Judging how happy one is could backfire and negatively impact life satisfaction and psychological well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

In three experiments involving more than 1,800 participants, researchers found that concerns or judgments about one’s own level of happiness were associated with lower well-being. This was partly due to greater negativity and disappointment about positive events.

The research was published in the journal Emotion.

Thinking excessively about one’s own level of happiness could be related to fears about not measuring up or not being as happy as others, said lead researcher Felicia Zerwas, PhD. Zerwas conducted this research while a doctoral student at the University of California-Berkeley and is now a postdoctoral researcher at New York University.

“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,” she said. “Overall, allowing yourself to experience your emotions, whether they are positive or negative, with an accepting attitude could be a useful tool for pursuing happiness and increasing well-being.”

Contrary to some previous studies, the current research found that the pursuit of happiness or viewing happiness as a very important goal did not have detrimental impacts on well-being. However, judging one’s own level of happiness did. The study included various samples of participants from Yale University students, community members from Denver and Berkeley, California, and online participants from the United States and Canada.

Participants answered questions about their beliefs regarding happiness as well as their psychological well-being and depressive symptoms. Being concerned about one’s own happiness was linked with lower overall life satisfaction and psychological well-being along with greater depressive symptoms.

The research also discovered that concerns about one's own happiness were associated with increased negativity towards positive events.

“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 said.

Article: “Unpacking the Pursuit of Happiness: Being Concerned About Happiness but Not Aspiring to Happiness Is Linked with Negative Meta-Emotions and Worse Well-Being,” Felicia Zerwas, PhD; Oliver John, PhD; Iris Mauss, PhD; University of California Berkeley; Brett Ford, PhD; University of Toronto; Emotion; published online Aug. 1, 2024.

Felicia Zerwas can be contacted via email.

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