The table that shows people's happiness expectations may explain why Germans can be grumpy. When you think you oughta have sunshine and roses every day, disappointment usually follows. In contrast, one remembers how the Japanese tend to respond when asked whether their perceived happiness is enough: "Is that even a point in life?"
In countries with a lot of WEIRD people there are also often lots of people from non-WEIRD backgrounds. Are these folks generally more content with life than their WEIRD counterparts?
My childhood friends' parents were often from non-WEIRD backgrounds (although that term was not in use, they were called "Commonwealth Citizens") and in retrospect their lives were tough. They often:
1. worked very hard, long hours in not-so-well-paid roles
2. had very little social life other than occasional visits to homes of other same-community people.
3. went to church/mosque/temple like clockwork, even if unwell or injured
4. provided for their UK born children (whose demands for Action Man or Barbie must have seemed baffling and frivolous)
5. sent money from their limited incomes to extended family/village friends "back home"
6. were expected to and indeed did help people from "back home" who washed up in the UK without job/home/skills. eg. provide a room for various "uncles and aunties" who seemed to me as a child to be just spongers.
Thus I can now see that they were'nt striving for their own happiness, but rather to fullfill their roles as parent/community/congregation member.
Thanks for this thought-provoking article. I'm notoriously bad at analyzing concepts and ideas. This said, the narrow and broad models of well-being look pretty interchangeable to me. It's like giving different names to the same ideas, like "being happy" and "having a good life."
The table that shows people's happiness expectations may explain why Germans can be grumpy. When you think you oughta have sunshine and roses every day, disappointment usually follows. In contrast, one remembers how the Japanese tend to respond when asked whether their perceived happiness is enough: "Is that even a point in life?"
“Man does not strive for happiness; only the Englishman does that.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
In countries with a lot of WEIRD people there are also often lots of people from non-WEIRD backgrounds. Are these folks generally more content with life than their WEIRD counterparts?
Accurate research might be difficult.
No idea
My childhood friends' parents were often from non-WEIRD backgrounds (although that term was not in use, they were called "Commonwealth Citizens") and in retrospect their lives were tough. They often:
1. worked very hard, long hours in not-so-well-paid roles
2. had very little social life other than occasional visits to homes of other same-community people.
3. went to church/mosque/temple like clockwork, even if unwell or injured
4. provided for their UK born children (whose demands for Action Man or Barbie must have seemed baffling and frivolous)
5. sent money from their limited incomes to extended family/village friends "back home"
6. were expected to and indeed did help people from "back home" who washed up in the UK without job/home/skills. eg. provide a room for various "uncles and aunties" who seemed to me as a child to be just spongers.
Thus I can now see that they were'nt striving for their own happiness, but rather to fullfill their roles as parent/community/congregation member.
confirmation of a sort :
online scandanavians attesting people are not happy in cold, dark places.
and no one should waste any effort moving there.
It seems that the Americans are no happier than the Iranians and the Ukrainians are happier. Should we go there?
If you are trained in using a rifle, you may.
Thanks for this thought-provoking article. I'm notoriously bad at analyzing concepts and ideas. This said, the narrow and broad models of well-being look pretty interchangeable to me. It's like giving different names to the same ideas, like "being happy" and "having a good life."
I'll have to ponder this issue a little bit more.