Unhappy? Blame biology. Then cheer yourself up by finding a job with a shorter commute. As economists, psychologists and biologists try to determine what makes a person happy or unhappy, one factor stands out as especially powerful. To a large degree, it seems, happiness is inherited. The strongest evidence comes from a study of identical twins conducted by David Lykken, now a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. Some 60% of the likelihood that twins separated at birth will describe themselves as happy is accounted for by common genetic factors, not environmental differences in their lives. This doesn’t argue for a “happiness gene.” Obesity also is heavily influenced by genetics, notes Carnegie Mellon economist George Loewenstein, but that doesn’t negate environment’s role--or explain why Americans are so much fatter than Europeans. But biology may play a huge role in happiness, through an untold number of genes involved in forming personality. Which means that economists in this field may have much to learn from biologists. Tim Ketelaar, a psychologist at New Mexico State University, notes that economists discovered that losses loom much larger than gains in our decisions--and Ketelaar’s own work has shown that the same holds true for students’ grades. Those with high grades aren’t happier than those with low ones, but both groups are upset when their grades drop. Economists were surprised by this, but ecologists studying birds discovered the same thing. A misstep costs an animal the future, while a success helps it only a little.
