Researchers found that the happiest and unhappiest moments share something unexpected in common.
People are at their happiest and least happy when they spend time with others.
Whether being with others increases happiness depends largely on one factor: choice.
When people are with others by choice, they are, on average, happier than when alone.
But, when they are with others not by choice, they are, on average, less happy than when alone.
Whether solitude is chosen or not appears to have less impact on happiness.
Intense social experiences
Experiences with other people tend to be emotionally more intense than time spent alone.
Other people can make us extremely happy or unhappy, whereas time alone tends to produce a more emotionally neutral state.
The differences could be partly explained by the sense of meaning that people give to actions with others, the study’s authors write:
“People felt that their actions were more meaningful ‘with others’ than alone.
This, though, does not necessarily imply that the alone setting was less desirable, as it could reflect the sense that having others observe your actions makes them more consequential.”
Interactions with other people are often more emotionally engaging and make people more aware of how they are perceived.
Being alone, though linked to less happiness, is still beneficial, the authors write:
“Aloneness (by choice and not) emerged as a setting of relative stability, with participants experiencing their different alone conditions quite similarly.
Therefore, solitude might not present immediate benefits to well-being, but it does appear to offer a more predictable experience, and if utilized effectively could be a source of personal growth.”
Study details
The study included 155 students whose experiences were sampled on ten occasions across ten consecutive days.
They were asked to report whether they were alone or not and how they were feeling.
The results showed that they were with others 60 percent of the time, and that 64 percent of those occasions were by choice.
Dr Liad Uziel, the study’s first author, said:
“The current research expands upon these conclusions by learning about people’s experiences in real life, outside the lab, and by addressing the choice element as an important moderating factor.
In both cases, social experiences are more intense, for better or worse.”
The study was published in the Journal of Happiness Studies (Uziel & Schmidt-Barad, 2022).
