Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

12-2015

Abstract

Recent developments in evolutionary psychology suggest that living among others of the same ethnicity might make individuals happier and further that such an effect of the ethnic composition on life satisfaction may be stronger among less intelligent individuals. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health showed that White Americans had significantly greater life satisfaction than all other ethnic groups in the US and this was largely due to the fact that they were the majority ethnic group; minority Americans who lived in counties where they were the numerical majority had just as much life satisfaction as White Americans did. Further, the association between ethnic composition and life satisfaction was significantly stronger among less intelligent individuals. The results suggest two important factors underlying life satisfaction and highlight the utility of integrating happiness research and evolutionary psychology.

Keywords

Evolutionary legacy hypothesis; Evolutionary psychology; Life satisfaction; Mismatch hypothesis; Positive psychology; Savanna Principle

Discipline

Applied Behavior Analysis | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Journal of Research in Personality

Volume

59

First Page

111

Last Page

120

ISSN

0092-6566

Identifier

10.1016/j.jrp.2015.06.004

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2015.06.004

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