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The pursuit of Happiness
Compared with misery, happiness is relatively unexplored terrain for social scientists. Between 1967 and 1994, 46,380 articles indexed in Psychological Abstracts mentioned depression, 36,851 anxiety, and 5,099 anger. Only 2,389 spoke of happiness, 2,340 life satisfaction, and 405 joy.
Recently we and other researchers have begun a systematic study of happiness. During the past two decades, dozens of investigators throughout the world have asked several hundred thousand representatively sampled people to reflect on their happiness and satisfaction with life - or what psychologists call 'subjective well-being*. In the US the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has surveyed a representative sample of roughly 1,500 people a year since 1957; the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan has carried out similar studies on a less regular basis, as has the Gallup Organization. Government-funded efforts have also probed the moods of European countries.
We have uncovered some surprising findings. People are happier than one might expect, and happiness does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances. Although viewing life as a tragedy has a long and honorable history, the responses of random samples of people around the world about their happiness paints a much rosier picture. In the University of Chicago surveys, three in 10 Americans say they are very happy, for example. Only one in 10 chooses the most negative description 'not too happy”. The majority describe themselves as "pretty happy", ...
How can social scientists measure something as hard to pin down as happiness? Most researchers simply ask people to report their feelings of happiness or unhappiness and to assess how satisfying their lives are. Such self-reported well-being is moderately consistent over years of retesting. Furthermore, those who say they are happy and satisfied seem happy to their close friends and family members and to a psychologist-interviewer. Their daily mood ratings reveal more positive emotions, and they smile more than those who call themselves unhappy. Self-reported happiness also predicts other indicators of well-being. Compared with the depressed, happy people are less self-focused, less hostile and abusive, and less susceptible to disease.
We have found that the even distribution of happiness cuts across almost all demographic classifications of age, economic class, race and educational level. In addition, almost all strategies for assessing subjective well-being - including those that sample people's experience by polling them at random times with beepers - turn up similar findings.
Interviews with representative samples of people of all ages, for example, reveal that no time of life is notably happier or unhappier. Similarly, men and women are equally likely to declare themselves "very happy" and "satisfied" with life, according to a statistical digest of 146 studies by Marilyn J, Haring, William Stock and Moms A, Okun, all then at Arizona State University.
Wealth is also a poor predictor of happiness. People have not become happier over time as their cultures have become more affluent. Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29 percent.
Even very rich people - those surveyed among Forbes magazine's 100 wealthiest Americans - are only slightly happier than the average American. Those whose income has increased over a 10-year period are not happier than those whose income is stagnant. Indeed, in most nations the correlation between income and happiness is negligible - only in the poorest countries, such as Bangladesh and India, is income a good measure of emotional wellbeing.
Are people in rich countries happier, by and large, than people in not so rich countries? It appears in general that they are, but the margin may be slim. In Portugal, for example, only one in 10 people reports being very happy, whereas in the much more prosperous Netherlands the proportion of very happy is four in 10. Yet there are curious reversals in this correlation between national wealth and well-being -the Irish during the 1980s consistently reported greater life satisfaction than the wealthier West Germans. Furthermore, other factors, such as civil rights, literacy and duration of democratic government, al of which also promote reported life satisfaction, tend to go hand in hand with national wealth, As a result, it is impossible to tell whether the happiness of people in wealthier nations is based on money or is a by-product of other felicities.
Although happiness is not easy to predict from material circumstances, it seems consistent for those who have it, In one National Institute on Aging study of 5,000 adults, the happiest people in 1973 were still relatively happy a decade later, despite changes in work, residence and family status.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Question Focus: Paraphrase - 'does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances' = 'affected by relatively few factors'.
Why this is correct: The writers say happiness does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances. If happiness does not depend much on outside things, few things change it. 'Changed by few factors' means affected by few factors.
Passage Reference: People are happier than one might expect, and happiness does not appear to depend significantly on external circumstances.
Tips: Read the whole summary sentence, including the words after the gap. Then find the same idea in the text and choose a verb that fits the meaning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- stabilized: Students may pick this because the end of the passage says happiness stays steady for happy people. But that is about time, not about what causes happiness. This is a Wrong section trap.
- reversed: Students may pick this because 'reversals' appears later in the passage. But that word is about rich and poor countries, not about what changes our happiness. This is a Context shift trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- depend on = be changed by
- external circumstances = things outside you, such as money or where you live
- factor = one thing that causes a result
Question Focus: Synonym match - 'earn twice as much' = 'incomes in the States have doubled'.
Passage Reference: Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29 percent.
Why this is correct: The passage says Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957. To earn twice as much means your income has doubled. The years since 1957 are the 'forty years' in the summary.
Tips: The gap needs a word for a change. Find what the text says about incomes, then choose the word with the same size of change.
