WATCH: Scientists crack the code for happiness
LOS ANGELES, CA - Some super serious scientists have news that's going to make you smile. Through a series of one-on-one gambling game experiments, they cracked an equation for predicting happiness. Want to know the secret?
The study published in Nature Communications, found that inequality reduced happiness among participants. Two winners were happy, two losers were happy, but if there was a winner AND a loser, people got bummed out. Sure.
But as with everything, there are two kinds of people. And the UCL researchers could predict how the gambling participants would react when asked to split a small sum of money.
The greedier, envious people were unhappy when they lost and didn't want to share. On the other hand, the altruistic, generous people got sad when the other person lost and would always want to split the money.
Ultimately, the study shows that people who care about the wellbeing of those around them, are happier than those who don't.
And because you can control how generous you are- but not what other people have- you can choose to be altruistic. And that's gonna make you happy.