stability, freedom to live as one pleases is a major factor in subjective well-being, they say.

But the survey, based at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, also underscore that, beyond a certain point, material wealth doesn鈥檛 boost happiness. The United States, which ranked 16th and has the world鈥檚 largest economy, has largely stalled in happiness gains 鈥� this despite ever more buying power. Americans are now twice as rich as they were in 1950, but no happier, according to the survey.

Other rich countries, the United Kingdom and western Germany among them, show downward happiness trends. For psychologists and environmentalists alike, these observations prompt a profound question. Rich countries consume the lion鈥檚 share of world resources.

Overconsumption is a major factor in environmental degradation, global warming chief among them. Could a wrong-headed approach to seeking happiness, then, be exacerbating some of the world鈥檚 most pressing environmental problems? And could learning to be truly content help mitigate them?

In the past decade, a cadre of psychologists has directed its attention away from determining what鈥檚 wrong with the infirm toward quantifying what鈥檚 right with the healthy. They鈥檝e christened this new field 鈥減ositive psychology,鈥� and what they鈥檙e discovering perhaps shouldn鈥檛 be all that surprising. At the core, humans are social beings. While food and shelter are absolutely essential to well-being, once these basic needs are fulfilled, engagement with other human beings makes people happiest.

For Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the problem in the US is not consumption per se, but that as a society we consume in ways that don鈥檛 make us happy. He divides the pursuit of happiness into three categories: seeking positive emotion, or feeling good; engagement with others; and meaning, or participating in something larger than oneself.

People, he notes, are often happiest when helping other people, when engaged in 鈥渟elf-transcendent鈥� activities. What does this mean? Rather than making a gift of the latest iPhone, buy someone dancing lessons, he says. Instead of taking a resort vacation, build a house with Habitat for Humanity.

鈥淭he pursuit of engagement and the pursuit of meaning don鈥檛 habituate,鈥� he says, whereas trying to feel good is like eating French vanilla ice cream: The first bite is fantastic; the tenth tastes like cardboard.

By definition, happiness is subjective. And yet, scientists find measurable differences in people who describe themselves as happy. They鈥檙e more productive at work. They learn more quickly. Strong social networks 鈥� a large predictor of happiness 鈥� also have health effects, researchers say.

One study found that belonging to clubs or societies cut in half members鈥� risk of dying during the following year. Another found that, when exposed to a cold virus, children with stronger social networks fell ill only one-quarter as often as those without.

For psychologists, social networks ex颅颅plain one of the seeming paradoxes of WVS findings: While relatively rich Den颅颅mark took the top spot, much less wealthy Puerto Rico and Colombia are second and third. In fact, relatively poor Lat颅颅in American countries often score high on WVS rankings. This may underline the value of community, family, and strong social institutions to well-being.

Scientists say this need for community may be a result of humanity鈥檚 long evolution in groups. Living together conferred an advantage, they say. In the hunter-gatherer world, relatedness, autonomy, curiosity, and competence 鈥� the very things that psychologists find make people happy 鈥� 鈥渉ad payoffs that were pretty clear,鈥� says Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester in New York. 鈥淎spiring for a lot of material goods is actually unhappiness-produ颅cing,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople who value material good and wealth also are people who are treading more heavily on the earth 鈥� and not getting happier.鈥�

High consumption fails to make us happy, and it comes at a cost. According to the World Wildlife Fund鈥檚 (WWF) 2006 Living Planet Report, humanity鈥檚 ecological footprint now exceeds earth鈥檚 capacity to regenerate by about 25 percent.

Furthermore, with only 5 percent of the world鈥檚 population, North America accounts for 22 percent of this footprint. The US consumes twice what its land, air, and water can sustain. (By contrast, WWF calculates that Africa, with 13 percent of earth鈥檚 population, accounts for 7 percent of its footprint.) America鈥檚 outsize footprint results in part from its appetite for stuff 鈥� what psychologists now say is the wrong approach to lasting well-being.

鈥淭he pursuit of happiness can drive environmental degradation, but only a degraded type of happiness pursuit leads to that outcome,鈥� says Kennon Sheldon, professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in an e-mail. 鈥淭he standard western focus upon economic utility as the highest good (exemplified by the US) seems to encourage that kind of degraded pursuit.鈥�

Worse, so-called 鈥渆xtrinsic鈥� values (wealth, power, fame), as opposed to 鈥渋ntrinsic鈥� values (adventure, engagement, meaning), seem to go hand-in-hand with more environmentally destructive behavior. Tim Kasser, an associate professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., has found that people who are more extrinsically oriented tend to ride bikes less, buy second-hand less, and recycle less. Nations with more individualistic and materialistic values also tend to be more ecologically destructive.

鈥淭he choice of sustainability is very consistent with a happier life,鈥� Professor Kasser says. 鈥淲hereas the choice to live with materialistic [values] is a choice to be less happy.鈥�

The idea that what鈥檚 good for humanity is also good for the planet is central to environmentalist Bill McKibben鈥檚 book 鈥淒eep Economy.鈥� His prescriptions for lowering carbon emissions 鈥� living closer together, relocalizing food production, consuming less 鈥� line up with what psychologists say promotes happiness.

In fact, although painful in the short term, high fuel prices may result in happier Americans in the long run, says Mr. McKib颅ben. This year, Americans drove less than they did the year before 鈥� probably for the first time since the car was invented, he says. They also bought double the vegetable seeds this year compared with last. 鈥淭hese are signs of a new world,鈥� he says by e-mail.

For their part, psychologists are advocating that policymakers use indicators other than the Gross National Product (GNP) to make decisions. What鈥檚 the purpose of an economy, they ask, if not to enhance the well-being of its citizenry?

鈥淚t鈥檚 become 鈥榞rowth for growth鈥檚 sake,鈥� 鈥� says Nic Marks, founder of the Centre for Well-Being at the New Econ颅颅omics Foundation (NEF) in London. 鈥淚t鈥檚 got its own internal logic, but it鈥檚 not serving humanity. So why are we doing it?鈥�

Bhutan uses Gross National Happiness as a measure of its success. Although small and undeveloped, the largely Buddhist nation is the happiest in Asia, according to BusinessWeek.

Psychologists also have specific recommendations to promote national happiness, based on their findings about what makes people happy. Insecurity fosters a materialistic approach to life, they say. Policies that combat insecurity 鈥� universal healthcare, say, or good, affordable education 鈥� promote happiness. Many link social policies like these to Scandinavian nations鈥� consistently high happiness rankings.

Kasser has more ideas: Limit 鈥� and tax 鈥� advertising, he says. To promote consumption, ads foster insecurity, he says. That hinders self-acceptance, which is another predictor of lasting well-being.

NEF鈥檚 Happy Planet Index (HPI), meanwhile, has developed a new measure of a nation鈥檚 success. How efficiently does it generate happiness? HPI takes a country鈥檚 happiness and average life span and divides it by its ecological impact to measure how much it spent in achieving its well-being. On this scale, the Pacific archipelago nation of Vanatu comes in first place, Colombia second. Germany is twice as efficient at producing happiness as the US, which ranks 150th by that measure. Russia, with its low happiness scores and relatively low life expectancy, is 178th. And Zimbabwe, plagued by poverty and political turmoil, is the least efficient at producing happiness on Earth.

The World 海角大神 Survey is available at: . Happy Plan颅颅et Index: