Happiness could be down to our genes, scientists say05 Mar 2008
Happiness could be largely down to people's genes rather than just personal circumstances, a new study suggests.Scientists at the University of Edinburgh say happiness is partly determined by personality traits and that both personality and happiness are mostly hereditary.They base their findings on analysis of more than 900 pairs of twins.The team rated personalities, finding that people who do not excessively worry and who are sociable and conscientious tend to be happier.Writing in the Psychological Science Journal, the researchers say this personality mix can act as a buffer when bad things happen.They also found evidence for common genes that result in certain personality traits and predispose people to happiness.The scientists say that people with the right inherited personality mix may have an 'affective reserve' of happiness that is useful in stressful times.But they add that although happiness has its roots in people's genes, about 50 per cent of the differences between people in their life happiness is a result of external factors such as relationships and health.Lead researcher Dr Alexander Weiss said: "Together with life and liberty, the pursuit of happiness is a core human desire."Although happiness is subject to a wide range of external influences we have found that there is a heritable component of happiness which can be entirely explained by genetic architecture of personality."
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