Earlier this week, an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology detailed some provocative new findings:
Are you happy? Well don’t try to be happier; you might become less happy. That is the gist of a multi-cultural study published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.The study by University of Virginia psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi and colleagues at three other institutions found that, on average, European-Americans claim to be happy in general – more happy than Asian-Americans or Koreans or Japanese – but are more easily made less happy by negative events, and recover at a slower rate from negative events, than their counterparts in Asia or with an Asian ancestry. On the other hand, Koreans, Japanese, and to a lesser extent, Asian-Americans, are less happy in general, but recover their emotional equilibrium more readily after a setback than European-Americans.
“We found that the more positive events a person has, the more they feel the effects of a negative event,” Oishi said. “People seem to dwell on the negative thing when they have a large number of good events in their life. [Link]
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p>So in a nutshell, what this article is saying is that “Whitey” is happier than me on a day-to-day basis (which is why he’s always whistling), but that I get over a bad day or a negative life event with greater ease than him. Could it be that since Asian families are likely to be newer to America (i.e. fewer generations removed from Asia) we are instilled with a certain sense of fatalism engrained within the family? When a grandparent or relative died in India and our parents couldn’t be there, we watched them deal with it and recover as best they could from afar. As another example, when we are the victims of racism we have to shake it off and keep going. A European American may not have to deal with some of these things. The study (and take it for what its worth) is essentially saying that Asian Americans have built up a greater immunity to bad news than European Americans.
“It is like the person who is used to flying first class and becomes very annoyed if there is a half-hour delay. But the person who flies economy class accepts the delay in stride…” [Link]
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p>Oishi ends with some solid advice:
“In general, it’s good to have a positive perspective,” Oishi said, “But unless you can switch your mindset to accept the negative facts of everyday life — that these things happen and must be accepted — it becomes very hard to maintain a comfortable level of satisfaction.”
His advice: “Don’t try to be happier…” [Link]
The article is: The dynamics of daily events and well-being across cultures: When less is more. Oishi, Shigehiro; Diener, Ed; Choi, Dong-Won; Kim-Prieto, Chu; Choi, Incheol. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007 Oct Vol 93(4) 685-698
well, the title is provocative, but the article itself is right on: The dynamics of daily events and well-being across cultures: When less is more. in geography of thought the author shows that east asians and westerners tend to view the world somewhat differently. but, he also shows that continental europeans are about in between east asians and english speakers and scandinavians. finally, he shows that the tendency to think like an “easterner” or “westerner” for asian americans is contingent upon when they immigrated, if one comes young one is basically acculturated, while teenagers tended to be more of a mix. people in hong kong, where english was commonly taught, could also “switch” their outlooks depending on how they were primed. the hypothesis that cultural outlooks can be transmitted from generation to generation seems also highly likely. there have been studies of german american vs. WASP american farmers in central illinois and how they buy & sell farmland there is a systematic contrast even though both groups are “native.”
So in a nutshell, what this article is saying is that “Whitey†is happier than me on a day-to-day basis (which is why he’s always whistling), but that I get over a bad day or a negative life event with greater ease than him.
if it is biopsychological then you shouldn’t generalize from east asians to brownz. if it is cultural, you should. brownz tend to be more similar to europeans on most genes than they are to east asians. brownz can be separated out as a distinct group from europeans & middle easterners, but they are definitely branched off the west eurasian population rather than the east eurasian one….
when they say asian-american, i assume they are referring only to east-asian-american?
“His advice: “Don’t try to be happier…†“
Poor Bhutan.
Asians may have more immunity to bad news, but if my extended family and my Harvard-attending Asian American friends are any indication, it’s only because they’re starting out from such a doggone negative place to begin with.
What good is “recover[ing] emotional equilibrium more quickly” if that equilibrium is underwater?! Give this a Darwin Award.
suitable candidate for next year’s ignobel.
