Would you like to feel happier? There are studies showing that individuals can feel happier if they take certain actions. Nicola Schutte and I just completed a set of studies aimed at creating a measure of these actions. We found that two types of actions, engaging in self-congruent behaviors and engaging in new activities, are associated with higher levels of positive affect (feeling good) and with various other important characteristics such as feeling satisfied at work and feeling satisfied with life. Self-congruent behaviors are those connected to your personal values and interests.

These two factors contribute to my usual feelings of contentment. I will focus on work for the moment. I teach exactly the units I want to — units I think are important and interesting to students, such as behavior modification. I greatly enjoy the teaching. I study exactly what I want — matters I find interesting and important, such as positive affect, phobias, and negative emotions. I enjoy this scientific work, especially when it leads to publications with potential to help others. Both the teaching and the research suit my interests in helping others — the activities are self-congruent. The activities also have new elements in them. I vary the methods that I use to teach. For instance, this year I used an online quiz for the first time, and I had students give oral presentations via YouTube for the first time. In research, one of my students is studying how to help individuals who are too angry for their own good — this is my first study on anger. Even when I carry out a new study on a topic I have examined before, such as phobias, there is always something new, such as new co-researchers, a new method of helping phobic individuals, or a new type of target group, such as individuals with blood phobia. The new elements of the studies keep the work challenging and suspenseful.

What do you do that is self-congruent? What do you do that is new to you? Do these activities contribute to your happiness? What more could you do in these two directions, either at work or otherwise?

John Malouff, PhD, JD
Assoc Prof of Psychology