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(https://www.psypost.org/police-forces-lean-republican-but-partisan-politics-dont-greatly-influence-officer-actions/) Police forces lean Republican, but partisan politics don’t greatly influence officer actions
Mar 1st 2025, 08:00

Police departments across the United States tend to be more Republican-leaning than the communities they serve, according to anew study published in the (https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12945) American Journal of Political Science. However, despite this political imbalance, the research found little evidence that Republican and Democratic officers behave differently in similar on-the-job situations. While political affiliation appears to have a limited impact on officer behavior, the study reaffirmed previous findings that race and ethnicity are significant factors influencing how officers conduct their duties.
The question of how political beliefs might shape policing has become increasingly important in the United States. Public opinion on law enforcement is sharply divided along partisan lines. Surveys consistently show that Republicans express much higher levels of trust in the police and are less likely to believe that police treat different groups unfairly or that police killings are a significant problem.
In fact, political party identification is a stronger predictor of someone’s views on policing than even their race or general political ideology. This partisan divide in public opinion raises concerns about whether these political differences extend into law enforcement itself. Police officers are granted considerable power and discretion in their daily work, deciding when and how to enforce laws.
This power, coupled with the strong partisan disagreements about policing in society, leads to fundamental questions about fairness and representation in law enforcement. Specifically, researchers wanted to understand the political makeup of police forces, whether this makeup reflects the communities they serve, and if an officer’s political affiliation influences their behavior on the street.
“Policing has become a locus of partisan strife in the United States, with Democrats and Republicans disagreeing strongly on the nature and extent of problems in policing and whether and how policing should be reformed. Given these divisions, my team and I had a number of questions about the partisan affiliations of the people who decide how policing is done every day–officers themselves,” explained study author Jonathan Mummolo, an associate professor at Princeton University.
For their study, the researchers undertook a massive data collection effort. They sought to gather personnel records from the 100 largest local police agencies in the United States. These agencies were identified based on the number of officers primarily engaged in patrol duties, as these are the officers who have the most direct interactions with the public. The team successfully obtained records from 99 of these 100 agencies, representing over a third of all local law enforcement officers nationwide.
Gathering this data was a complex task, involving requests for public records, data-sharing agreements, and searching publicly available information sources. The records included officer names, and in many cases, job titles, which helped distinguish sworn officers from civilian employees within the police departments.
Once they had the officer rosters, Mummolo and his colleagues merged this data with voter registration records. This allowed them to estimate the political party affiliation, voting history, age, and household income of individual officers. To ensure accuracy in matching officers to voter records, they focused on individuals residing in or near the counties where they worked. For information on race and gender of officers at the agency level, they primarily used data from federal surveys of law enforcement agencies.
For a more detailed analysis of officer behavior, the study focused on two major city police departments: Chicago and Houston. These cities were chosen for different reasons. Chicago has made significant efforts to diversify its police force and has been a focus of discussions about police practices. Houston, in contrast, has a more politically balanced police force, with roughly equal numbers of Republican and Democratic officers.
For these two cities, the researchers obtained detailed records of officer shift assignments and enforcement actions, including stops, arrests, and uses of force. This detailed data allowed them to compare the behavior of officers with different political affiliations when they were working in similar places, at similar times, and performing similar tasks. By comparing officers working under essentially the same conditions, the researchers could more reliably assess whether political affiliation was related to differences in their policing actions.
The study’s initial findings confirmed that, on average, police forces are more Republican than the general population in their jurisdictions. Across the 99 agencies studied, about 32% of officers were estimated to be Republican, compared to only 14% of voting-age civilians in those same areas. Officers were also found to be more likely to be white, vote more often, and have higher household incomes than the civilians they serve.
However, this pattern was not uniform across all agencies. Some police departments closely mirrored the political and racial makeup of their communities, while others showed significant differences. In Chicago and Houston, the analysis of officer assignments revealed that even within specific districts or divisions, police officers were consistently more Republican than the residents of those areas.
Despite these clear political imbalances, the analysis of officer behavior in Chicago and Houston yielded surprising results regarding political partisanship. When comparing Republican and Democratic officers working in similar circumstances, the researchers found very few statistically significant differences in their rates of stops, arrests, or use of force. While some minor differences were observed initially, these largely disappeared after accounting for the fact that many comparisons were being made. This suggests that, in general, an officer’s political party affiliation does not strongly predict how they will behave on the job.
“Given how politically polarized the issue of policing has become, it is somewhat surprising that officers’ partisan identities do not translate into detectable differences in behavior,” Mummolo told PsyPost. “However, there are many reasons different officers might converge on common behaviors (for example, they go through similar training and face similar professional incentives).”
