Accepting Emotions May Be Better Than Judging Them
New research suggests that constantly evaluating your own happiness could actually make you less satisfied with life. A study published in the journal Emotion found that people who frequently judge their level of happiness tend to have lower overall well-being and more symptoms of depression.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Toronto, involved over 1,800 participants across three experiments. Results showed that being concerned about one’s happiness was linked to greater negativity about positive events and disappointment with life experiences.
Lead researcher Felicia Zerwas, PhD, explained, “There are plenty of societal pressures, at least within the United States, which encourage the fallacy that people must feel happy all of the time to achieve greater well-being.”
Pursuit of Happiness vs. Judging Happiness
Interestingly, the study found that simply pursuing happiness or considering it an important goal didn’t negatively impact well-being. The problems arose when people began judging their own happiness levels against their expectations or comparing themselves to others.
“Having high expectations for one’s happiness can be detrimental because it makes it more difficult to achieve the level of happiness that we are expecting from a positive event,” Zerwas noted.
The research included diverse samples of participants, from Yale University students to community members in Denver and Berkeley, as well as online participants from the United States and Canada. Participants answered questions about their beliefs regarding happiness, psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms.
Why it matters: This study challenges popular notions about happiness and well-being, suggesting that our cultural obsession with being happy might actually be counterproductive. Understanding these dynamics could lead to more effective strategies for improving mental health and life satisfaction.
The findings align with growing research in the field of positive psychology, which has increasingly emphasized the importance of accepting a full range of emotions rather than constantly striving for happiness. This approach, known as emotional acceptance, has been linked to better mental health outcomes in several studies.
Dr. Zerwas and her colleagues suggest that allowing yourself to experience emotions, both positive and negative, with an accepting attitude could be a more useful tool for pursuing happiness and increasing well-being.
However, some questions remain unanswered. For instance, the study doesn’t explore how cultural differences might influence these findings. Given that concepts of happiness and well-being can vary significantly across cultures, future research could investigate whether the negative effects of judging one’s happiness are universal or specific to certain cultural contexts.
Additionally, the study doesn’t provide specific strategies for those who find themselves frequently judging their own happiness. Developing and testing interventions to help people adopt a more accepting attitude towards their emotions could be a fruitful area for future research.
As society continues to grapple with mental health challenges, these findings offer important insights for individuals, therapists, and policymakers alike. They suggest that promoting emotional acceptance and reducing the pressure to feel constantly happy could lead to better overall well-being.
Moving forward, researchers may explore how these findings can be applied in practical settings, such as in therapy or educational programs. Understanding the nuances of how we relate to our own happiness could pave the way for more effective approaches to improving mental health and life satisfaction.
