Tali Sharot says we are optimistic because we under-respond to bad news, an effect weakest for the middle-aged, explaining why they are more pessimistic: People of all age groups changed their beliefs more in response to good news, and they discounted bad news. Even more surprising was the finding that kids and elderly people both showed more of a bias than college students. …
Isn't that response evasive, inasmuch as none of the data-driven explanations permitted the inference of a genuine U-shape?
Skimming this data, it looks like it uses obsolete methods. "Happiness" researchers these days have much better methods, partly devised by Kahneman, for getting valid reports of hedonic states. But this conclusion could be hasty.
It sounds reasonable that near-far follows a U shape, but it seems unlikely that this is the dominant trend. One problem is that there seems no recognized test of near-far inter-individual differences. In "You too have an optimal sentence length" ( http://tinyurl.com/7faf9nz ) I suggest than an educator's test of global versus sequential cognitive style as a first approximation to far-near. ( http://tinyurl.com/2uxem )
One conjecture, which goes out on quite a limb, is that using long sentences correlates with a far (or global) style. (I'm interested, on my blog or by email, in anyone's results, the correlation with self concept of near versus far thinking, and if you really have the energy, your average sentence length.)
I suggest it's a Stoic acceptance of our nature that increases happiness after middle-age - a stance of recognizing that many big problems aren't ours to solve, and developing a tranquility in the face of it all.
I think the answer is in this quote "people expect reality to make sense roughly in proportion to how personally responsible for manipulating it they feel". Middle-aged men/women feel responsibility... from here: http://meteuphoric.wordpres...
People who fill out a survey year after year tend to do a better job and are more honest about their level of happiness. If you look only at the new survey subjects the U-shaped dip goes away.
Also, the u-shape is not that pronounced in the raw data anyway.
I wonder if it might have to do with knowledge of evil and eventual acceptance. I'm 47, and I sometimes feel like I know too much to be happy. I've finally got my head around the corruption in the world - particularly of leaders - and it's pretty depressing to think we're not likely to get out of this mess. BUT, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't hope for a better future, but the burgeoning development of an acceptance that human nature is pretty corruptible, always has been, and it is what it is. No use getting tied in knots over it all - it's bigger than me.
Robert Wiblin argued at this very blog that the u-shaped curve of happiness is misleading: http://www.overcomingbias.c...
Isn't that response evasive, inasmuch as none of the data-driven explanations permitted the inference of a genuine U-shape?
Skimming this data, it looks like it uses obsolete methods. "Happiness" researchers these days have much better methods, partly devised by Kahneman, for getting valid reports of hedonic states. But this conclusion could be hasty.
It sounds reasonable that near-far follows a U shape, but it seems unlikely that this is the dominant trend. One problem is that there seems no recognized test of near-far inter-individual differences. In "You too have an optimal sentence length" ( http://tinyurl.com/7faf9nz ) I suggest than an educator's test of global versus sequential cognitive style as a first approximation to far-near. ( http://tinyurl.com/2uxem )
One conjecture, which goes out on quite a limb, is that using long sentences correlates with a far (or global) style. (I'm interested, on my blog or by email, in anyone's results, the correlation with self concept of near versus far thinking, and if you really have the energy, your average sentence length.)
I suggest it's a Stoic acceptance of our nature that increases happiness after middle-age - a stance of recognizing that many big problems aren't ours to solve, and developing a tranquility in the face of it all.
I think the answer is in this quote "people expect reality to make sense roughly in proportion to how personally responsible for manipulating it they feel". Middle-aged men/women feel responsibility... from here: http://meteuphoric.wordpres...
That is only one of the possible explanations discussed in that paper.
There is some doubt as to whether there really is a U-shaped relationship between happiness and age: http://www.sciencedirect.co...
These guys think that there is no real u-shaped dip in happiness:
http://andrewgelman.com/mov...
People who fill out a survey year after year tend to do a better job and are more honest about their level of happiness. If you look only at the new survey subjects the U-shaped dip goes away.
Also, the u-shape is not that pronounced in the raw data anyway.
How does that explain people getting happier after middle-age?
I wonder if it might have to do with knowledge of evil and eventual acceptance. I'm 47, and I sometimes feel like I know too much to be happy. I've finally got my head around the corruption in the world - particularly of leaders - and it's pretty depressing to think we're not likely to get out of this mess. BUT, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't hope for a better future, but the burgeoning development of an acceptance that human nature is pretty corruptible, always has been, and it is what it is. No use getting tied in knots over it all - it's bigger than me.
Something like that.
It looks like people are least inclined to try to give a good impression when their children are at an age when they wouldn't believe it anyway.