Autonomy key to happiness, study finds

[erronis]

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-autonomy-key-happiness.html
Sam Smith, Simon Fraser University

I don't normally care about psychological studies but this one just totally makes sense to me. I'm a great example of someone who has tried to please (and be pleased) by many other people; but in the end my ability to make my own choices makes me happiest. My choices don't have to be contrary to someone else's good -- just that it is my choice.

If you can't get no satisfaction, then maybe it's because happiness does not only stem from pleasure or a meaningful existence. Instead, a new Simon Fraser University study suggests that freedom is the key to happiness.

Researchers found that while positive feelings and pleasure are important, autonomy and the freedom to make your own choices is a better gauge of happiness.

. . .

Unsurprisingly, positive and negative emotions were strong indicators of happiness. But autonomy--the sense that you are free to make your own choices--was a better indicator of life satisfaction.

"Even after accounting for how good or bad people felt, those who felt more autonomous were more satisfied with their lives," says Payne. "Autonomy was the only psychological need that seemed to contribute something that feelings alone did not explain."

. . .

[anciano]

1. Interesting study...

Thanks for sharing.

[biophile]

2. Totally believe that- being free to make your own choices is very important to happiness

Ask slaves who win freedom , women who can choose their reproductive health options, even just teenagers who finally get a drivers license.

[Bibliovore]

3. The ability to affect what's going on in your life also helps combat depression.

My father was a research scientist in neurochemistry, and he studied antidepressants for a while. To test an antidepressant on a rat, you first have to make the rat depressed. Apparently the way to do so is to give it unpleasant situations it cannot do anything to change; a rat in a cage where a mild electrical current (scaled to be uncomfortable but not painful) was run through the floor at random intervals would be fine if it had a lever it could press to turn off the current, but if its lever did nothing and thus it couldn't change its situation, it would become depressed. (That's part of why this whole administration has been so depressing -- it has often felt like there's little or nothing we can do to affect or stop it.)

If you're depressed, try doing something you can immediately affect. Maybe that's starting or finishing a small project, or organizing or cleaning something (large or small), or calling a friend you haven't talked with in a while and inviting them to do something, or anything else that comes to mind. Keep doing things like that. It can help, both in little bits immediately and in larger bits over time.

[erronis]

4. Great and useful observations. Thanks!