Happiness May Truly Come From Within

Be it fame or fortune, power or prestige, what makes people happy may not be the extravagances of life but the stuff we get even before making our way into society.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota say that the link to happiness has more to do with genes than with what happens to us after we’re born.

After studying identical and fraternal twins’ behavior, psychologists David Lykken and Auke Tellegen determined that genetics plays the major role in who is happy. And who gets to be happy in this world seems to be doled out randomly.

“The guy that goes to work in overalls riding the bus is on average just as happy as the guy wearing a suit and tie and driving his own Mercedes to the office,” Lykken said.

That’s not to say that those born with little inclination for bliss have no way to alter their state. Buying anew car, getting a great promotion or even winning the lottery will have positive effects on one’s happiness, just not lasting ones, he researchers contend.

Lykken said earlier research done by psychologists Edward and Carol Diener of the University of Illinois, Urbana, shows those kind of events can lift one’s mood for around three months. After six months, though, there is no detectable change in a person’s “Happiness set point.”