In contrast to the limited impact of political affiliation, the study reaffirmed previous research highlighting the influence of race and ethnicity on officer behavior. Consistent with earlier findings, Black and Hispanic officers in Chicago were found to make fewer stops and arrests compared to white officers in similar situations. Black officers also used force less often in both Chicago and Houston.
“Police agencies tilt heavily Republican relative to the civilians in their jurisdictions, on average,” Mummolo explained. “Officers are also more likely to be White, more likely to vote, and have higher household incomes than local civilians. We establish this using a large dataset on 99 of the 100 largest police agencies in the U.S., which covers more than one third of local law enforcement agents in the country.”
“However, when facing similar circumstances, we find very little evidence that officers of different political affiliations behave differently on the job — they make similar numbers of stops and arrests and use force at similar rates. We also replicate our earlier work showing that officer racial and ethnic groups exhibit stark differences in these behaviors.”
Interestingly, when looking at officers of the same race, one notable partisan difference emerged: White Democratic officers in Chicago made more arrests for violent crimes than White Republican officers. However, this was one of the few instances where a partisan difference in behavior was observed, and it was in a direction contrary to what might be expected based on general Republican preferences for more punitive law enforcement.
The researchers acknowledge that their study has some limitations. The behavioral analysis was focused on only two cities, Chicago and Houston, and it is possible that patterns might differ in other locations. Furthermore, while the study controlled for many factors, it cannot definitively rule out all other possible explanations for the observed patterns. Future research could expand this type of analysis to more cities and explore other aspects of policing, such as community perceptions of police and the long-term effects of different policing styles on crime rates and public trust.
“There are roughly 18,000 police agencies in the United States,” Mummolo noted. “While this paper assembles data on the largest agencies, there are many places left to examine. There may be other places where officer partisanship maps closely to behavior on the job. We will need to collect more data to find out.”
Despite these limitations, the study provides the most comprehensive examination to date of political affiliation within law enforcement and its relationship to officer behavior. The findings suggest that while police forces tend to be more Republican than their communities, these political differences do not automatically translate into distinct patterns of officer behavior on the ground. Instead, factors like race and ethnicity appear to play a more significant role in shaping how officers perform their duties.
“We hope our study provides a template for studying police officers and their behavior,” Mummolo explained. “Though difficult to collect, there is a wealth of data being collected inside police agencies that can help us answer longstanding policy questions. In addition, we believe our method for comparing officers facing common circumstances (using detailed records of officer shift assignments and enforcement activities) can be used for other purposes, such as developing improved early warning systems to flag officers who are exhibiting outlying behavior relative to their peers. We have work in progress on this and related questions.”
“The scale of the data collection in this paper is unusual relative to typical studies in the field,” Mummolo added. “That was only possible because of the large team of talented co-authors on this paper.”
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12945) Political diversity in U.S. police agencies,” was authored by Bocar Ba, Haosen Ge, Jacob Kaplan, Dean Knox, Mayya Komisarchik, Gregory Lanzalotto, Rei Mariman, Jonathan Mummolo, Roman Rivera, and Michelle Torres.

(https://www.psypost.org/ai-can-spot-depression-through-driving-habits-study-finds/) AI can spot depression through driving habits, study finds
Mar 1st 2025, 06:00

New research suggests that the way older adults drive could offer subtle clues about their mental health, potentially paving the way for innovative screening tools for depression. Two related studies, the latest published in the journal (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01500-w) npj Digital Medicine, investigated the connection between driving patterns and depression in older individuals. The findings indicate that changes in driving behavior, detectable through everyday technology, could be analyzed by artificial intelligence to identify older adults who may be experiencing depression, a condition that often goes unnoticed in this age group.
“Older adults are driving longer, yet we know little about how mental health conditions like major depressive disorder (MDD) impact real-world driving behavior,” said study author Ganesh M. Babulal, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis and director of (https://drivesproject.wustl.edu/) the DRIVES Project.
“Given that depression is associated with cognitive and motor impairments, we wanted to examine whether older drivers with MDD exhibit riskier driving patterns that could affect safety and independence. Understanding these patterns is crucial for developing interventions that help older adults maintain mobility while minimizing risk.”
The researchers (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2828519) first conducted a study to understand how depression might affect the actual driving behavior of older adults in their everyday lives. This initial study involved 395 participants, some diagnosed with major depressive disorder and others without. All participants were at least 65 years old and were part of a larger, ongoing project examining aging, driving, and depression at Washington University in St. Louis.
