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This poll is bullshit. They are asking people to imagine what their life would be if they have more money. Of course they say they would be satisfied (up to a
by hosh 13y ago
This poll is bullshit.
They are asking people to imagine what their life would be if they have more money. Of course they say they would be satisfied (up to a point).
However, what people say they want are not necessarily what they need or feel. Contentedness doesn't come from having everything you need, it's a feeling that can be generated from within and rested upon, whatever the situation you are in.
What generates a lot of confusion and suffering comes from the difference between the imagined happiness ("If only ...") and the ability to be content in the present moment. (And sure! "Present moment" can be anything from sitting quietly outside and listening to skydiving). As long as you have an imagined happiness, that "if only X, Y, and Z happens", then you will never be satisfied.
It's totally crazy. People can just be happy right now, and go on with their lives, instead of twisting themselves up inside.
- beefman 13y agoYou have misunderstood. They ask people to report their actual income and their actual life satisfaction.
- hosh 13y agoFair enough, however, when I reread the post it says: "They use a trove of data generated by Gallup, a polling firm, from its World Poll. Gallup asked respondents around the world to imagine a "satisfaction ladder" in which the top step represents a respondent's best possible life. Those being polled are then asked where on the ladder they stand (from zero to a maximum of 10), and how much they earn." Not quite the same thing I said, but it still introduces a bias. The people are asked to first imagine what a "10" -- that is, their ideal, imagined happiness -- before rating their happiness. It is essentially still the same mechanic, imagining a happiness before putting your "actual" happiness against that scale.
- freshhawk 13y agoIt's not bullshit, it's interesting. But comparing this result to the previous results is not valid considering the very strong framing device they used to get that result. They are basically getting people to judge their happiness against a hypothetical future rich self, when we already know that people have a bias to assuming more money would make them much happier than it actually would. If I wanted to "prove" money made you happier I would construct a poll exactly like this (or at least I hope I would have been smart enough to come up with this). The fact that it worked is still interesting however.