Published November 17, 2010
“What is it that makes people happy?”
Just how happy are you? (Bruce Tuten/Flickr)
Harvard psychologist Matt Killingsworth and his colleagues are turning to the crowd for answers. An iPhone Web app, Track Your Happiness, asks people to stop what they’re doing and rate their current happiness on a scale of 1 to 100.
I have been participating for a few days now. Every day, at a random time (during waking hours), I get a text message with a link to answer a few questions about my current activity. I am encouraged to respond as quickly as possible, as long as it’s safe — i.e., not while driving. After filing enough reports, I can view my overall “happiness report.”
Taken in aggregate, some of the results are not surprising. People are happiest in the midst of sex — an activity that requires focus. The New York Times reports:
When asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being “very good,” the people having sex gave an average rating of 90. That was a good 15 points higher than the next-best activity, exercising, which was followed closely by conversation, listening to music, taking a walk, eating, praying and meditating, cooking, shopping, taking care of one’s children and reading. Near the bottom of the list were personal grooming, commuting and working.
The hypothesis is that a focused mind is a happy mind. A mind that wanders is unhappy.
Of course, the researchers warn that correlation is not causation. “For instance, if you were often unhappy when you are at home, it might simply be because you don’t get home until late at night when you’re tired, and you could be less happy because you are tired, not because being at home is unpleasant in any way,” reads the disclaimer.
Are you using the app? Are the results surprising you?