The group with depression included 85 individuals who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder by a clinician, or who scored high on a depression questionnaire called the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The control group consisted of 310 individuals without a diagnosis of depression.
Participants underwent clinical assessments, including the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) to evaluate cognitive function, and completed neuropsychological tests to measure different aspects of thinking and memory. Crucially, all participants had a small device placed in their personal vehicles. This device, connected to the car’s computer system, used GPS technology to continuously record their driving behavior over time, capturing data such as speed, location, and events like sudden braking or sharp turns. The researchers collected this driving data for a period of time and then analyzed it to see if there were noticeable differences in the driving patterns of those with and without depression.
The first study revealed that older adults with depression exhibited distinct driving patterns compared to those without depression. Even though there were no significant differences in their cognitive test scores at the start of the study, those with depression demonstrated riskier driving behaviors over time. Specifically, they had more instances of hard braking and hard cornering during their trips. They also showed less predictable driving routes and traveled to a wider range of destinations.
Interestingly, at the beginning of the study, the group with depression showed a tendency for speeding and spent more time driving overall. These findings suggested that depression is indeed linked to changes in driving behavior that could potentially increase the risk of accidents. Importantly, these differences in driving behavior were observed even after considering the use of medications that could impact driving, indicating that depression itself was a significant factor.
“We expected some impact of MDD on driving, but we were surprised by the extent of risky behaviors, including increased driving distances and unpredictability in destinations,” Babulal told PsyPost. “Rather than self-regulating their driving, as many older adults do when experiencing cognitive or physical decline, those with MDD continued riskier driving patterns over time. This suggests that depression may impair awareness of functional changes, which has important safety implications.”
Building on these findings, the researchers then conducted a second study to investigate whether artificial intelligence could be used to automatically detect depression in older adults based on their driving data. This follow-up study used machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to learn from data without explicit programming. For this study, they analyzed two years of driving data from 157 older adults, including 81 diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 76 without. The participants were recruited from the same ongoing research project and met similar criteria as in the first study. The driving data was collected using the same GPS devices in their cars.
In addition to driving data, the researchers also collected information on demographics, such as age, gender, and education level, and medication use, including whether participants were taking antidepressants and the total number of different medications they used. They then trained machine learning models, specifically using a method called Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and also logistic regression, to see if these models could learn to distinguish between depressed and non-depressed older adults based on their driving data and other information. They tested various models, some using only driving features, some adding demographic information, and others incorporating medication data.
The machine learning models were able to identify depression with a good degree of accuracy based on driving data alone. The best performing model, which combined driving features with information on the total number of medications participants were taking, achieved a high level of accuracy in distinguishing between depressed and non-depressed individuals. This top model correctly identified individuals with depression in 90% of cases and accurately identified those without depression in 82% of cases.
The driving features that were most important for identifying depression included the rate of hard cornering and hard braking, as well as the number of trips of different lengths. Surprisingly, adding demographic information like age, gender, and education did not improve the performance of the models and, in some cases, even made them slightly less accurate. This suggests that driving behavior and medication use are stronger indicators of depression in older adults than demographic factors alone.
“Depression in older adults is not just about mood—it can also affect complex daily behaviors like driving,” Babulal said. “This highlights the importance of routine depression screening and targeted interventions to promote safer driving habits while supporting older adults’ independence.”
Looking ahead, the researchers suggest that future studies should include larger groups of participants and follow them for longer periods. They also recommend incorporating more detailed health information, such as electronic health records, and exploring more advanced artificial intelligence techniques to further refine the accuracy of depression detection. Future research could also investigate how to better ensure that driving data truly reflects the behavior of the intended participant.
“While our study provides valuable insights, it does not establish causality—MDD is associated with changes in driving behavior, but we cannot conclude that depression directly causes these changes,” Babulal noted. “Additionally, our sample was predominantly non-Hispanic White, so additional research is needed to explore these effects in more diverse, representative populations. We also did not track changes in depression symptoms over time, which could influence driving behaviors.”
“We aim to refine strategies for identifying older adults at risk for unsafe driving due to mental health conditions like MDD. Future research will explore whether interventions—such as cognitive training, medication management, or driving modifications—can help mitigate these risks. Ultimately, we hope to develop clinical and policy recommendations that balance safety with the need for mobility and independence.”
“Our findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach to older driver safety, including mental health assessment,” Babulal added. “Depression is treatable, and addressing it proactively could improve both driving safety and overall well-being. We encourage older adults and their families to discuss driving concerns with healthcare providers and explore resources for safer mobility.”
