IS HAPPINESS A TRAIT - TESTS OF THE THEORY THAT A BETTER SOCIETY DOESNOT MAKE PEOPLE ANY HAPPIER

One of the ideological foundations of the modem welfare states is the belief that people can be made happier by providing them with better l iving conditions. This belief is challenged by the theory that happine ss is a fixed 'trait', rather than a variable 'state'. This theory fig ures both at the individual level and at the societal level. The indiv idual level variant depicts happiness as an aspect of personal charact er; rooted in inborn temperament or acquired disposition. The societal variant sees happiness as a matter of national character; embedded in shared values and beliefs. Both variants imply that a better society makes no happier people. Happiness can be regarded as a trait if it me ets three criteria: (1) temporal stability, (2) cross-situational cons istency, and (3) inner causation. This paper checks whether that is, i ndeed, the case. The theory that happiness is a personal-character-tra it is tested in a (meta) analysis of longitudinal studies. The results are: (1) Happiness is quite stable on the short term, but not in the long run, neither relatively nor absolutely. (2) Happiness is not inse nsitive to fortune or adversity. (3) Happiness is not entirely built-i n: its genetic basis is at best modest and psychological factors expla in only part of its variance. The theory that happiness is a national- character-trait is tested in an analysis of differences in average hap piness between nations. The results point in the same direction: (1) T hough generally fairly stable over the last decades, nation-happiness has changed profoundly in some cases, both absolutely and relatively. (2) Average happiness in nations is clearly not independant of living conditions. The better the conditions in a country, the happier its ci tizens. (3) The differences cannot be explained by a collective outloo k on life. It is concluded that happiness is no immutable trait. There is thus still sense in striving for greater happiness for a greater n umber.