Indianapolis Star (Sept. 15) -- An interview with Ed Diener, who is a U. of I. psychology professor and an expert on happiness

By Don Mayhew

The Fresno Bee

FRESNO, Calif. -- Americans are obsessed with happiness. Its pursuit, after all, is woven into the Declaration of Independence.

But while U.S. wealth has expanded during the past 50 years, well-being hasn't always kept pace.

Edward Diener, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, has spent the past 25 years trying to figure out why. He looks at factors that generate contentment. Time magazine dubbed him "Dr. Happiness" last year.

Question: Can we cut to the chase? What's the secret to happiness?

Answer: There's a question you want to know before then. That is, "Do you really want to be happier? Should you be happier?" . . . Because we don't want to make you happier if you're then going to be a goofball and be ineffective.

Q: All right, is it good to be happy?

A: The answer is a surprisingly strong yes. You're more susceptible to some diseases if you are not happy, if you're stressed-out. Stress reduces the effectiveness of your immune system. There's also some data to suggest that happy people live longer. Unhappy people tend not to be very popular, not to be self-confident, not to be a lot of good things socially.

Q: Laughter -- the best medicine?

A: Laughter is not a bad thing. There are some emerging data that show that laughter has some good effects on people. It does counter stress response. . . . You have to be careful of these people who say laughter is a magic answer. Because beyond laughter, you need meaning and purpose in life. I'm very suspicious of any answer that's simplistic.

Q: What about money?

A: After a certain point, it doesn't look like higher and higher income makes people happier. So if you go from poverty up to the middle class, you see a fairly substantial rise in various measures of well-being, like life satisfaction. Going from middle class to wealthy, there still is a rise, but it's pretty small. . . . But if you care about money more than you care about love, on average, you're not going to be as happy.

Q: What makes us happy?

A: Social relationships are very important. You have to have strong, close people who care about you. As far as we know, that's universal. . . . A second one is, you sort of need goals to arrange your activities around. . . . In the long run, you have to think that your life has some purpose or meaning.

Q: What role does religion play?

A: Religious people, on average, are happier. I'm not trying to get you to be religious. You don't have to be necessarily religious. But I do think thinking about why religious people are happier can help you, even if you're not religious.

Religious people have social support . . . a value system and a meaning system. It's given to them, so it's easier than making up your own. . . .

I used to think happiness came because you got all your goals, and you got everything just right. I really don't believe that anymore. If I win some award, I'll be happy for a month. But you better have some new research to start doing, because you really get the most pleasure from working toward new goals.