Are happy people born that way?

Answer 1

I think everyone is born happy and then life experiences change how they feel.

Answer 2

Is happiness genetic?
Certainly the ability to be happy is, just as the ability to be sad. Happiness is always a temporary emotional state controlled largely by chemical release[dopamine] in the brain. The resourcefulness of dopamine could certainly be considered genetic, but its application is certainly environmental based.

*The development of the brain is considered roughly 50% nature 50% nurture. This is based on a French study where children were adopted by a higher or lower class area from where they were born.

*Chimp studies have shown that the ability to get scared by something is genetic, but the things that actually scare them are learned. A phobia would be considered a 'malpractice' of this genetic ability.

Answer 3

I would say not... People can either be optimistic or pessimistic by genetics and hereditary reasons but events and experiences in your life is what ultimately makes you "happy." Your happiness can also be affected by the people around you so you don't always have complete control over it. So all in all, no, people are not born happy. A baby is happy because they are well taken care of. A neglected baby is not going to be happy. We become happy or unhappy...

Answer 4

Define happiness ... my glass is always half full but many would not think me as happy.
I have a friend who is always laughing but she is the most miserable person I know and never happy with what she has.
I believe the first 3 years of your life is where the foundation for your disposition is. If you had positiveness around you, you will be a positive person. If your immediate environment was all but happy you will be a generally negative person.

Answer 5

Experience has taught me that happiness is a state of mind, one that we assume by choice.
So yes…all people are born with the innate ability to choose happiness over misery however they need to become skilled at making conscious choices.

Answer 6

Yeah, I think a happy disposition is something you are born with. I mean everyone's capable of happiness and misery but your underlying nature is just who you are. I know people whose normal state of mind is happy and optimistic and, from personal experience, I know other people aren't and there doesn't seem to be much connection between their personalities and their upbringings.

Answer 7

i have often wondered about this. some people just dont seem to care what happens to them or how crap their life is and they just feel OK no matter what. i personally have an anxious, obsessional personality and am never happy. i am always striving to do something else and make my life "perfect". theres a lot of research lately to suggest that CBT is helpful to improve one's mood and outlook, ie, its not what happens to you that makes you happy/unhappy, but how you react to things. therefore if you train yourself to look at life in a different way then you can learn to be happy

Answer 8

I think so...and yet I don't. I've always thought that it's in a person to make themselves happy. To be able to look at their life and feel satisfied/happy with it. But what do you mean by "happy"?

Answer 9

Happiness is an agreeable feeling or condition arising
from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind.
It is the possession of those circumstances or that
state of being which is attended with enjoyment. It is
associated with good luck, good fortune, prosperity,
well-being, delight, health, safety, and love.

Happiness is generic, and is applied to almost every
kind of enjoyment except that of the animal appetites.
It ia a state of well-being characterized by emotions
ranging from contentment to intense joy. These include:
bliss, joy, joyous, carefree, jubilant, exultant,
cheerful, playful, amused, fun, glad, gay, gleeful,
jolly, jovial, delighted, euphoric, ecstatic, thrilled,
elated, enraptured, comfortable, harmonious, and
triumphant. Societies, religions, and individuals have
various views on the nature of happiness and how to
pursue it.

Only saint-like persons, who feel that they are no
longer interested in the external world, think that
happiness is within. For many persons, nothing can make
them happy. Our minds are as different as our finger
prints - no two are alike. Listening to loud music
makes one happy and makes another unhappy. Hence, there
can be no single definition for happiness. It is
probably impossible to objectively define happiness as
humans know and understand it, as internal experiences
are subjective by nature. Because of this, explaining
happiness as experienced by one individual is as
pointless as trying to define the color green such that
a completely color blind person could understand the
experience of seeing green.

As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and
commented on extensively throughout world history.

"Call no man happy till he is dead." - Aeschylus

"Happiness is a positive cash flow." - Fred Adler

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes
true happiness. It is not attained through
self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy
purpose." - Joseph Addison

"True happiness arises, in the first place, from the
enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the
friendship and conversation of a few select
companions." - Joseph Addison

Happiness is often associated with the presence of
favourable circumstances such as a supportive family
life, a loving marriage, and economic stability. Kali
Yuga, the age of darkness, is the time when these
favourables are difficult to find.

Unfavorable circumstances - such as abusive
relationships, accidents, loss of employment, and
conflicts - diminish the amount of happiness a person
experiences. In all nations, factors such as hunger,
disease, crime, corruption, and warfare can decrease
happiness. However, according to several ancient and
modern thinkers, happiness is influenced by the
attitude and perspective taken on such circumstances.

From the observation that fish must become happy by
swimming, and birds must become happy by flying.
Aristotle points to the unique abilities of man as the
route to happiness. Of all the animals only man can sit
and contemplate reality. Of all the animals only man
can develop social relations to the political level.
Thus the contemplative life of a monk or professor, or
the political life of a military commander or
politician will be the happiest according to their own
psyche.

The following is the self-reported positive affect
(i.e. positive emotion) during the day by 909 employed
women in USA:

Activities and their positive effect index:

Intimate relations 5.10
Socializing 4.59
Relaxing 4.42
Pray/Worship/Meditate 4.35
Eating 4.34
Exercising 4.31
Watching TV 4.19
Shopping 3.95
Preparing food 3.93
On the phone 3.92
Napping 3.87
Taking care of
my children 3.86
Computer/Email/
Internet 3.81
Housework 3.73
Working 3.62
Commuting 3.45

Interaction with partners:

w/ friends 4.36
w/ relatives 4.17
w/ spouse/Significant
other 4.11
w/ children 4.04
w/ clients/customers 3.79
w/ co-workers 3.76
w/ boss 3.52
alone 3.41

Further, happiness is not entirely psychological in
nature - it has got a biological basis too. The
neurotransmitter dopamine is involved in desire and
seems often related to pleasure. Pleasure can be
induced artificially with drugs. Use of drugs is not
some thing new, it has been used by many including
Sanyasis since millenia.

Answer 10

Perhaps we are born with the capacity to be happy, but then our environment takes over and that determines whether we are happy or sad or angry, or any other thing of which one might think.