One important thing missing from reasons to be happy in 2014 compared to 1938

Security, knowledge and religion were the top three reasons to be happy in 1938.

After asking "What is happiness," the Bolton Evening News created an index of what makes people happy using responses by British people from their 1938 advertisement. With the 226 ratings the campaign received, researchers discovered that security, knowledge and religion were the most important elements for happiness. However, that was from 1938. A different result came up after another research team who redid the social experiment for a 2014 index.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "The overall impression from the correspondence in 1938 is that happiness factors were rooted in everyday lives at home and within the community," said Sandie McHugh, one of the researchers who re-conducted the study.

The findings were presented during the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society. They showed the varying trends between responses from 1938 and 2014. The study, almost eight decades later, provides a new illustration of human happiness.

Although most of the 10 aspects of happiness that emerged in the initial index are different from now, some similarities are observed. Security is still in the top three, together with good humor and leisure.

"In 2014, many comments value family and friends, with good humor and leisure time also ranked highly," added McHugh. Religion, on the other hand, fell down to the bottom of the list from being ranked as the third highest in 1938.

Sixty-three percent of respondents indicated that they are most happy outside and away from the town of Bolton, in contrast to the 1938 responses who expressed thay are happy whene they are at home. Still, many of them believe in luck as 40 percent of the respondents expressed that good fortune is essential to their happiness.

According to the research, people have not changed their perception that happiness is not about material possessions or wealth.

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