WB.4: Deep Dive – Unlocking Happiness: Is It All in Your Mind or Shaped by the World Around You?

Approximate reading time: 3 minutes

There are external influences on people’s happiness, such as the circumstances in which they live. It is possible for some to be happy living in poverty with ill health or with a child who has a serious disease, but this is difficult. In contrast, it is easier to be happy if one has supportive family and friends, plenty of resources to meet one’s needs, and good health. Even here there are exceptions — people who are depressed and unhappy while living in excellent circumstances. Thus, people can be happy or unhappy because of their personalities and the way they think about the world or because of the external circumstances in which they live. People vary in their approach to happiness, in their personalities and positive or negative outlook, and this means that knowing their living conditions is not enough for psychologists or researchers to predict happiness.

The table below shows internal and external circumstances that influence happiness. There are individual differences and exceptions in what makes people happy, but, in general, the causes in the table are important for most people (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Lyubomirsky, 2013; Myers, 1992).