Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Why Are Some People Happier Than Others? Happiness is the whole aim and end of human existence, but why, then, are some people happier than others? To understand this question, you must first understand the cognitive and motivational processes that serve to maintain, and even enhance, continuing happiness. The author of this article explores the relevant psychological processes, such as social comparison, dissonance reduction, self-reflection, self-evaluation, and person perception, in chronically happy and unhappy individuals. In this essay, I will summarize the purpose and content of the article. First, the author evaluates the impact of social comparison in relation to happiness. Social comparison is an active, dynamic, and flexible process, which may be used in the service of boosting or diminishing one’s mood and self-regard. She states that in several studies, it has been shown that self-related happy individuals appear to be less sensitive to social comparison information- especially unfavorable information- than unhappy individuals. In two different studies, they found that happy individuals were relatively less influenced by the superior performance of a peer. The first study had students solve anagrams in the pre