Comments on: United States of Happiness

By: staffnurse

staffnurse — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:35:51 +0000

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By: Pixelfish

Pixelfish — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:12:49 +0000

So very very very late on this, but I have to say as a WOMAN who grew up in Utah (20 years of my 32 spent in that state) that Will's characterisation of the ideology of happiness being emphasised is far from wrong. I remember countless lessons in church about how one could only be truly happy if one was following Heavenly Father and the correlation was that sin causes unhappiness. When you've got that bred into the bone, you are going to have a lot of people who self-select for stating that they are happy. Because admitting otherwise could be admitting to a state of sin. And young women in particular are REALLY REALLY hit over the head with this–women who are given the cookie of approval are those who are happy and smiley and seemingly righteous. If you are sad, SOMETHING must be causing your sadness, and possibly something you are falling short on in life, because righteous people are happy!

(I can tell you I'm much happier outside of Utah than I was inside of it. But you know, maybe it was all that sinning I was doing inside of Utah. Certainly it couldn't have anything to do with condescending Priesthood holders telling me that I had natural potential to raise children and should not have a career and that I should get married as soon as possible and have kids without waiting to see if I would be financially stable and that I would know real happiness by having kids.)

By: david_zenciti_com

david_zenciti_com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:17:04 +0000

You say money and happiness are correlated, but according to your graph the correlation is VERY WEAK. The correlation between money and happiness is documented only for low to moderate incomes. Once people have “enough” money, there is no correlation. It's pretty simple, and pretty widely documented: http://www.google.com/search?q=money+happy+corr...

By: astorasls

astorasls — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:08:29 +0000

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By: Roth Ira

Roth Ira — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:42:12 +0000

yes, will i agree.

By: bookscout

bookscout — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:58:21 +0000

(yawn) Correlations do not equal causation. Any thoughts on happiness causation without dipping into the logical fallacy of the wealth happiness correlation?

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:33:38 +0000

Um … y'all are aware that 40% of the population of Utah isn't Mormon, right? And that Salt Lake's Democratic mayor makes NYC's last two mayors look like the gestapo? (And that the 40% is growing daily?)

A bunch of non-Mormon's must be awfully happy with their quiet neighbors.

Also, scientists have shown: complaining makes you sad: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_proj...

And pretending to be happy will make you happy: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/happinessproje...

Also, if any of you actually KNEW any Mormons, you would discover there is an exceptionally interesting demographic switch that is beginning to occur among older college educated Mormon women who's children have left home (which they do at a young age). Many are starting careers for the first time and our often OVERLY supported by their husbands. I guess if you don't smoke or drink, don't get divorced (a GIGANTIC drain on resources and happiness) and living healthily into your 80s you can do all sorts of things.

PS: Social researchers please check this out because I have noticed this anecdotely but don't have stats. And I'm a writer so I'm not gonna do it.

By: articlesatrandom.com » Blog Archive » Happiness Rankings By State

articlesatrandom.com » Blog Archive » Happiness Rankings By State — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:53:01 +0000

[...] Economix via Will Wilkinson and Breitbart Read [...]

By: lyca

lyca — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:37:32 +0000

You know, maybe we need to rethink the idea that reported happiness = well-being. You could argue that the people who have it the best also have the highest expectations for satisfaction in their lives, and so report themselves as unhappy. I know I'd rather be a rich, well-educated complainer than a poor stoic. (And I'd rather be a harried scientist than a beaming stay-at-home mom.) The Woody Allen thing is right. As a matter of fact, I think I complain more the better my life is going; when you get a great job offer you feel confident enough to be entitled to complain about the little things.

That's an argument for looking at revealed preferences over reported happiness.

By: johnny

johnny — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:46:16 +0000

Up here in the northeast, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they are living happy lives; in fact, I've never said it myself. I don't think I've ever thought of "living in happiness" because it is simply too much of an unquantifiable measurement that can change minute-by-minute. Maybe being an agnostic Catholic points to that kind of thinking, rather than subserviant Mormonism.

That said, I've always been very content at my Connecticut life, as most people around me are, I suspect. I think it's just common for us evil liberal northeasterners here to complain about many aspects of life to those who visit, but then when asked the inevitable "Why don't you move?" we say that we still kind of like it here.

Call it the Woody Allen effect: content to live out life's miseries, secretly enjoying all thrown our way.

By: Claire Web

Claire Web — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:17:47 +0000

I don't get it, you would think that the weather would have something to do with it to. You would think there would be a north south divide also. Sun = Vitamin D = Happiness.

There are two reasons why this could be happening:
• Those who live in the sun have become immune to the Vitamin D from the sun
• Those in colder, more wintery places, make up for the happiness when the sun comes out, and appreciates more – also perhaps go on holiday more to the sun, maybe.

By: me-me

me-me — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:53:05 +0000

My Mormon sister has a graduate degree and works as a stay at home wife and mother (disclaimer: I am no longer LDS.) One day she told me that no matter what happens to her, she just tries to keep a “happy face” because that's what her Father in Heaven has commanded. I guess that as a child she interpreted “If you chance to meet a frown” as scripture, not just a silly primary song.

By: Utah, Happiness, and Mormons : Mormon Metaphysics

Utah, Happiness, and Mormons : Mormon Metaphysics — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:56:35 +0000

[...] top of states reporting a general sense of happiness. The NYT had a post on it. Then Will Wilkinson wrote a post suggesting Utahns (especially women) just overreport how happy they are. This unfortunately was [...]

By: Health and happiness in the US « Econstudentlog

Health and happiness in the US « Econstudentlog — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:04:48 +0000

[...] and happiness in the US Via Will Wilkinson, I came across this [...]

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:41:27 +0000

Haha, I'm Mormon and grew up in Salt Lake City, and there's definitely some truth to your comments about Mormon Mother blogs. The top student in several of my pre-med science classes at BYU was a girl who decided to get a master's degree in biochemistry, rather than pursuing a PhD or MD, specifically because she felt that would be more compatible with her primary responsibility of motherhood. The few girls I knew who were planning on med school had all had the experience of friends, family, or church leaders questioning their priorities in pursuing such an "obviously" motherhood-unfriendly career, instead of something more appropriate like nursing (people forget that a doctor can work 20 hours per week and make twice as much as a nurse working full time). As a result, the nursing school at BYU was extremely competitive, filled with girls with stellar academic records, most of whom could easily have gotten into medical school if they'd applied.

That said, I've known Mormon women who were outstanding neuro-ophthalmologists, toxicologists, pediatric surgeons, academic professors, etc, and were phenomenal mothers at the same time.

After spending the last ten years on the East Coast, I agree that people in Utah are happier. They are much less neurotic than easterners, and are almost completely free of the strange, obsessive fear of being "disrespected" that seems to dominate the lives of so many in the East Coast cities where I've worked.