happiness

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Happiness is a Contagion
You Would Be Happier If You Watched Football and Didn't Have Sex

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dry-roasted-peanuts
12/05/08

In reply to Happiness is a Contagion
Sounds like some sort of disease to me. I mean, we know it's bad for people to be running around depressed, so we give them pills. Why not pills for people who are happy?

Shouldn't we look at Rachel Ray and instead of thinking that she is just a cheerful person, think that there is a woman who is in desperate need of help?
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crashedpc - Haifisch
12/05/08

@dry-roasted-peanuts: Problem is, why would you NOT want to be happy while you're happy? Huh?? Gimme those peanuts!
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braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
12/05/08

In reply to Happiness is a Contagion
This does not explain why, when I meet people on the street who are conspicuously happy, I want to PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
12/05/08

@braak: You must be allergic, just like me! Only I want to kick them in the kneecaps.
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Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip!
12/05/08

@braak:

@crashedpc:

I've got to stop hanging out with you guys.
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tetracycloide
12/05/08

@braak: that's easy, you live in Philadelphia. if you relocated to somewhere it made sense to be happy i'm sure the urges would subside.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
12/05/08

@Belabras: Time for a beatdown!
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Gann
12/05/08

In reply to Happiness is a Contagion
I would like to see a parallel study comparing these findings to the person's ability to feel empathy. It's true the happiness itself does not change a person's social standing, but the ability to feel another's happiness might.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
12/05/08

In reply to Happiness is a Contagion
I'm pretty sure what I caught the other day wasn't happiness. Although I was happy at the time, mind you...
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Dormouse: Corporate Tool
12/05/08

In reply to Happiness is a Contagion
"popularity does lead to happiness."

Oh shit............
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Annalee Newitz
12/05/08

@Dormouse II: The Wrath of Gryphon: Yeah that choice of phrase was kind of crap. I think what they really meant was that people who have a lot of social connections tend to be happier. But "social connections" don't necessarily equal popularity in the conventional sense. For example (confession moment), I was a relatively happy kid with a lot of friends. But me and all of my friends were complete geeks, queers, and outcasts - if you'd asked anyone at my school, they would have described all of us as "unpopular." Still, we had lots of social connections to each other. And I believe that what these researchers are studying are those kinds of social connections, not what the cool kids in Orange County think is popular.
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