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In a previous post, I asked readers this:
In one of the glut of happiness books, there is this claim:
"A good marriage is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness."
There is a footnote attached to that sentence and it says this:
"However, it is not clear that married people are, on the average, happier than those who never married, because unhappily married people are the least happy group of all and they pull down the average; see DePaulo and Morris, 2005, for a critique of research on the benefits of marriage."
I think the author is trying - hey, he even cites me! - but he still doesn't totally get it. Sure, it is true that the unhappily married people pull down the mean of the married group. But why is that just a small truth that masks a bigger truth, and what is that bigger truth?
That post, only up for a few days, already has 66 reader comments, and oh, do they include some absolutely brilliant and insightful ones - and witty, too! These critiques are so great that all I need to do is add one note of my own (and offer this link to the book so if you are interested, you can see who made the original claim), then post a sampling of the readers' insights below. Go to that comments section if you want to read all 66 of the contributions (some digress into other topics).
My addition to the readers' very excellent critiques:
The author is not comparing everyone who ever got married to everyone who has always been single. He is only looking at a select group of the people who ever got married - those who are currently married. That sets aside... oh, close to half of the people who ever got married - those who divorced and so are no longer in the author's currently-married group. And then there are those who got married and then became widowed - they are not in the author's currently-married group, either.
So the author starts by excluding from the married group all of those people who got married, did not want to stay married, and got divorced. Do you think marriage made them happy? I guess not, so the author doesn't count them.
So, having already lopped off about half of the people who ever did get married, he now wants to go into the people left in the currently-married group and excise some more. Those darn unhappily marrieds! But now I'm getting to the points that readers made so beautifully that I can't improve on them. So here are a few of those:
Submitted by Anonymous on May 5, 2011 - 3:32pm.
To expand on my comment above (using the skills I've learned at this blog!), I wonder if this statement would be accurate?
A good single life is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.
However, it is not clear that single people are, on the average, happier than those who married, because unhappily single people are a very unhappy group and they pull down the average
Okay, this is too much fun!
Submitted by Anonymous on May 5, 2011 - 5:03pm.
A good job is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.
However, it is not clear that employed people are, on the average, happier than those who aren't employed, because unhappily employed people are one of the least happy group of all and they pull down the average
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A good pet is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.However, it is not clear that pet owners are, on the average, happier than those who never became pet owners, because people who are unhappy pet owners are one of the least happy group of all and they pull down the average
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A good deck is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.However, it is not clear that people with decks are, on the average, happier than those who are deck free, because people who are unhappy with their decks are one of the least happy group of all and they pull down the average
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A good bicycle is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.However, it is not clear that people with bicycles are, on the average, happier than those who do not have bicycles, because people who are unhappy with their bicycles are one of the least happy group of all and they pull down the average
Seriously, I can't stop myself :)
Submitted by Anonymous on May 5, 2011 - 5:16pm.
Having a tree in your yard is one of the life-factors strongly associated with happiness. However, some people really don't like having trees in their yard, I don't understand those people. I sure wish I didn't have to include them in my statistics!
A good fire is one of the
Submitted by Shelley on May 6, 2011 - 1:19am.
A good fire is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.
However, it is not clear that people with fires are, on the average, happier than those who are fire free, because people who are unhappy with their houses burnt down by fires are one of the least happy group of all and they pull down the average
I think it's contagious!
Submitted by Sheila on May 7, 2011 - 8:27am.
A good drink is one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness.
However, it is not clear that drinkers are, on the average, happier than those who do not drink because people who are unhappy drunks are one of the least happy groups of all and they pull down the average.
Important new research finding
Submitted by Anonymous on May 5, 2011 - 7:53pm.
In my research I have found that living on a street with street lights is an indicator of happiness*
*For this analysis I excluded all people who disliked the streetlights on their street. For some reason including those people in the sample made the association between street lights and happiness appear practically meaningless.
From Bella: Thanks, everyone! This was great fun.
