Does Success Make People Happy?

Posted by Ricki Sharpe on September 23, 2006
Filed Under Work Behaviour

A recent review of research challenges the assumption that success makes people happy. In fact, it is the other way around; happiness engenders success. Researchers who examined the connections between desirable characteristics, life successes and well-being of over 275,000 people concluded that happy individuals are more likely than their less happy peers to have fulfilling marriages and relationships, high incomes, superior work performance, community involvement, robust health and even a long life.

From a review of 225 studies in the Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), lead author Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., of the University of California, Riverside found that chronically happy people are in general more successful across many life domains than less happy people and their happiness is in large part a consequence of their positive emotions rather than vice versa. Happy people are more likely to achieve favourable life circumstances, said Dr. Lyubomirsky, and “this may be because happy people frequently experience positive moods and these positive moods prompt them to be more likely to work actively toward new goals and build new resources. When people feel happy, they tend to feel confident, optimistic, and energetic and others find them likable and sociable. Happy people are thus able to benefit from these perceptions.

Lyubomirsky and co-authors Laura King, Ph.D., of University of Missouri, Columbia and Ed Diener, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The Gallup Organization examined studies involving three different types of evidence - cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental designs, to determine how happiness and positive affect are related to culturally valued success.

The authors chose to use these different types of evidence to bolster their confidence in establishing cause-and-effect relationships among happiness, positive affect, and success. Cross-sectional studies compare different groups of people and answer questions like, Are happy people more successful than unhappy people? and Does long-term happiness and short term positive affect co-occur with desirable behaviours? Longitudinal studies examine groups of people over a period and address questions like, Does happiness precede success? and Does positive affect pave the way for success-like behaviours? Finally, experimental studies manipulate variables to test whether an outcome will occur under controlled conditions and answer questions like, Does positive affect lead to success-oriented behaviours?

The results of all three types of studies suggests that happiness does lead to behaviours that often produce further success in work, relationships and health, and these successes result in part from a person’s positive affect. Furthermore, evidence from the cross-sectional studies confirm that a person’s well-being is associated with positive perceptions of self and others, sociability, creativity, prosocial behaviour, a strong immune system, and effective coping skills. The authors also note that happy people are capable of experiencing sadness and negative emotions in response to negative events, which is a healthy and appropriate response.

Much of the previous research on happiness presupposed that happiness followed from success and accomplishments in life, said the authors. “We found that this is not always true. Positive affect is one attribute among several that can lead to success-oriented behaviours. Other resources, such as intelligence, family, expertise and physical fitness, can also play a role in people’s successes.

“Our review provides strong support that happiness, in many cases, leads to successful outcomes, rather than merely following from them,” said Lyubomirsky, “and happy individuals are more likely than their less happy peers to have fulfilling marriages and relationships, high incomes, superior work performance, community involvement, robust health and even a long life.”