So in a nutshell, what this article is saying is that “Whitey†is happier than me on a day-to-day basis
Of course, this has “duh” or “bzuh” written all over it, and much of it was echoed in the Dalai Lama’s book, “The art of happiness”, for one, the west has an entirely different percption of what “happiness” is. Secondly, ‘whitey’ whether people agree with it or not, lives in somewhat of a bubble in the good ol us of a, there are many experiences that whitey simply doesn’t experience (for example, a 45 year old white man proclaimed that “all he thought about the justice system was wrong” when he heard the OJ verdict, a 45 year old person (including colin powel) would know all abou the drawbacks of the criminal justice system) It’s the old addage, the bigger you are, the harder you fall.
Balderdash Amazing how studies can be conducted with such undefined entities. Cosma Shalizi had a great article on the junkscidnce of IQ the other day. This one is far worse.
This is an interesting study.
It may not be exactly scientific, but the researchers observations seem very plausible. It looks like the study only compared Caucasians to Southeast Asians (correct me if I am wrong). I think the Southeast Asians’ experiences in the West are very comparable to those of the Indian Americans. I wonder what results and conclusions the researchers would get if they substituted the African American community’s experiences for the Asian Americans.
one thing I have been thinking about:
I think perhaps South Asian dont put as much emphasis on individual “happiness” as western cultures. How many of us know of family members who have made great sacrifices in lifestyle/career choice/love etc because of familial pressure to do what is “right” or “proper”. It seems to me that the village mentality of South Asian effectively precludes us from individual happiness unless you divorce yourself from familial duties to an extant and go fro yours, in which case that abdication of responsiblity might make you feel guilty-i.e. unhappy.
oy. I have a migrane
Does this mean that only masochistic people are happy? The reason I say this is because if I have to be happy, then I have to have experienced an inverse of happiness. So, I have to be sad all the time to save for the time when I will be happy. But if I am sad all the time, I can’t be happy.
“Secondly, ‘whitey’ whether people agree with it or not, lives in somewhat of a bubble in the good ol us of a, there are many experiences that whitey simply doesn’t experience” Yeah, they had it ok on Leave it to Beaver, but I wouldn’t generalize about that “bubble” now, depending on the part of the country they live in. Obviously a majority has somewhat less stress than a minority, but that changes according to the geography And anyway, how can anyone claim greater happiness for Euro-descendants with people Schopenhauer to their credit. And bubbles can burst in the oddest ways… http://www.collegeotr.com/university_of_michigan/eleven_angry_men__one_insane_woman__emu_murder_case_declaring_mistrial_4764
Without dissecting the cultural/social differences between “whitey” and everyone else (which happens ad nauseum at SM anyway), I think an Asian’s ability to recover from negative events so quickly might have something to do with how inherently stoic most East- and South Asians are.
When life gives him lemons, “whitey” makes lemonade. The East or South Asian blames it all on karma and moves on.
BINGO!
At first the findings of the study seemed odd to me because I expected that Asians and Asian Americans would be in general happier than Euro Americans because of closer family ties, sense of belonging to a larger family unit or community, sense of guaranteed “protection” by the family in case of loss of job, money, etc. Also, the young generation of Euro Americans, due to putting more emphasis on friends than family, often seem pre-occupied with externals like looks, material possession and popularity, which puts alot of them under a great deal of stress. But when looked at it from the perspective of the above comment, I can understand how it is so. I often recognized a subtle sense of resentment and bitterness in Asian persons who
They live with a sort of resignation that appears to zap youth and vitality out of them at relatively young ages. Not to say that they are completley miserable, but there is a bitterness there, in individuals, in families, sometimes even in entire communities. I sense this alot especially among women.
Another factor to consider is the shame/guilt/cultural repercussions of doing things that are “normal” to Euro Americans; divorce, shacking up with someone before or without ever intending to marry them, pregancy out of “wedlock”, these things just don’t carry the heavy weight of shame for most Euro Americans that they used to decades ago and that they still carry for Asians to this day. So when you do these things and the family/community/culture comes down hard on you, well, you just will not be happy.
