229

Conservatives are happier, but liberals lead more psychologically rich lives, research finds (www.psypost.org)

submitted 1 day ago by ooli@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

58 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] ieightpi@lemmy.world 8 points 11 hours ago

This makes a lot of sense actually. Conservative values represent upholding the status quo and at this exact moment that is how society works. So in the moment they see society following their values which makes them happy.

Progressives and Liberals are programmatic and critical of society and see things that could be better. That inherently makes you less happy with what's going on around you since you can imagine a better world.

Yes ignorance is indeed bliss when it comes to being conservative.

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world -2 points 11 hours ago

Conservative values represent upholding the status quo

That's liberalism.

[-] ieightpi@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Fair point. I should not have grouped Progressives with Liberals. But in the current US political landscape, Liberals tend to move policy forward even if they are only tiny incremental changes.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 27 points 16 hours ago

Ignorance is bliss.

[-] P00ptart@lemmy.world 16 points 16 hours ago

I wish I was stupid enough to be happy in today's world.

[-] Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world 56 points 19 hours ago

Really? Because most cons and tepubs I meet are the angriest miserable people I interact with, constantly pissed at the most insignificant mild inconveniences imaginable and always finding ways to make themselves the victim

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 17 points 16 hours ago

It's both. Indoctrination is a complex bitch. I grew up (quite) religious and was definitely "happier" in some sense when I could just easily dismiss every real, major problem/injustice in life with some glib, simplistic talking point or Bible verse. To say nothing of the confidence and self-assuredness that goes along with "knowing the truth" and being on the "good side/team," not like those wordly sinners over there.

It IS much easier and comfortable that way. Deep down, I was utterly miserable, but it took a long time to understand that and see through it all.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 10 points 19 hours ago

Ever been to Lemmy?

[-] barsquid@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago

That's could be just exposure to the internet, which turns everyone into a wretched and miserable gremlin.

[-] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 5 points 17 hours ago

Sure, and not just that. Most, if not all people I know of whom I'd consider a 'normal' don't spend time commenting on social media. By definition, everything we read on here comes from this self-selecting group of people who do not represent the majority.

[-] franklin@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

Ooh yeah? Well what the HELL is that supposed to mean?

[-] eran_morad@lemmy.world 95 points 23 hours ago

Easy to be happy if you’re a fucking moron.

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 71 points 23 hours ago

Ignorance is Bliss. I too would be happier if I thought all the people destroying the planet were the good guys.

[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 20 points 19 hours ago

Imagine receiving a research grant and your findings is: ignorance is bliss

[-] isles@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago

Sometimes, the point of research is to experimentally prove things we suspect are true.

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago

ho dè anexétastos bíos ou biōtòs anthrṓpōi

~ Socrates

The unexamined life is not worth living

[-] archonet@lemy.lol 108 points 1 day ago

Conservatives are happier? Since when?

Like, I can disprove that by turning on Fox News for two minutes. It's nothing but 24/7 anger porn and rage bait.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago

You know how people in groups tend to do pretty bad stuff without reflection and proper teaching, like bullying and excluding others?

That's because it feels good to do these things, as long as you shield yourself from the negative consequences. It doesn't feel good once you develop real empathy, but until that point doing these things will make you happy.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago

You can’t develop empathy until you break out of the filter bubble. To understand a person you first need to know what their life is like, what motivates them, what values they hold.

Everything I’ve seen tells me that the opacity runs in both directions. Empathizing with someone who holds radically different, diametrically opposed values to your own is very difficult.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

No, I disagree. I have empathy for all humans, no matter who. When I hear that some natural catastrophe occurs, I don't need to know details about those affected to feel for them. There was a time when I was a child when that wasn't true, but since some point in my childhood it is.

That coincided with the point in time when I started leaning very left.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

That’s not what empathy means. Empathy is the capacity to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand how they are feeling, not to feel bad for them when they’re not doing well.

