Does where you live influence your levels of happiness

asks Jarnorld:
A. Yes it does. Ed Diener, a psychologist with a special interest in 'subjective well-being' (happiness to you and me) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discovered that happiness a cultural thing.

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Q. So who are the happiest people in the world
A. Contrary to the belief that they are prone to suicide, Scandinavian countries are the happiest overall.

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Q. And where do the unhappiest people live
A. In very poor countries and some former communist countries. People from Japan, China and Korea also tend to be pessimistic: they are more careful about not making mistakes and behaving correctly.
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Q. Do Westerners just think about themselves all the time, then
A. Pretty much. Westerners judge their happiness on their own moods, whereas Japanese and Koreans place much more emphasis on what their parents think about how they're living their lives. Personal feelings don't come into it.

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Q. Does everybody want to be happy
A. Not really, some people put reaching a goal higher on their list.

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Q. Would winning the Lottery make you happy
A. Yes, for a couple of years, at least. However this kind of 'happiness boost' doesn't last.

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Money has been shown to make you happier if you were poor to start with, but only up to a point. All sorts of other factors come into it, such as human rights, longevity and so on.

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Q. Is not feeling happy a problem
A. You need a range of emotions not just happiness. You've only got a problem if you can't experience any extreme of emotion - whether it's happiness or anger.

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Q. Are there any advantages to being happy
A. It's been found that, in the West, happy people are more likely to have lasting marriages, make more money and be successful in their chosen career.

Happy people also have stronger immune systems. And a 60-year study by scientists at Harvard Medical School found that looking on the bright side was one of the eight key factors in longevity. So keep on smiling...

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By Sheena Miller

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