(U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- University of Illinois sophomore Mike Cozzi thought he was very happy. But after taking a short survey developed by psychology professor Ed Diener, he found out he was about average on the happiness scale.
"I would have said I was above average," Cozzi said. "But it's normal for a person to want to change things in their life. There is always room for improvement."
Diener has been conducting these types of studies on adults of all ages. Diener is one of the few professors in the United States researching happiness as part of the positive psychological movement that has emerged in the last four years. He has been published in The New York Times and Esquire.
"As an undergraduate student, I had to take a research design class," Diener said. "I wanted to measure the happiness of migrant farm workers. But my professor said absolutely not -- he didn't think happiness was able to be measured."
Eventually, Diener came back to his passion for studying happiness. He has conducted more than 100 studies and traveled to places like Africa and Calcutta, India.
"What I hope is eventually my findings can help the world," Diener said. "But right now I'm not in the position to intervene in people's lives. I don't want to impose happiness on people."
He said he studies happiness because it is a fun and interesting topic.
"Most psychologists focus on negative research, like trying to make people less schizophrenic," Diener said. "Happiness isn't like that -- it's a positive field."
Diener discussed many factors that play into a person's happiness levels. He suggested weather, money, appearance, age, sex, lifestyle and social interaction have some impact on a person's happiness.
Diener said money has less of an effect than many believe. He found a jump in income can bring greater happiness to someone who has gone without necessities or is extremely poor. But for the rest of the population, greater happiness from money is fleeting.
In fact, Diener said someone who makes a decent salary is almost as happy as someone who is extremely wealthy.
"If you live in the slums of Calcutta, making $1 or $4 a day is a huge difference," Diener said. "It means you can eat."
Appearance also has a role in determining a person's happiness. Diener compared people's views on appearance with the Messiahs' in Africa. He said Messiahs believe a person's beauty is controllable, while people in America are almost never happy with the way they look.
Diener said sex and age don't matter as much as some think. He said lifestyle and social interactions can be most important in predicting happiness.
He recommends people "find the right niche for them" and make decisions based on what is congruent with their personality and values.
Diener warns the road to happiness and success is not a check list, "it's a process."
"It's not like there is a key to happiness," Diener said. "What we talk about is more like a recipe -- it takes a lot of ingredients to make it work."
(C) 2002 Daily Illini via U-WIRE