What you’re describing is more like sympathy.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago

Yes, and I don't need to know the details of someone's life to do so. Do you? You can't feel empathy for e.g. Floridians who recently went through that hurricane?

not to feel bad for them when they’re not doing well

That's also a form of empathy. You get that, right?

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

That's also a form of empathy. You get that, right?

No, because doing badly doesn’t imply feeling badly. People going through bad times respond in a variety of ways. They don’t all respond exactly the same way.

Of course you can respond by donating to help people who have been affected by a disaster. Everyone does that. That’s what sympathy does for us.

Empathy is different! To truly have empathy for someone means to understand them well enough to know how they’re going to respond to something even before they do. It’s very difficult to achieve. Many married couples never reach it.

load more comments (7 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 47 points 1 day ago

Maybe it's got the effect to externalise any of the sources of whatever is wrong in your life. Fox gives you easy answers for all your problems, and it's always some 'other'. You don't have to change or work on yourself to improve things, you just have to vote for the guys that will deport/jail the ones holding you back.

[-] CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

Id pay special attention to Study 4 which seems to really hit my key points of criticism as a layman. Study 4 controlled for census region but I’d really like to see this controlled for rural vs urban populations at a finer scale. Without that adjustment I question the validity of other studies included.

That said study 4, if I’m reading it right, still found a correlation with happiness in conservatives but that correlation did not survive when religion was accounted for. Which tells you everything you need to know.

The conservatism isn’t the primary ideology, this is just a roundabout way of asking if religious people report being happier and having more meaning and of course they do. The religious aspect almost overrules the political angle entirely.

[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago

But making other people miserable is one of their favorite ways of making themselves happy

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 4 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

That's also the behavior of profoundly unhappy people. I think the real issue is that these are the Republicans answering 10/10 on happiness in the polls:

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago

Maybe that's what makes them happy?

[-] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Have you seen a Lemmy feed recently? Pot meet kettle stuff.

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 38 points 23 hours ago

Yes. Stupid people are happier people. Conservatives are thoughtlessly optimistic about their own futures, even while voting to destroy them.

[-] boredtortoise@lemm.ee 79 points 1 day ago

Ignorance is bliss. Who would've thought

[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago

Conservatives are likely just more emotional in general, their lives seem to be more dominated by emotions. Happiness, fear, anger, they just live in these extremes without any real thought about the reasons behind it. They just get triggered by whatever buzzwords the Party trots out for them, without any real mental analysis or realization of the manipulation that’s going on.

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago

without any real mental analysis or realization of the manipulation that’s going on.

I see it as zero introspection. That might also explain the projection, hate, and bigotry that run in those circles; it's hard to keep that up once you see where it's coming from. An inability to introspect is also an aspect (among many) of narcissistic personality disorder, and helps keep that pain-train rolling.

[-] Dkarma@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago

It's easy to be happy when you're a f****** dunce

[-] realcaseyrollins@thelemmy.club 15 points 21 hours ago

The comment section here is mad, which I guess means the research was right.

[-] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

The election cycle sure is fun

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

Ignorance is bliss.

[-] forrgott@lemm.ee 17 points 1 day ago

Wow, what bullshit. Cognitive dissonance may give the appearance of happiness, but it is a literal hell on Earth. The psychological damage from pretending so strongly to be happy..? It's not worth it.

And besides, no one is going to convince me that the people that are always afraid and angry are the happy ones.

[-] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

And you're a professional with a degree and career to back that up?

Oh no, you'll ignore this because it makes you happier! And the circle of life is complete.

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Oh yeah? And how many McDonald's dollar cheese burgers can you afford with all that psychological wealth you snowflakes acquired? /s

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world -3 points 11 hours ago

Considering the microscopic ideological differences between liberals and their slightly-closer-to-overt-fascism liberal cousins called "conservatives" I'd have to say... this is absolutely much ado about nothing.