Scientists have presented a mathematical "formula for happiness." It takes into account both personal achievements of a person and the influence of the successes and failures of others on one's own attitude. The research results are presented in the journal Nature Communications.
Mathematicians and psychologists from University College London invited 37 volunteers who did not know each other. They were asked to complete a series of tasks to assess the level of happiness and the factors influencing it. The resulting connections and patterns were presented in the form of a complex formula.
First, the volunteers were asked how they would split the amount of cash with a stranger. Then they played this amount in a game of chance, being able to find out whether their new partner won or lost in the same game. Overall, unequal outcomes lowered happiness: people did not like it if they won more (guilt) or less (jealousy) money than the strangers they just met.
In addition, it turned out that the dynamics of the respondents' happiness is determined not by random factors, such as sympathy or antipathy for a stranger, the outcome of the game, but stable psychological personality traits - a tendency to envy and guilt. The surveyed individuals clearly split into a group of “generous” (who was more upset about their winnings and gave the stranger 30 percent of the money in the first task) and “misers” (they were more discouraged by the loss, and they gave others only 10 percent of the amount).
According to scientists, generosity to strangers is directly related to how a person's happiness is influenced by situations of inequality that they face in life. In addition, the "happiness formula" can also be used to accurately measure empathy (an important metric for diagnosing and treating psychopathies).
Image: phys.org
The formula for happiness. t is the game number, w0 is a constant, the rest w describe the influence of various events. 0 <γ <1 is the forgetfulness factor, due to which recent games have a greater effect on a person's well-being than more distant ones. CRj is a small reward that volunteers receive if they give up the game. EVj is the average winnings in the game, RPE is the reward minus expectations from the game. W4 is associated with feelings of guilt (when the payoff of the respondent Rj exceeds the payoff of the second participant, whom he does not know, Oj), w5 is associated with envy (when, on the contrary, Oj exceeds Rj).
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