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Nick O'Connor's avatar

This is fascinating, thank you. I think you're insufficiently sceptical about the research, though. It's not just that it doesn't establish a casual relationship, it's that the questions asked are unlikely to yield any useful information.

Is someone rich supposed to be happy, do you think, or do you think other people are likely to think? If you're asked if you're happy by a stranger, what answer would you feel is most appropriate for someone in your position in life? If asked by a variety of different types of stranger, of varying levels of status and connection to yourself, how would your answer alter? What role do guilt, entitlement and shame have in your answer?

This research is like trying to work out whether an animal is currently on fire by asking people what they think others might say about how red the animal looks as compared to any other animals they can think of. It's stupid on so many levels that any results you get will be self-evidently worthless.

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