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Boris Cotom
Research in the Community
Nettie Kelly
November 8, 2016
Indicators of Happiness
Over 58% of Guatemalan citizens are living below the poverty line, yet they seem so much
happier than American citizens. There are children who can only afford one meal a day, yet many are still
able to live a happy life. Experiencing Guatemalan culture, my family came to the conclusion that
children are happier though they begin working at a very young age just to fight out of their poverty. How
can they be so happy? For many years, researchers have studied happiness and why its so important to
humanity. We interact with family, friends, colleagues and many more on our daily basis meaning our
happiness has both an impact on ourselves and on those who surround us. Happiness is what normally
decides our daily life satisfaction. If one achieves happiness, it improves both physical and emotional
conditions.
When I was younger, I always thought that money and success were the strongest indicators of
happiness in ones life, but as I grew older, I worked with people who represented the opposite. People
who find happiness by helping others in need, while still living a low income life. In todays society, we
think of success as being prosperous, powerful and wealthy, but research shows there is much more to
happiness than being financially successful. I took the example of the children in Guatemala and I wanted
to investigate what factors play in with our happiness. Obviously, as humans we experience a variety of
emotions throughout our day, but we always have a sense of our life satisfaction. I became interested in
the idea of social class because it seems to play a really big role in America. I wanted to find out if money
has a clear correlation with happiness. Although living with a comfortable income is important, strong
social relationships and involvement in leisure activities are stronger indicators of happiness than social
class.

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How is happiness measured? There are a lot of temporary indicators of happiness which are
present when you are opening gifts or celebrating a special event in your life. These temporary indicators
arent taken in consideration as much when researchers are looking for someones overall happiness
because they last only a few moments. Sociologists and psychologists think of the definition of happiness
as how satisfied someone is with their own life. Based on this definition, they have come up with different
ways to measure the overall happiness of people to compare them nationwide (Charry). To do so, they
come up with surveys that dont focus on individual happiness, which would be too broad to measure, but
they come up with one or two variables to relate to your happiness. These variables are called conditions
or correlates by scientists who are researching (Wright). The standard way of gathering this information
is by sending surveys online or doing interviews. They ask the same questions to everyone and they give
a short amount of possible answers that all the participants must choose from. Here is an example of a
question given by World Database of Happiness:
Taking all things together, would you say you are ...?
very happy
quite happy
not very happy
not at all happy.
These response options are known as ratings. Researchers give specific amount of points for every
response, and they average them out when they are comparing them with other groups of people. The
table below shows how researchers use their information from their surveys. Other ways of measuring
happiness is by observing external behavior and self answered questions which psychologist read and
draw their own conclusions (World Database).

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Before understanding the factors of happiness, it is important to know what happens in our brain
that creates happiness. Our natural instincts make us avoid pain and therefore, our brain creates
neurochemicals which later translate into happiness. Neurochemicals are chemicals that are in charge of
making our nervous system work. One of the biggest types of neurochemicals are the neurotransmitters
which are in charge of our mental abilities like memory and emotion. How are neurotransmitters created
in our brain? Two neurons are attached, with a very small space in between them, and when the first
neuron receives a piece of information, it triggers an electrical impulse which creates a lot of
neurotransmitters (Bergland). These neurotransmitters move to the second neuron and are received by
molecules called receptors embedded in the membrane of the neuron.This transfer of neurochemicals is
how messages get sent throughout the body and brain.
In terms of happiness, some of the most important neurotransmitters, out of almost 100 types, are
dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. Dopamine is known as the the reward molecule because it creates
satisfaction in your brain. Every time you satisfy yourself by achieving goals or doing something you
love, your level of dopamine increases. You experience increased happiness when your dopamine levels
are higher. There are many addictive drugs like cocaine which replace dopamine in our bodies. The
immediate consequence of cocaine is feeling happy. The long term consequence is that the dopamine
neurotransmitters are held in the neurons for longer, which makes it harder for dopamine to be created
again naturally (Bergland).
Another important neurotransmitter in experiencing happiness is serotonin. Serotonin is known as
the confidence molecule because there is a strong correlation between serotonin and the sensation of

