As a formula to determine your level of happiness

What is happiness and how to be permanently happy? For many years, researchers are trying to find an answer to this question. How to make the joy and well-being in our lives was more? It turns out that the level of happiness can be calculated.

Happiness is contagious. If beside you happy one, then you are likely to be happier. For happiness is important money. We need to have enough money to live well, so we are happy. However, after a certain point, an increase in the quantity of money does not play a special role. Research published in the journal Psychological Science, showed that the money spent on the experience, bring more joy than the money spent on things. Vacation or a parachute jump will make you happier than a good shopping.

There were many attempts to assess the level of happiness in different countries. Some even suggest that this figure is more suitable for measuring the progress of the country, rather than GDP.

The International report of happiness for 2015 (World Happiness Report 2015), Russia was in 64th place out of 158 countries.

Rating happiness in the report prepared on the basis of several indicators, including life expectancy, social assistance, freedom of choice, the generosity of the population (including income levels).

There are still many rankings that attempt to measure the well-being of the countries on the basis of similar figures: the human development index, published by the United Nations (UN's Human Development Index), Happy Planet Index (Happy Planet Index), the prosperity index of Legatum Institute (The Legatum Prosperity Index), the welfare index Gallup-Healthways (Gallup / Healthways Well-Being Index).

Now researchers suggest that in fact the happiness depends on things are going better or worse than expected.

Rob Rutledge (Robb Rutledge) with colleagues from the Max Planck Center for Computational Psychiatry and Aging Research at University College London presented the study examines the relationship between happiness and award.

Based on the data we have developed a mathematical formula to predict how happiness depends on past events. We have discovered that happiness does not depend on how well things are going, and from that, the better they are or worse than expected.

Rob Rutledge

Here is the formula:

level of happiness depends on a safe choice (reliable rewards, CR), expectations from risky choice (Expected value, EV) and on what were the results of risky choice is better or worse than you expected. The last variable is the RPE - error in the prediction of reward - the difference between reality and expectation. If you love math, look complete description of the formula.

Simply put, your happiness level will rise in anticipation of a meeting with a friend. If you happen to book the last table at a popular restaurant, happiness levels can still rise. If the food in the restaurant is delicious, but not as much as you expected, the level of happiness decreases.

The study shows how important expectations. But it does not mean that low expectations (and a pleasant surprise when the reality has surpassed them) will be the key to happiness.

We usually do not know what will bring us in the long term, serious life changes such as changing jobs or getting married. But the results of our studies show that the positive expectations of increasing happiness decisions.

Rob Rutledge

Equation Rutledge was confirmed in the application for smartphones The Great Brain Experiment. 18,000 players have played in the mini-game What Makes Me Happy.

Players had to score as many points as possible. To do this, they can select the winning or losing of the guaranteed number of points, or rely on luck and spin the wheel. After several moves, the play asked to evaluate the current level of happiness.