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Los Angeles Times, CA
Dec 20 2012
Latin American nations among the most upbeat, poll finds
Latin American countries are among the most upbeat in the world, while
Singapore, Armenia and Iraq fall at the bottom in `positive emotions,'
according to a Gallup poll released this week.
Researchers who surveyed people in 148 countries found that Panama,
Paraguay, El Salvador and Venezuela landed at the top when people were
asked whether they had smiled, laughed and felt respected, rested and
other positive emotions the previous day. In Panama and Paraguay, 85%
of those surveyed said they felt such emotions the day before; only
46% said the same in Singapore.
Though many wealthy countries ranked high in positive emotions,
including Denmark and Norway, they lagged some poorer nations such as
Guatemala and Ecuador. Affluent Singapore, meanwhile, ranks on the
higher side in other happiness studies, yet Gallup found it to be the
least upbeat. The jumbled results challenge simple maxims about what
makes people feel good.
`This is so different from the way we usually explain the human
condition' using unemployment and other economic measures, said Jon
Clifton, a partner at Gallup who analyzed the data. `But who are the
best experts on the condition of a country? It's the people
themselves.'
The Gallup rankings also differ strikingly from other studies on
global happiness, which usually rank wealthy nations such as Denmark
and Norway at the top.
Experts singled out several reasons that the `positive emotions' poll
might differ from happiness studies. Gallup asked people what they
felt yesterday; other happiness surveys ask them to look at their
lives as a whole. People may delight in moments of joy, yet feel
dissatisfied with their situation.
`Your underlying sense of security, your ability to feed your family
in a reliable way -- these are powerful forces that show up in life
satisfaction,' said Andrew J. Oswald, a University of Warwick
economics professor. `The joys of life may be spread around.... That
doesn't mean that people are equally happy.'
People may also hit tremendous highs, only to later sink to depressing
lows. Gallup found that people in the Philippines ranked high for
positive emotions but also were likely to feel emotions such as anger,
stress and sadness. Several experts said the scattered results pointed
to cultural differences.
In Latin America, `the cultural values are consistent with a view that
one ought to be optimistic, one should be upbeat and express positive
views,' said Mitchell Seligson, director of the Latin American Public
Opinion Project at Vanderbilt University.
On top of that, growing economies and a shrinking gap between rich and
poor are fueling even more optimism, despite the fact that Latin
America is less affluent than many other parts of the world, Seligson
said.
`When people in Honduras think about their happiness, they're not
comparing themselves to someone in Paris or London. They're thinking
about their fellow Hondurans,' he said.
Not all Latin American countries surveyed were ranked high in the
Gallup poll: Haiti landed near the bottom in positive emotions, as it
has in studies done by the Latin American Public Opinion Project. The
highest-ranked countries also included several outside Latin America,
including Thailand and Canada.
Happiness studies have become a topic of study among economists
seeking to improve life around the world, as well as governments
hoping to boost their rankings on such charts.
In China, the quest for xingfu has become a government preoccupation,
with cities competing to exceed one another in happiness. It fell on
the upper end of the Gallup poll, tied with the United States, Sweden,
Chile and Swaziland. The U.S. and Britain have also introduced
measures to gauge quality of life, following in the footsteps of
Bhutan, which pioneered the idea of `gross national happiness.'
Stacking countries against one another is one way that researchers
have sought to explore how wealth and happiness are connected. Yet
trying to compare countries on the opposite ends of the world has
raised questions: Even if Russians and Nigerians feel the same way, do
they describe it the same way? Are some people less likely to call
themselves happy -- even if they really are?
Simply describing emotions can become complicated from country to
country. `Individualistic cultures like the U.S. really value feeling
excited and energetic, whereas more collectivist states value calmness
and serenity,' said June Gruber, director of the Yale Positive Emotion
and Psychopathology Lab. That means when Gallup asks people about
enjoyment, for instance, `it's hard to know what it means.'
Some cultural differences have already surfaced in studies. When asked
to measure their lives on a scale of 1 to 10, Japanese people are less
likely to choose 10 than Americans are, said John Helliwell,
co-director of a program on social interactions, identity and
well-being at the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research. Educated
people also tend to be less likely to choose extremes, he said.
Gruber cautioned, however, that the growing obsession with global
happiness could be misguided. Too much happiness can leave a person
unable to empathize and put them at risk for mood disorders, Gruber
said; the obsession with getting it can actually set people up to be
unhappy.
`All the wonderful benefits we know about can unravel,' Gruber said.
`Is it really the best thing to be at the top?'