My guess is that “whitey” never had to deal with an asian mother.
I think an Asian’s ability to recover from negative events so quickly might have something to do with how inherently stoic most East- and South Asians are.
When life gives him lemons, “whitey” makes lemonade. The East or South Asian blames it all on karma and moves on.
But hema, how do you explain the finding that whiteys “are more easily made less happy by negative events, and recover at a slower rate from negative events,” . however, I also believe, in the US anyway, that whitey is also living in an existence that provides him less lemons in the first place (relatively speaking)
How many kids living in suburbia (disproportionately white) grow up having to walk over dead bodies from last night gang’s shooting? A friend of mine taught in LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified school district – disproportionately black and hispanic), and said this happened at her school more than once during her tenure. (3 yrs)
Why is there so much crime in black/hispanic districts of USA?
Anyway HMF, this report is not dealing with blacks or hispanics but Asians and Euro Americans.
Asians have it pretty good here. For the most part they are not living in areas where they walk over dead bodies from last night’s gang shooting, isn’t it? However, if they have lived in an Asian country and then immigrated here later in life, chances are that some of them may have come up from poverty and hence when things go bad in USA, are able to deal with because in comparison to what they had to deal with in the home country was far harder. If your average middle class whitey hasn’t known poverty, then they might get really down when they lose their job and have to downsize a home or a car. The old generation knows what it is to stand in ration lines, however they are dying out quickly and we are left with alot of spoilt brats.
Even if the results are accurate, I would be skeptical about those conclusions. I’m thinking a lot of the difference could lie in the cultural differences in expressiveness rather than actual, objective happiness, if there is such a thing. To make some generalizations, I’ve run into tons of chatty white girls (and South Asian girls) who like to enthusiastically talk about all the good things and bad things in their lives, and my fellow East Asians seem to be a bit more reticent to share their feelings in the survey. This just might be the case in this study, with the Asians being less enthusiastic and expressing neither highs nor lows. Doesn’t mean we don’t feel them.
yes but I get happy only if i win the race ! 😛
“mummy, daddy, i got a 95 on my test!” “chee! neeku 110 percent raavali!” (you should get 110 percent!) “andharu mamalni chusi navvuthaaru” (everyone will look at us and laugh)
no wonder we’re unhappy.
also, based on what i’ve seen, i feel like the greater bouncing-back-from-negative-events effect doesn’t apply to desis. we take something negative and blow it WAY out of proportion.
black/hispanic districts of USA?
I think you should take a step back and first ask, why are there black/hispanic districts of USA in the first place?
Anyway HMF, this report is not dealing with blacks or hispanics but Asians and Euro Americans.
true, but I just pulled an extreme example, European AMericans (I dont care if they just got here) don’t get the same “lemons” that many asians get
Asian Americans get the benefits of strong family bonds, good education, discipline, work ethic, and other things that many Euro Americans suffer without.
They doin’ aight, real aight.
Make that
In addition I would say it’s probably the result of some past life pious activity that gets them (Asians) the good life in this present incarnation. By good life I mean the perks listed above – strong family bonds, good education, discipline, work ethic, etc. Good peeps.
To piggyback on the topic’s subject, I remember someone on a different message board site, had a signature on his/her posts that read, “If ignorance is bliss, then white people must live in a state of euphoria.” And to be honest, it kinda makes sense.
Pardesi Gori in the house.
As my aunt says, the dogs that are pets in the US must’ve done some really great deeds in their previous life to have human animals picking up their shit. :p
Yes abhi, happiness is linked to race — just like intelligence.
What have you been smoking?
Race schmace. I think culture (and not race) would have more influence on one’s perception of happiness. Jeanne Tsai at Stanford continues to explore this tendency and how it may explain variations in reception and effectiveness of treatments for depression in different cultural environments.
Some of her work is accessible here