Summary, Concluding Remarks and General Conclusion

Happiness is based on standards people apply, and people are free to adopt whatever standards they prefer. In theory they can adopt very different, inconsistent and immoral standards. This freedom is a potential problem for the comparability, consistency and morality of happiness. In reality, however, people seem to adopt similar, consistent and morally acceptable standards. Happy people are—in general—better citizens. Differences in average happiness in nations can be explained by four factors related to objective realities. It is still difficult, however, to explain differences in individual happiness within nations. One plausible reason is that the available information is insufficient. More information is needed, in particular, about individual differences in genetic and personality characteristics, emotional development and mental problems. Another possible reason for the problems in explaining individual happiness is that individual freedom to adopt standards may reduce the comparability of happiness, and may create some indeterminacy. There are good reasons to adopt happiness as a descriptive standard in our personal life and in politics, and perhaps even as a standard to be pursued in specific situations. Information about happiness and unhappiness can be valuable input for personal and political deliberations and discussions. It will never be possible, however, to apply happiness as a standard in some automatic or simple way; it will always require a more comprehensive approach, with attention to the social-economic context.