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-latin-american-upbeat-poll-20121219,0,5442873.story
Dec 20 2012
Latin American nations among the most upbeat, poll finds
Latin American countries are among the most upbeat in the world, while
Singapore, Armenia and Iraq fall at the bottom in `positive emotions,'
according to a Gallup poll released this week.
Researchers who surveyed people in 148 countries found that Panama,
Paraguay, El Salvador and Venezuela landed at the top when people were
asked whether they had smiled, laughed and felt respected, rested and
other positive emotions the previous day. In Panama and Paraguay, 85%
of those surveyed said they felt such emotions the day before; only
46% said the same in Singapore.
Though many wealthy countries ranked high in positive emotions,
including Denmark and Norway, they lagged some poorer nations such as
Guatemala and Ecuador. Affluent Singapore, meanwhile, ranks on the
higher side in other happiness studies, yet Gallup found it to be the
least upbeat. The jumbled results challenge simple maxims about what
makes people feel good.
`This is so different from the way we usually explain the human
condition' using unemployment and other economic measures, said Jon
Clifton, a partner at Gallup who analyzed the data. `But who are the
best experts on the condition of a country? It's the people
themselves.'
The Gallup rankings also differ strikingly from other studies on
global happiness, which usually rank wealthy nations such as Denmark
and Norway at the top.
Experts singled out several reasons that the `positive emotions' poll
might differ from happiness studies. Gallup asked people what they
felt yesterday; other happiness surveys ask them to look at their
lives as a whole. People may delight in moments of joy, yet feel
dissatisfied with their situation.
`Your underlying sense of security, your ability to feed your family
in a reliable way -- these are powerful forces that show up in life
satisfaction,' said Andrew J. Oswald, a University of Warwick
economics professor. `The joys of life may be spread around.... That
doesn't mean that people are equally happy.'
People may also hit tremendous highs, only to later sink to depressing
lows. Gallup found that people in the Philippines ranked high for
positive emotions but also were likely to feel emotions such as anger,
stress and sadness. Several experts said the scattered results pointed
to cultural differences.
In Latin America, `the cultural values are consistent with a view that
one ought to be optimistic, one should be upbeat and express positive
views,' said Mitchell Seligson, director of the Latin American Public
Opinion Project at Vanderbilt University.
On top of that, growing economies and a shrinking gap between rich and
poor are fueling even more optimism, despite the fact that Latin
America is less affluent than many other parts of the world, Seligson
said.
`When people in Honduras think about their happiness, they're not
comparing themselves to someone in Paris or London. They're thinking
about their fellow Hondurans,' he said.
Not all Latin American countries surveyed were ranked high in the
Gallup poll: Haiti landed near the bottom in positive emotions, as it
has in studies done by the Latin American Public Opinion Project. The
highest-ranked countries also included several outside Latin America,
including Thailand and Canada.
Happiness studies have become a topic of study among economists
seeking to improve life around the world, as well as governments
hoping to boost their rankings on such charts.
In China, the quest for xingfu has become a government preoccupation,
with cities competing to exceed one another in happiness. It fell on
the upper end of the Gallup poll, tied with the United States, Sweden,
Chile and Swaziland. The U.S. and Britain have also introduced
measures to gauge quality of life, following in the footsteps of
Bhutan, which pioneered the idea of `gross national happiness.'
Stacking countries against one another is one way that researchers
have sought to explore how wealth and happiness are connected. Yet
trying to compare countries on the opposite ends of the world has
raised questions: Even if Russians and Nigerians feel the same way, do
they describe it the same way? Are some people less likely to call
themselves happy -- even if they really are?
Simply describing emotions can become complicated from country to
country. `Individualistic cultures like the U.S. really value feeling
excited and energetic, whereas more collectivist states value calmness
and serenity,' said June Gruber, director of the Yale Positive Emotion
and Psychopathology Lab. That means when Gallup asks people about
enjoyment, for instance, `it's hard to know what it means.'
Some cultural differences have already surfaced in studies. When asked
to measure their lives on a scale of 1 to 10, Japanese people are less
likely to choose 10 than Americans are, said John Helliwell,
co-director of a program on social interactions, identity and
well-being at the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research. Educated
people also tend to be less likely to choose extremes, he said.
Gruber cautioned, however, that the growing obsession with global
happiness could be misguided. Too much happiness can leave a person
unable to empathize and put them at risk for mood disorders, Gruber
said; the obsession with getting it can actually set people up to be
unhappy.
`All the wonderful benefits we know about can unravel,' Gruber said.
`Is it really the best thing to be at the top?'
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-latin-american-upbeat-poll-20121219,0,5442873.story