My last three posts have shown that conservatives are generally a lot happier than liberals; that religion is a major factor in this; and that worldview matters a lot as well.
But I have employed some minor sleight-of-hand in all this, lumping together “liberals” into a big group and “conservatives” into another. This is not the only way to separate people politically.
You probably have political opinions that are mostly conservative or liberal. But you might actually feel more at ease with moderates on the “other” side than you do with the hard core on your own side. In many ways, I believe there’s a more natural simpatico between moderates on the left and right than between moderate liberals and extreme leftists, or center-right folks and the fringiest right-wingers.
So here’s today’s question about politics and happiness: Who is happier — moderates, or people on the extremes?
I always thought it would have to be the moderates, hands down. After all, extremists actually advertise their misery with strident bumper stickers and signs like this one, which lots of people in Syracuse put in their yards in the run-up to the 2004 election, and some have left up since then. (This may help to explain Syracuse’s notoriously low property values.)
A rival sign to this one showed up before the 2004 election on the lawns of the approximately eight lonely conservatives in Syracuse. It said, “BUSH MUST STAY! America Protected, Not Terrorism Accepted.” Oh yeah, that’s clever.
The purpose of such signs is two-fold, it seems to me. First, it is to express righteous anger, and to remind like-minded people they shouldn’t be happy about the status quo. Second, it is to provoke those evil neighbors who don’t agree with the sign. In other words, it’s all about making everybody unhappy, right?
Maybe so, but the data suggest that the sign-bearers themselves aren’t so unhappy. In fact, people who classify their own opinions as “extreme” are significantly happier than people closer to the middle.
In the 2004 General Social Survey, 35 percent of people who said they were extremely liberal were very happy (versus 22 percent of people who were just liberal). At the same time, a whopping 48 percent of people who were “extremely conservative” gave this response (compared with 43 percent of non-extreme conservatives). Twenty-eight percent of people squarely in the middle — “slightly liberal” to “slightly conservative” — were very happy.
Contrary to what I always believed, George W. Bush‘s harshest critics — those who have felt the predations of the Bush administration to the very depths of their souls — are quite likely to be a great deal happier than more moderate liberals. And back in the Clinton years, all those cable pundits declaring the end of Western civilization because of that vile “blue dress” business? Happy as clams, it seems.
A happiness edge enjoyed by the extremes persists even if we control for the other relevant forces like income, education, race, religion, and so on. (One quick note on this, in response to some comments on my past posts. Some folks have noted that I often explain figures without discussing my multivariate regressions. Anybody interested in methodological details for any of my posts can find them in the endnotes and technical appendix to Gross National Happiness. Cross my heart. I just figured most Freakonomics blog readers wouldn’t thrill to the details of full-information, maximum-likelihood tobit models.)
Source: 2004 General Social SurveyWhy are the people with relatively extreme views so happy, compared with the rest of us? I’ll dig into that question in the next post. But here’s a hint: If you’ve been following this series, you know that being religious is strongly correlated with happiness. And religious fervor comes in many forms — some of them political.
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Seems like most comments agree to some extent – is it not those who have not ‘commited’ to a decision that are less happy. Indecision is what makes us unhappy, and the more ‘options’ we consider without making a firm decision, the more unhappy we are.
As someone who was born and raised both politically conservative and fundamentalist Christian (and still struggling 20 years later to overcome the damage that was done), there is a simple explanation for the happiness phenomenon that can be summed up in a common old adage – ignorance is bliss.
Case in point, several years ago my mother told me that she’s been feeling much less depressed now that she’s stopped watching the news.
I think Thomas, in post #3, has hit the nail on the head, and is more perceptive than the original story or study. Without objective measures, of both political views, and of happiness, observing this relationship tells you very little, except about how people answer surveys, perhaps.
For example, I am a “moderate” (in my survey-answering behavior, less so in my actual voting patterns. I almost never give the extreme answer, on a survey, whether extremely happy, extremely satisfied, dissatisfied, or whatever. Many people are like that. But for those who happen to have a higher willingness to check the “very” category more often on a survey, why would we think they would do this in only one subject-area?
The happiness factor seems to be correlated with certainty, the more confident in their position one is the happier one will tend to be evidently based on your information.
Personally, I am never certain of anything and have little faith in any afterlife, but I am very happy based on observations and conversations with others.
Maybe being certain that nothing is certain fills that need for us folks comfortable with ambiguity.
the releasing of anger can better any medicine under the sun
I think that it has to do with the fact that they label themselves “extreme” and therefore they are likely to be solid in their views – whereas most moderates (on both sides) that I know (including myself) tend to have slight shifts back and forth issues, which for me, causes it’s own set of stressors. If I was solid in all of my beliefs I probably wouldn’t have any concern because my thoughts are fixed and I don’t have to put any effort into my views…makes life easier.
How about this theory? Extremists of either/any stripe have certainty. No nagging doubts. Moderates (or “center-rights” – no loaded word choice there!!) have doubts and open questions which can cause anxieties and, maybe, unhappiness.
To follow on what frankenduf(14) said:
Psychological studies have shown that when people believe they have control over their lives and actions, they are happier; whether or not they ever exercise that control. Could it be that extremists, because they are more likely to be “acting out”, feel that they are in greater control? Moderates, on the other hand, “moderate” their views to accomodate multiple other points-of-view; in essence, ceding control, and increasing their discomfort.
A second, not necessarily contradictory, explanation would be that cognitive dissonance causes most frustration. Other psychological studies have shown that the more extreme our beliefs, the more likely we are to attribute facts that belie our worldview to chicanery, and the more likely we are to become emotional rather than analytical in response to statements that contradict our ideas. Byt this theory, extremists will become angry, per frankenduf, release anger, and thus avoid unpleasant cognitive dissonance by avoiding considering inconvenient truths.