Why the other options are wrong:
- crept up: Students may pick this because incomes did go up. But 'crept up' means a small, slow rise. Earning twice as much is a big rise. This is a Qualification trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- income = money you earn
- in today's dollars = after taking price rises into account
- proportion = part of a group
Question Focus: Synonym match - 'has declined from 35 to 29 percent' = 'happiness levels have dropped'.
Passage Reference: Even though Americans earn twice as much in today's dollars as they did in 1957, the proportion of those telling surveyors from the National Opinion Research Center that they are "very happy" has declined from 35 to 29 percent.
Why this is correct: The share of Americans who say they are 'very happy' has declined from 35 to 29 percent. Declined means went down. So happiness levels have dropped.
Tips: Read the whole summary sentence. Then find what the text says about happiness in the same years, and choose the box word with the same meaning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- stabilized: Students may pick this because the change is small. But 35 to 29 is still a fall, so the level did not stay the same. This is a Contradiction trap.
- crept up: Students may pick this because incomes went up in the same sentence. But the happiness numbers went down, not up. This is a Reverse meaning trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- decline = go down
- surveyor = a person who asks people questions for research
- period = a length of time
Question Focus: Reverse comparison - 'very rich people ... are only slightly happier than the average American' = average people are slightly less happy than the rich.
Passage Reference: Even very rich people - those surveyed among Forbes magazine's 100 wealthiest Americans - are only slightly happier than the average American.
Why this is correct: The passage says very rich people are only slightly happier than the average American. The summary turns this around and starts with the average people. If the rich are a bit happier, the average people are a bit less happy.
Tips: Find the two groups in the text and what it says about each. Then read the summary sentence again and choose the word that keeps the same meaning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- more: Students may pick this because the passage uses 'happier', which means 'more happy'. But in the summary, the average people come first, so the meaning is turned around. This is a Reverse meaning trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- wealthiest = richest
- average = normal, typical
- slightly = a little
Question Focus: Paraphrase - 'income has increased ... not happier' = 'a gradual increase in prosperity makes no difference'.
Passage Reference: Those whose income has increased over a 10-year period are not happier than those whose income is stagnant.
Why this is correct: People whose income has gone up over ten years are not happier than those whose income is stagnant. Stagnant means it did not change. So more money over time makes no difference to happiness.
Tips: Find the same idea as 'a gradual increase in prosperity' in the text. Then choose the box word that shows the same size of effect.
Why the other options are wrong:
- some: Students may pick this because it sounds careful and safe. But the passage says these people are 'not happier' at all. This is a Contradiction trap.
- significant: Students may pick this because money sounds important for happiness. But the passage says the opposite, so a big difference is wrong. This is an Extreme language trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- prosperity = having money and success
- gradual = slow, step by step
- stagnant = not changing or growing
Question Focus: Synonym match - 'the margin may be slim' = a small difference, which is what 'slightly' means.
Passage Reference: Are people in rich countries happier, by and large, than people in not so rich countries? It appears in general that they are, but the margin may be slim.
Why this is correct: The writers ask if people in rich countries are happier. They say It appears in general that they are, but the margin may be slim. A slim margin is a small difference. That points to the word 'slightly'. So the closest choice in the box is slightly.
Tips: Words like 'much', 'clearly' and 'slightly' show how big a difference is. Find the writers' words about the size of the difference before you choose.
Why the other options are wrong:
- much: Students may pick this because rich countries do seem happier. But 'much' means a big difference, and the passage says the difference is slim. This is an Extreme language trap.
- clearly: Students may pick this because the Netherlands example shows a big gap. But the writers only say 'It appears', and they give an example that goes the other way. This is a Qualification trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- margin = the size of the difference between two things
- slim = small, thin
- prosperous = rich
Question Focus: Synonym match - 'curious reversals in this correlation' = 'this trend is reversed'.
Passage Reference: Yet there are curious reversals in this correlation between national wealth and well-being -the Irish during the 1980s consistently reported greater life satisfaction than the wealthier West Germans.
Why this is correct: The passage says there are curious reversals in this correlation between national wealth and well-being. The example is the Irish, who were poorer but more satisfied than West Germans. The usual pattern went the other way, so the trend is reversed.
Tips: Read the whole part of the text about this trend, including any example. Then choose the box word that fits the summary sentence.
Why the other options are wrong:
- stopped: Students may pick this because the usual pattern does not hold for the Irish. But the Irish were more satisfied, so the pattern went the other way. It did not just stop. This is a Partial truth trap.
Key Vocabulary:
- reversal = a change to the opposite direction
- correlation = a link between two things
- curious = strange, surprising
General Tips:
- Read the whole summary first so you know the main idea before you fill any gap.
- Check the grammar around each gap. Decide if you need a verb, an adjective or a comparison word.
- In this task you may use a word more than once, and some words are not used at all.
- The summary uses different words from the text. Match ideas, not the same spelling.
- Watch the words in the box that show how big a change is. The text must show the same size of change.
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