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This Is the Thing That Actually Makes People Happy, According to Research

Research suggests strong relationships and helping others may matter more for happiness than money or self-improvement.

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Most people, if pressed, could produce a mental list of everything standing between them and being happy. More money. A better body. A different job. A bigger apartment. The list is long, and the goalposts keep moving, which is how it was always designed to work.

The problem is that none of it holds up under scrutiny. Research published in Psychology Today points out that income accounts for roughly 2% of the variance in happiness between people—so, basically, money means nothing when it comes to happiness. Dieting fares even worse: studies have found it can actively pull happiness down rather than push it up.

What does predict happiness, by a considerable margin, is something far less marketable than a pay raise........

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