What makes us happy today

In 1938 Mass Observation advertised in the Bolton Evening News posing one question to the readers:

“What is happiness?”

The 226 people that replied, by letter, were then asked to compile a happiness index by rating the importance of 10 factors- ranging from beauty to security and religion.

Last week psychologist Sandie McHugh, who recreated the study last year, outlined how our view of what makes us happy has changed markedly since 1938 when she presented her findings to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society.

McHugh along with Professor Jerome Carson repeated the Mass Observation survey in 2014. They asked people, via the Bolton News, to complete a questionnaire that repeated the same questions from 1938 as closely as possible. Their findings were then compared with the response they received in 1938.

In 1938 security, knowledge and religion made the top 3. Almost 8 decades later and security is still important to our happiness coming in at number 3, however good humour came is now number 1 followed by leisure.

Professor Carson told the Bolton News “Perhaps the most significant finding is the change in the relative importance of religion.

“In 1938, the people of Bolton rated religion as the third most important contributor to happiness.

“Today it is ranked 10 out of 10. It would seem to be matched in dwindling church attendances.

“People still feel that ‘luck’ plays a role in happiness and the proportion of people believing this hasn't changed much.”

Sandie McHugh says, “The overall impression from the correspondence in 1938 is that happiness factors were rooted in everyday lives at home and within the community. In 2014 many comments value family and friends, with good humour and leisure time also ranked highly.”

What makes us happy- then and now

10-step recipe for happiness

What makes you happy? Tell us your number 1 in the comments section below!