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belonging. High levels of serotonin translate into a high esteem and increase trust. Serotonin can affect
mood, appetite, digestion, sleep and memory. Scientists have come to the conclusion that a lack of
serotonin leads to depression because it directly affects our life satisfaction. The third happiness
neurotransmitter is oxytocin, known as the bonding molecule because it is in charge of creating a sense
of trust and loyalty with someone in your life. It produces the feelings of contentment, calm and loyalty.
Oxytocin is released when a mother is breastfeeding her child, which creates maternal bonding and trust
between the baby and the mother (Bergland). These neurotransmitters are used in our everyday lives and
are created when we are doing activities we enjoy like leisure activities.
Society normally ties money and happiness together, but you cant pay to get more
neurotransmitters created in our brain. Even those who are unemployed boost their happiness by
participating in leisure activities. When our brain creates happiness, leisure activities such as physical
exercise and creating art increases our happiness at a very large rate (Gudmundsdottir). Nowadays,
humans are often behind their laptop screens for work, school or enjoyment. Humans spend about 45% of
their day behind their laptops, phones or any digital device. Because of this, they are putting their
physical activities aside. Your body craves exercise, even though your mind creates dread towards it
sometimes. Your brain creates neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine which make it
enjoyable. Research shows that no matter how long you exercise, your body creates high rates of
neurotransmitters which are released. Dopamine and serotonin are essential to both your mental and
physical health and also your happiness. When you are creating art, your brain creates a lot of dopamine
which is the reward molecule. It provides drive, focus and concentration (Bergland). Dopamine makes
you feel good and by creating art, you are boosting your self esteem. Art also encourages creative
thinking by expanding your imagination and giving you freedom to experiment with anything. Both
exercise and art are examples of activities which relieve stress and serve as a distraction from work and
school. This boosts up happiness because it creates a lot of the essential neurotransmitters in your brain
that create the feeling of happiness.

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What kinds of leisure activities boost your happiness? Based on a study made by the University
of Glasgow, different types of activities have the same impact on your happiness. There was a clear
correlation between life satisfaction and sports and active-creative learning activities such as drawing and
painting. Activities such as popular entertainment, like movies and plays, and visiting museums and
galleries didnt have a clear correlation with happiness (Glasgow). This is because these entertainments
only give happiness for a short period of time. Participants were happier when they participated in a
variety of activities, rather than showing frequency in just one. When participants do more activities, they
also lower levels of depression (Mitchell). Also, doing hobbies on a regular basis that dont have to do
with your job at all, boost your happiness. Sometimes hobbies and leisure activities can lead to injuries
when playing sports. Binge watching television can result in feeling guilt and anger. Sometimes it only
depends on the person and their lifestyle (Mitchell). Playing videogames or watching a number of movies
can distract someone flooded with work which relieves stress and creates happiness, but when another
person does it on a daily basis, it becomes very addictive and high levels of neurotransmitters are not
made anymore (Gudmundsdottir). What makes people happy is finding a hobby and making it their
passion which relieves stress and allows them to do something different than their average activities, like
school and work.

Our daily lives revolve around the people we interact with throughout the day. They may be
classmates, partners, family or friends and they all play a significant role in our life satisfaction. Research
shows that social relationships drive most people to a higher life satisfaction than money. When a group
of students were asked what made them most happy, more than 60% answered that their social
relationships made them the happiest (Uusitalo-malmivaara). Normally, we think that students who read
more often for pleasure are more happy, but it has been proven that teenagers who read more for pleasure
are less happy because they take less time socializing (Csikszentmihalyi). Students are happiest when
they are with their family and friends, and they are in their average happiness when they are with their
parents. They are in their lowest happiness when they are alone (Csikszentmihalyi). People in general are

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most happy when they are being extraverted, socializing and excited because its part of human nature.
Good and healthy relationships are a necessity for happiness because they create a lot of neurotransmitters
in our brain like a sense of loyalty and trust. Harvard Medical School recently published studies for over
twenty years which show that happiness is contagious. When you are around people who are happy, you
have a 15% chance of getting your happiness increased and when people are unhappy then you have a 7%
chance of getting unhappy. When you have friendships that you can count on, those friends will make you
feel more optimistic when you are stressed. People who have better social relationships have 50% lower
risk of mortality because they have friends who can push them through hardships like sickness (Haller).
Young adults who are in romantic relationships tend to be happier and seniors who are still in healthy
marital relationships are also happier (Gudmundsdottir). These kinds of relationships cant be bought with
money or social class because it depends how open someone is to having strong relationships.

Research has shown that people in poverty are happier if they have good relationships with their
partners and family members. A recent study of Finnish students found that when students were asked
what they were lacking in their lives, most of them answered a peaceful family (Uusitalo-malmivaara).
This shows how essential family relationships are for young people because it brings them joy and
calmness. Knowing you have someone to trust who takes care of you with love, relieves a lot of stress,
especially on young children (Dush). In the United States, 1 in 4 pregnant women go through depression
throughout their whole pregnancy. A lot of women go through hardships during their pregnancies because
they are going through difficult times with their partners, and because they feel confused, stressed with
lack of support and attention (American Pregnancy). These women sometimes go through abusive
relationships which cause their pregnancies to be very stressful and unhappy. This unhappy environment
can harm babies, as little as two months old, and cause them to develop severe unhappiness and
depression.
Harvard Medical School has shown that depression doesnt only have to do with the limitations
or excess of neurotransmitters, but also with life experiences and circumstances. When a child goes

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through a hardship in life like losing a parent or the love of a family member, they normally express their
pain through depression. This especially happens when the child doesnt understand the source of the
death or withdrawal of a family members love. Research also shows the opposite, that if a child has a
good relationship with their parents they are much happier because they have someone to trust. Trauma
also plays a huge factor in happiness (Uusitalo-malmivaara). Women who were physically or sexually
abused as young girls, release more stress hormones when they completing stressful tasks like test taking
and making public speeches. This shows how wealth or poverty doesnt control happiness. Families who
have high amounts of money, may be facing difficult moments where theres a lack of love and trust.
Families who are living in poverty may have stronger relationships together because these relationships
cant be bought with money. Like mentioned earlier, families in Guatemala may experience closer
relationships with either family members or friends. Because of this, their happiness seems to be impacted
most by the people who surround them and who matter the most to them, rather than money.

