Study Shows You’re Nobody Until Somebody Loves You

“We may be capable of extraordinary feats of intellect and creativity … but when it comes to making decisions about our lives, we humans are often bad at knowing what is good for us.” This observation comes from The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness may seem obvious to most readers—too many short-term indulgences often lead to long-term misery—but there are less obvious reasons that Americans today are confused about how to achieve a certain level of personal satisfaction and well-being. They are being pushed by cultural and political messages that lead them to less satisfying and more destructive places.

The Good Life This information is based on interviews, blood samples, and other data. Data was collected by Harvard Study of Adult Development from 724 men and more that 1,300 of their descendents, starting in 1938. Some of the young men were Harvard students, while others were teens growing up in poorer Boston neighborhoods.

Conventional wisdom is not the only thing that matters. The Good Life. Marc Schulz and Robert Waldinger, the authors, discuss how people believe that having more money will make them happier. However, there is very little evidence to support this belief, at least not beyond a certain point. “We are resilient, industrious, creative creatures who can survive incredible hardship, laugh our way through tough times, and come out stronger on the other end.” But “we also get used to better circumstances. Our emotional well-being cannot improve to infinity. We settle in. We tend to take things for granted.”

John and Leo were two of the Harvard graduates who graduated from the study. Leo felt compelled to move home to Vermont after he graduated because his father died and mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. John pursued his legal career single-mindedly. He earned more than Leo and ended up teaching law classes at University of Chicago. Leo was a young married man and became a high-school teacher. He had four children. John was married twice, and he reported that he had a distant relationship to his children. Leo was happier.

It wasn’t just that John wanted to earn more money. John wanted to be a professional success. The Harvard Study has many participants who have held professional success, according to the authors. ‘dream jobs’—from medical researchers to successful authors to wealthy Wall Street brokers—who were nonetheless unhappy at work. There are also inner