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Author Topic: Why your Conservative neighbour is happier than you
Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
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Babbler # 1275

posted 12 August 2008 08:59 AM      Profile for Lard Tunderin' Jeezus   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
The exuberance displayed by Barack Obama's supporters might make Republicans look like geriatric chess enthusiasts, but a new survey suggests that conservatives are happier than liberals - and offers one reason why.

Liberals, claim New York University psychologists Jaime Napier and John Tost, have a tougher time rationalising social and economic inequality than conservatives.

The recent surge in home foreclosures, for instance, is due to poor economic choices on the part of borrowers, a conservative might think. Liberals, on the other hand, seethe at predatory lenders and lax government regulation of the mortgage industry.

The result: conservatives mix a martini and hit the country club, while liberals write angry letters and stage protests.

Of course, American political views aren't so binary, yet the happiness divide seems to be real. Previous studies, including a 2006 survey from Pew Research Center have found the same general trend, much to the delight of conservative pundits like George Will, who noted that "liberalism is a complicated and exacting, not to say grim and scolding, creed.
....

This trend held for non-Americans, as well. Right-wingers in the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were all happier than liberals, on average. And the poorer - and presumably more unequal - a country, the greater the happiness divide.


article

From: ... | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
RosaL
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Babbler # 13921

posted 12 August 2008 09:05 AM      Profile for RosaL     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
people not bothered by social or economic disparities tend to be happy.

They probably also tend to be on the "good side" of the disparity.

But, of course, if you're content with the status quo, you'll be more content. If you're not - if you're disturbed by suffering and injustice - you'll be less happy, more angry, less content - and, it is to be hoped, motivated to do something about it.


From: the underclass | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged
jas
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posted 12 August 2008 09:13 AM      Profile for jas     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by RosaL:

But, of course, if you're content with the status quo, you'll be more content.


Yup, this is all a little bit self-evident. Reminds me of the stat I picked up in a Women's Studies course back in the '80s, that, statistically, married men are happier than married women, and single women are happier than single men.

Maybe that's changed a bit by now, though

[ 12 August 2008: Message edited by: jas ]


From: the world we want | Registered: Jun 2005  |  IP: Logged
Robespierre
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posted 12 August 2008 09:21 AM      Profile for Robespierre     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'd be quite happy to be paid what a New York University psychologist gets for writing newspaper filler content.
From: Raccoons at my door! | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged
N.R.KISSED
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Babbler # 1258

posted 12 August 2008 03:10 PM      Profile for N.R.KISSED     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Sure don't the likes of Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh appear to be the embodiment of Joy.
From: Republic of Parkdale | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged

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