Posted on 08/28/2022 2:25:33 PM PDT by NoLibZone
It may be one of the most surefire findings in all of social psychology, repeatedly replicated over almost five decades of study: American conservatives say they are much happier than American liberals. They also report greater meaning and purpose in their lives, and higher overall life satisfaction. These links are so solidly evidenced that, for the most part, modern social scientists simply try to explain them. They've put forth numerous possible explanations.
There are a couple clear contributors to point out first. Marriage tends to make people happier, and conservatives are more likely to be married. Religious belief is also linked to happiness, and conservatives tend to be more religious.
But these explanations don't account for the entire gap, which equates to about a half-point on a four-point scale, a sizable happiness divide.
Social psychologist Jaime Napier, Program Head of Psychology at NYU-Abu Dhabi has conducted research suggesting that views about inequality play a role.
"One of the biggest correlates with happiness in our surveys was the belief of a meritocracy, which is the belief that anybody who works hard can make it," she told PBS. "That was the biggest predictor of happiness. That was also one of the biggest predictors of political ideology. So, the conservatives were much higher on these meritocratic beliefs than liberals were."
To paraphrase, conservatives are less concerned with equality of outcomes and more with equality of opportunity. While American liberals are depressed by inequalities in society, conservatives are okay with them provided that everyone has roughly the same opportunities to succeed. The latter is a more rosy and empowering view than the deterministic former.
Two other studies explored a more surprising contributor: neuroticism, typically defined as "a tendency toward anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and other negative feelings." Surveyed conservatives consistently score lower in neuroticism than surveyed liberals.
In 2011, psychologists at the University of Florida and the University of Toronto conducted four studies, aiming to find whether conservatives are more "positively adjusted" than liberals.
They found that conservatives "expressed greater personal agency, more positive outlook, more transcendent moral beliefs, and a generalized belief in fairness" compared to liberals.
They added:
"The portrait of conservatives that emerges is different from the view that conservatives are generally fearful, low in self-esteem, and rationalize away social inequality. Conservatives are more satisfied with their lives, in general... report better mental health and fewer mental and emotional problems (all after controlling for age, sex, income, and education), and view social justice in ways that are consistent with binding moral foundations, such as by emphasizing personal agency and equity. Liberals have become less happy over the last several decades, but this decline is associated with increasingly secular attitudes and actions."
There have been a few studies that attempted to rain on conservatives' happiness parade. In one, scientists proposed that conservatives might simply be more inclined to provide socially desirable answers to surveys than liberals. Society expects you to be happy, and so conservatives say that they are. In another, researchers found that while conservatives certainly report being more happy than liberals, liberals tend to display more signs of happiness, as evidenced by uploading more smiling photographs on Linkedin and posting more positive tweets on Twitter. So maybe conservatives just think they're happier, or judge happiness differently?
Regardless, the gap remains. So if you need some cheering up, maybe turn to a conservative friend rather than a liberal one.
Leftists (liberals are virtually extinct) aren’t unhappy because they’re leftists. They’re leftists because they’re miserable people.
We don’t have a victim mentality, therefore, we feel we have a better control of life. We are problem solvers not problem makers. Big difference!
We certainly have better senses of humor than they do.
We live in the United States of America. Liberals live somewhere else.
Liberals expect other people to do things that make them happy. Conservatives know that happiness comes from inside and things that you do to make your life better.
Bejamine Franklin said, “A man who cuts his own firewood warms himself twice.”
Because we don’t cut off our gonads?
Because we don’t think it’s somebody else’s responsibility to make us happy?
Liberals don’t believe in meritocracy because many of the fields they tend toward aren’t merit based… or they have an inflated view of their own merits and can’t understand why no one else sees them. Or a combination of both.
The arts - horribly and fundamentally not merit based. Complete and total hacks make millions while truly talented trudge away in obscurity…. I don’t care what arts you pick… this is true for most of them.
Who is the greatest guitar player alive today? I don’t know but I guarantee he’s not a name you’ve likely heard of. Greater pop or rock sure… but actually greatest alive is almost assuredly someone playing classical guitar and no one knows about.
This is just how the arts are.
AT the very core of liberalism/progressivism is the requirement that you be able to constantly whine, bitch and complain about everybody else’s problems that they created for themselves because of their piss poor decision making capabilities, then blame their problems on society and everyone else. Being happy never comes into play and never will
Bingo~
Liberals blame others for their self inflicted problems. They believe their lack of success is caused by the success of others. They think wealth creation is a zero sum game.
Lastly, well to do white liberals with low quality degrees and government jobs doing meaningless things, know deep down that they aren’t as smart as their plumber or mechanic and it chaps their ass. A lot. Which is why they are always sneering and insulting the working class MAGA rubes.
Maybe it’s because they know, deep down, they’re wrong on every issue.
Sanity has its benefits. :)
Because Liberals hate and destroy, and the constant hatred and being offended leaves no room for happiness.
LOL!!! Well...I studied the Bolshevik revolution and collect stamps from eastern Europe. To my knowledge, aside from a photo of Stalin (and Nancy Pelosi) with a snide smirk on their faces...NOT ONE photo I have seen of a commie smiling! They might be miserable people!
In another, researchers found that while conservatives certainly report being more happy than liberals, liberals tend to display more signs of happiness, as evidenced by uploading more smiling photographs on Linkedin and posting more positive tweets on Twitter. So maybe conservatives just think they’re happier, or judge happiness differently?
Liberals are more likely to be fools as shown by this example of what passes for ‘academic’ research.
I remember in high school nothing pissed lib history teachers as much as countering the relentlessly negative presentation of American history and society by these people than to ask, Where was fascism, Nazism, and Leninist-Stalinist socialism invented? Not in the US. The other was to ask, ‘How many people did Joe McCarthy kill, compared to Stalin or Mao or Castro?
Their happiness is predicated upon how others view them.
They spend their entire existence trying to manipulate others.
We don’t have to pretend that over weight men with full beards are women.
We don’t have to pretend that driving our SUV’s is destroying the environment but celebrities with multi-vehicle entourages and private jets are not.
We don’t have to reconcile the belief that Donald Trump is a criminal but Hunter Biden is not.
We don’t have to condemn all white people as being racist while arguing that black people aren’t capable of finding the local DMV to obtain a picture ID.
We don’t have to argue that a neurosurgeon making $500k is immoral but a drug sodden rock star who makes hundreds of millions is just fine.
We don’t have to justify hating Jews for their beliefs but respecting Islamic terrorists for theirs.
Because we don’t have to pretend that Creepy Joe and Heels-Up Harris are competent?
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