Society has constructed our values on social class and the United States has constructed a society
in which wealth sometimes matters in happiness. There are students who dont realize they are living in
poverty until they go to college where they are more exposed to the real world. Normally, students go to
schools where the rest of the student body has a similar economic background and despite television and
internet, they are unable to see large differences in wealth with the rest of the students (Lawless). When
students go to college, they are thrown into the real world where they are able to see a bigger variety of
background, like racial and economic differences. Achieving goals is a really big factor in happiness, and
it depends on how well off someone is to achieve them. Immigrant students have a harder time achieving
their goals, like going to college, because they arent as economically stable as other students in America.
Although most students go through the same experience of applying to colleges, students who are
wealthier have a higher chance of getting the actual experience of going college. Only 30% of immigrant
adults had college degrees while the other 70% didnt have the chance to (Migration Policy). In cases like
these, there seems to be slight advantage to those who are wealthier and can use their money to

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accomplish their goals. There are researchers who came to the conclusion that students in the working
class seem to be happier than students in the upper middle class and upper class (Yang). People who are
able to buy material objects that will make their lives easier will have less chance of stress. This is where
people who are not living in poverty have a slight advantage (Deleire). These people are able to buy
things like cars, refrigerators and groceries which ultimately make their lives more easier and smoother.
Although they may have these advantages, social relationships and leisure activities are proven to boost
the happiness of anyone no matter what circumstance they are living in.

The first time a human experiences happiness is the moment after they are taken out of their
mothers womb and are placed on their mothers chest. When babies first experience happiness, their
brains are releasing serotonin which is the neurotransmitter that is strongly related to happiness. The baby
feels safe, love, a sense of trust, and overall happiness. This moment of pure happiness doesnt have
money related to it at all. The majority of women who are either wealthy, living in poverty and in the
middle class are able to have babies no matter how much money they have because its human nature.
Social class and money cant create happiness because happiness is something natural and pure and cant
be bought otherwise. There are moments that people could buy like going to an amusement park or going
to the movie theaters, but these are small moments in life which dont control the overall life satisfaction
in someone. Social class is determined by how much money one possesses and after intensive research
done by thousands of researchers, most cant find a strong and clear correlation between money and
social class (Csikszentmihalyi). Those who are unemployed have found that they have surprisingly high
levels of happiness because they have support of those who surround them and they are able to distract
themselves from their situation with activities.

Although many people think of money as their ultimate goal in life, there are more powerful
indicators of happiness than social class and money. People who seek for money, sometimes get that
money and keep aiming for more and they never achieve an ultimate goal in life. Life satisfaction has to

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do with much more than just money, but the support they get to live through their day to day situations.
People may have more than enough money, but may be very lonely with no support from people in their
life like friends and family members. Social relationships help people boost up their happiness because it
releases stress and releases more happiness in ones life. People are more satisfied with their lives if they
have people surrounding them whom they have good relationships with. Being able to participate in
leisure activities, like art and sports, open more opportunities for someone to release neurotransmitters in
ones brain like serotonin. Leisure activities are also a distraction from work and school and it gives more
freedom to people.

In conclusion, social relationships and leisure activities are stronger indicators of happiness
compared to social class. Money cant buy healthy and strong relationships with people who surround
you, like your friends and family. Money cant buy the neurotransmitters that are released into your brain
when you are creating an art piece and when you are exercising. People could take less time thinking
about money and how much they are financially worth and take more time creating relationships that will
help them through hardships. People living in poverty have the same chance of being happy as people
living in wealth if they have distractions in their lives that take them away from stress. Leisure activities
are the hobbies and passions that people decide to take on their daily lives, which also increase someones
happiness with no question. These are qualities in life that our money cant buy and control. Living in the
Bay Area we have more access to a diversity of activities we can distract ourselves with and its up to us
to take advantage of these opportunities. People come and go in our lives, and its our job to maintain
close relationships that will stick with us for a long time. We need to make sure we are prepared for times
in life where we might not be as happy, so we having close relationships to rely on and commitments will
increase our overall happiness. This may be why children in Guatemala are very happy because they have
strong relationships with the people who surround them. They may not know where their next meal will
come from or where they will sleep the following night, but they know they will continue to have the

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same friends and family that will cheer them up. Its our job to take advantage of what we have around us
and to never take anything or anyone for granted. In the end, happiness is what should matter the most.

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Charry, E. (2006, Dec 26). Happiness: The science behind your Smile/Happiness: A guide to
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