The study, “(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-01500-w) Identifying major depressive disorder in older adults through naturalistic driving behaviors and machine learning,” was authored by Chen Chen, David C. Brown, Noor Al-Hammadi, Sayeh Bayat, Anne Dickerson, Brenda Vrkljan, Matthew Blake, Yiqi Zhu, Jean-Francois Trani, Eric J. Lenze, David B. Carr, and Ganesh M. Babulal.

(https://www.psypost.org/why-some-women-develop-romantic-interests-in-fictional-bad-boys/) Why some women develop romantic interests in fictional “bad boys”
Feb 28th 2025, 14:00

Many popular movies and television shows feature the archetype of the “bad boy”—a character who is often rebellious, tough, and emotionally unavailable, yet still captivating. A recent study explored why some women develop romantic feelings for these kinds of characters in media. Women who enjoy playful, uncommitted relationships and seek excitement in life are more likely to form these one-sided romantic connections with fictional “bad boys,” and that these connections can evoke feelings of power and imaginative engagement.
The fascination with “bad boys” is a well-documented cultural phenomenon. From classic literature to modern film, these characters capture attention and often romantic interest. In media, the “bad boy” often embodies stereotypical masculine traits like dominance, aggression, and emotional stoicism. While these traits might seem off-putting, they can, under certain circumstances, be perceived as attractive, particularly within the realm of fiction.
Researchers in media psychology became interested in understanding this attraction in the context of movies and television. They wanted to investigate what personality traits might make women more prone to developing romantic parasocial relationships – essentially, one-sided relationships where a person feels emotionally connected to a fictional character – with these “bad boy” figures. Furthermore, the study aimed to uncover the feelings and experiences women associate with these unique types of media relationships. By exploring these connections, the researchers hoped to shed light on the psychological underpinnings of why the “bad boy” trope holds such enduring appeal for some women.
To investigate these questions, researchers designed an online survey. They recruited 47 women and asked them to participate if they could identify a “bad boy” character from a movie or television series they felt romantically interested in. The average age of the participants was approximately 23 years old, and the majority identified as heterosexual, though a notable portion identified as bisexual. The survey was designed to measure several aspects: the women’s personality traits, the strength of their romantic parasocial relationship with their chosen “bad boy,” and their feelings and experiences related to this relationship.
To measure romantic parasocial relationships, the researchers used a set of eleven statements designed to assess the intensity of romantic feelings towards the fictional character. Participants rated their agreement with statements like “I feel a strong romantic connection with this character.” To understand the feelings associated with these relationships, the study measured several factors. “Retrospective imaginative involvement” was assessed using seven statements that gauged how much participants mentally replayed and elaborated on the character’s story after watching the media. Statements included things like “I often think about what might happen next in the story of this character.” “Sense of autonomy,” or feelings of independence, was measured with three statements. “Sense of power,” or feelings of control and influence, was assessed using six statements. “Self-esteem,” reflecting feelings of self-worth, was measured using six statements.
To explore personality traits that might predict these romantic parasocial relationships, the survey included measures of “sensation seeking,” “love style ludus,” “helper urge,” and “narcissism.” “Sensation seeking,” measured with six statements, gauged a person’s tendency to pursue new and exciting experiences. “Love style ludus,” measured with four statements, describes a playful, uncommitted approach to love, where romance is seen as a game and commitment is avoided. “Helper urge,” measured with six statements, assessed the tendency to feel compassionate and want to care for others. Finally, “narcissism,” measured with seven statements, explored traits associated with self-centeredness and a need for admiration. For each of these measures, participants responded to statements using scales that allowed them to indicate their level of agreement.
After collecting the data, the researchers analyzed the responses to see if any of the measured personality traits predicted the strength of romantic parasocial relationships with “bad boys.” They also examined whether these relationships were associated with specific feelings and experiences like power, autonomy, self-esteem, and imaginative engagement.
The study revealed some interesting findings. Contrary to what the researchers initially thought, narcissism and the urge to help were not found to predict romantic parasocial relationships with “bad boys.” However, two personality traits did emerge as significant predictors: love style ludus and sensation seeking. This means that women who tend to approach love in a playful and uncommitted way, and those who have a strong desire for excitement and new experiences, were more likely to report forming romantic parasocial relationships with “bad boy” characters in movies and television.
Furthermore, the study found that having a romantic parasocial relationship with a “bad boy” was linked to certain feelings and experiences. Specifically, these relationships were associated with an increased sense of power and greater retrospective imaginative involvement. This suggests that women who develop these fictional romances may experience a boost in their sense of control or influence, and they also tend to engage more deeply with the character’s story in their minds after viewing the media. Interestingly, the study did not find a significant link between these relationships and changes in self-esteem or sense of autonomy.
