Why do all people have different ideas about happiness?

For many people, the meaning of life is to gainhappiness. In general terms, happiness is a state in which a person is satisfied with everything that happens in his life. But for some, satisfaction comes from receiving a lot of money, while others feel happy simply because they and their loved ones are healthy. Recently, scientists have found that people perceive happiness differently due to the fact that they were born in different parts of the planet. Each nation has its own culture, within which people are trying to achieve something. As part of this article, I propose to figure out - what do people from different countries measure their level of happiness? Maybe the findings of scientists will help people to look at their lives differently and become more positive?

Each person has his own "happiness", but why?

What is happiness?

The results of the research conducted by the scientists werepublished in the scientific journal PLOS One. According to scientists, in most cases, people look at happiness from an egocentric point of view. This means that for many people, finding happiness is hard work that leads to material wealth. Most of us perceive happiness as a kind of "American Dream." It is believed that if a person has reached great heights in work, he has a family and he can afford whatever he wants - he is happy. But in fact, you can look at happiness in another way.

For many people, happiness is money.

The authors of the scientific work drew attention to the fact that inEastern cultures look at happiness in a completely different way. The Japanese and other peoples primarily think not of themselves, but of those around them. This is the way they have it, because harmony with oneself and the people around them is the basis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. While in Western countries people try to find happiness through independence, in Asia people strive for interdependence. For the former, happiness is wealth and thrill, and for the latter, it is health and tranquility.

But for others, happiness is health and family.

It turns out that these two cultures have absolutelydifferent views of the world. Here's another example - representatives of Western countries are trying to respect themselves as much as possible. Everyone wants to become better than others and show all this as vividly as possible. And for the inhabitants of Asia, pride in their family is of great value, but self-esteem is already in the background.

Read also: The link between happiness and new experience is revealed

Differences between people

To test my assumption thatpeople from different countries feel happiness for different reasons, the researchers conducted a survey. It was attended by more than 15,000 people who are representatives of 63 states. These were mainly students, because among them such a survey is easiest to conduct. With the help of questionnaires, scientists have found out which concept of happiness is most suitable for each of these people - Western or Eastern? The results of the study were very predictable.

Perhaps, to find happiness you need all together?

Indeed, US students in the majoritythey answered that they need more money to be happy. But students from Eastern countries answered that the most important thing for them is family and good relations with others. At the same time, it was difficult for the inhabitants of Africa to make a choice, because representatives of other cultures have completely different ideas about happiness. Perhaps, in the future, researchers will try to determine how the level of happiness is measured by representatives of all cultures in the world. But to carry out such a large-scale work will take a lot of time and effort.

Do you think family life makes us happier? Scientists have an answer.

As for Russia, we clearly adhere towestern concept of happiness. After all, if you look around, almost all people are trying to earn more and demonstrate their well-being to people. Perhaps it is for you that happiness is completely different. Therefore, I propose to think and write in the comments - what is true happiness for you?

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Happy people are believed to live longerthe rest. And this is a very logical assumption, because with a positive mindset, people suffer less from stress and clearly maintain their health. But in 2015, scientists discovered that happiness is completely unrelated to longevity. And that's why.