Seniors smiling from ‘ear to ear’
The University of Queensland’s Professor Paul Frijters has one message for older Australians: “stay optimistic”. Professor Frijters spoke to DPS News following research conducted in Australia and China on the link between imagining a rosy future and well-being. The studies found optimistic expectations were key to making people happy in life.
The University of Queensland’s Professor Paul Frijters has one message for older Australians: “stay optimistic”.
Professor Frijters spoke to DPS News following research conducted in Australia and China on the link between imagining a rosy future and well-being.
The two recent studies from the University of Queensland’s School of Economics, the University of New South Wales, the Australian National University and Monash University, found optimistic expectations were the key to making people happy in life.
“Regret is not all that important among Australians. Keeping optimistic was seen as beneficial to elderly women; they are a very happy group of people,” Professor Frijters said.
The sample of more than 10,000 Australians over nine years showed people seemed to be “better off” if they expected good things to come.
“People systematically over-estimate how rosy the future should be and this is crucial for their wellbeing.
“People are much less affected by regret than previously thought, and they do not tend to tell themselves the future will be bad so the future will turn out to be a pleasant surprise.”
The study also surveyed more than 17,000 Chinese people in 2022, on happiness and optimism for the future.
“We found the poorest group was the happiest. The most miserable group in China were the migrants who had come to the cities from the countryside.”
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