tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post6025581120174268611..comments2024-03-28T15:58:56.369-04:00Comments on Face to Face: Is lifetime happiness greater when you peak earlier or later?agnostichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-19262977273407066812011-01-17T17:06:58.583-05:002011-01-17T17:06:58.583-05:00Later, you won't live with regret and how it u...Later, you won't live with regret and how it used to be and spending the rest of your life trying to get back on top.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-86533623357717538472010-01-30T02:18:09.742-05:002010-01-30T02:18:09.742-05:00Doesn't seem hard to answer. Easton spends hi...Doesn't seem hard to answer. Easton spends his years from 25 to 55 in a steady decline while Landon spends the same years in a steady rise. I'd certainly rather be Landon.<br /><br />PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-40451407469565059842010-01-28T17:18:07.638-05:002010-01-28T17:18:07.638-05:00As a sidenote, I'm not sure that happiness is ...As a sidenote, I'm not sure that happiness is U-shaped. The GSS (HAPPY vs. AGE) shows that it's *inverted* U-shaped.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-2841620522547934542010-01-28T17:16:26.275-05:002010-01-28T17:16:26.275-05:00I should clarify that I'm only talking about s...I should clarify that I'm only talking about status-derived happiness... or you could pretend that status is the only source of happiness.<br /><br />The really existing U-shape of happiness may mean that people peak early as well as late, and we can set that aside and focus only on status-derived happiness.agnostichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12967177967469961883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-36523576720296896842010-01-28T16:46:57.957-05:002010-01-28T16:46:57.957-05:00Another potential issue is that of the perceived p...Another potential issue is that of the perceived passage of time. You may want to be happier earlier in life because time seems to go by slower then.joeohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01464879605459148970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-88615352949417948232010-01-28T12:20:36.608-05:002010-01-28T12:20:36.608-05:00OK, make that 42 and 44: "... age exhibits th...OK, <a href="http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/hilda/Biblio/cp/conf-p01.pdf" rel="nofollow">make that</a> 42 and 44: <i>"... age exhibits the U-shaped relationship with life satisfaction found in multivariate research employing large samples (with life satisfaction lowest at around 44 years for men and 42 years for women)"</i>.Jason Malloyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04855482153162314172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19346366.post-32405060690853060242010-01-28T11:55:58.372-05:002010-01-28T11:55:58.372-05:00Happiness is U-shaped over the life span. First, h...Happiness is U-shaped over the life span. First, happiness declines steadily from young adulthood to middle age. IIRC, female unhappiness peaks at 43, and male unhappiness at 45. But then happiness steadily rebounds after the mid-life crisis, producing a Zen-like contentedness in old age. <br /><br />This probably just corresponds to the typical number of stressful responsibilities people have at each stage of life, but could also be related to reproductive drives-- i.e. neurotic competitiveness as a biological response to steadily falling fertility during the reproductive stage of life, and agreeable coolness when people enter their post-reproductive grandparent helper stage of life.<br /><br />Because of this I would say that it would be much better to be on your way up during the critical mid-life period, when sadness already looms as a larger latent threat.<br /><br />An additional reason for this choice is that people are more psychologically sensitive to losses than to deprivations. It's worse to lose something really good, than to never have experienced it at all.<br /><br />A case in point is ex-athletes and ex-celebrities, who more typically become depressed and broken. Peaking during young adulthood frames the rest of life as a comparative failure, instead of as an incremental success.Jason Malloyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04855482153162314172noreply@blogger.com