Study: Conservatives Say They're Happy, but Liberals Show It

[Judi Lynn]

Study: Conservatives Say They're Happy, but Liberals Show It
WASHINGTON — Mar 12, 2015, 2:48 PM ET
By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

Conservatives say they are happier, but liberals show more cheer in smiles, word choice and even emoticon use, claims a new scientific study.

Other researchers found fault with the study, which looked at how Democrats and Republicans differ in positive language in speeches entered into the Congressional Record, photos in the congressional directory, tweets by followers of the two different political parties, LinkedIn photos associated with advocacy groups, and answers to psychological satisfaction-with-life surveys.

The scientists found Democrats in Congress and liberals in general used a statistically significant amount of more positive language and smiled more with their eyes in photographs, while conservatives self-reported more satisfaction with life, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

"We're not saying liberals are happier, they behave happier," said study co-author Peter Ditto, a professor of psychology at the University of California Irvine. "But conservatives report being happier."

Other studies have reported that conservatives tend to score higher on tests that rate how satisfied with life they are, but University of California Irvine graduate student Sean Wojcik, the study's lead author, decided to look deeper. He looked at other indicators of happiness: words and facial expressions.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/study-conservatives-happy-liberals-show-29590004

[rocktivity]

1. Why shouldn't liberals be happy

about how unhappy conservatives really are?


rocktivity

[tanyev]

2. Interesting.

[Rozlee]

3. The world they used to know is becoming a speck in their rear view mirror.

Why shouldn't they be unhappy? Their Christian white male patriarchy is being challenged on all sides by racial minorities, gays, godless liberals and feminists. Their schools are being taken over by the dark influences of science. They long for a time before the sexual revolution when women knew their place and 'those people' had their own water fountains. They're dinosaurs, and the Impact Event has already struck and is sending its ripples through their world, changing it forever and they feel their way of life threatened with extinction.

[Doctor_J]

4. cons lie about everything

No surprise here

[Populist_Prole]

5. Seems pretty much the case from what I notice, albeit anecdotally

The self-identified conservatives I know like to say they're happy, but only in the "Look at me/us here, sipping drinks on the open-air porch of my BIG house on a nice evening, as I gaze at my EXPENSIVE spiffy new car" way. When they talk about anything else, they do nothing but snarl and bitch, or lament as they try to politicize everything.

Those more to the left and me, we can lament about stuff too, as we do here on DU, but it never dominates discussions about this/that/daily life or whatever.

I really notice this difference when around some really conservative friends or family members; I can sense their incredulity that I don't share their "mad as hell about everything" mood. In fact, they seem mad as hell that I'm not always mad as hell: As though I'm too laid back and easy-going for my own good, or too apathetic.

Yeah, overall I'd say cons are a miserable dour lot.