These findings offer some initial insights into why “bad boys” in media can be romantically appealing to certain women. The results suggest that the attraction might be rooted in a desire for excitement and a preference for less conventional, perhaps even slightly risky, romantic scenarios, at least within the safe space of fiction. The fact that these relationships are linked to a sense of power is also noteworthy, suggesting that the dynamic of the “bad boy” narrative, perhaps with its undertones of dominance and control, might resonate with certain psychological needs or desires. The connection to imaginative involvement highlights the immersive nature of these parasocial relationships, showing that they extend beyond the viewing experience and become part of a woman’s ongoing mental landscape.
It is important to consider the limitations of this study. The study was correlational, meaning it can show associations between factors, but it cannot prove that certain personality traits directly cause women to form these romantic parasocial relationships. It is also possible that other unmeasured factors contribute to this phenomenon.The sample size of 47 women, while deemed sufficient for the statistical analyses conducted, is relatively small, which might limit the generalizability of the findings to a larger population of women.
“Despite the limitations, this first study on this topic clearly shows the potential of media psychological research on media-transmitted bad boys as embodiments of male dominance and their effect on women,” the researchers concluded. “Since half of the hypotheses were confirmed, the findings as a whole do indicate that the phenomenon of male dominance attracting specific women can be transferred to the media context.”
“Possible future studies could now take a closer look at the effects of bad boys on certain women and clearly demonstrate these effects in experimental settings. Of particular interest, however, are the long-term effects that parasocial interaction with such bad boys can have on the behavior of young women. Especially, the RII showed great potential. The RII indicates a strong influence of the bad boy narrative and enables a distinction to be made between the peri-receptively experienced and post-receptively imagined narrative, which could become the focus of follow-up studies.”
The study, “(https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1501809/full) The attraction of evil. An investigation of factors explaining women’s romantic parasocial relationships with bad guys in movies and series,” was authored by Holger Schramm and Annika Sartorius.

(https://www.psypost.org/open-world-games-reduce-stress-and-improve-psychological-well-being/) Open-world games reduce stress and improve psychological well-being
Feb 28th 2025, 13:00

A series of studies on players of open-world games revealed that they view these games as a way to temporarily escape from reality in their minds. This escape allows them to disconnect from real-world stressors, improving their mood and psychological well-being. The immersive and autonomous nature of these games is crucial for these observed effects. The paper was published in the (https://doi.org/10.2196/63760) Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Open-world games are video games that allow players to explore large, dynamic environments with minimal restrictions. They generally feature non-linear gameplay, meaning players can complete objectives in various orders or ignore them entirely. Many open-world games include side quests, hidden locations, and emergent gameplay elements. Players can interact with non-player characters, engage in combat, and customize their characters or equipment.
These games feature vast maps with diverse landscapes, such as cities, forests, mountains, and oceans. Some popular open-world games include Skyrim, Minecraft, and games from the Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, and The Witcher series, among many others. Many titles incorporate real-time weather systems, day-night cycles, and AI-driven events. Open-world games can be both single-player and multiplayer.
Study authors Ailin Anto and her colleagues sought to explore the significance of playing open-world games in the daily lives of students. They first conducted a qualitative study in which they interviewed 17 full-time university students who reported playing open-world games. In the interviews, the researchers asked participants to describe how open-world gaming affects their daily lives.
The second study was a survey involving 609 postgraduate university students who play open-world games. To verify that participants actually played the games they claimed, two research assistants asked them brief screening questions about the games they played. In the survey, participants were asked to think of the open-world game they played the most and then complete an assessment of their psychological well-being, as well as provide ratings on the extent to which open-world games contribute to their emotional relaxation (e.g., “Playing an open-world game makes me feel content,” “When I play an open-world game, I feel relaxed”).
The third study again involved a series of interviews. The participants were 15 students who played open-world games and passed the screening questions. In these interviews, the researchers invited participants to share their thoughts about specific elements of open-world games that influenced their lives. The interviews were conducted at the university alumni lounge and a campus café, each lasting between 75 and 135 minutes. Participants received $30 for participating in the interviews and $8 for completing the survey (study 2).
Results from the first set of interviews showed that open-world games provide players with an opportunity to temporarily escape from the real world in their minds. In other words, these games facilitate cognitive escapism, which serves as an important source of relaxation and improves players’ moods.
The researchers used the survey data to test a statistical model proposing that cognitive escapism leads to relaxation, and that relaxation, in turn, improves psychological well-being. The results supported this proposed relationship.
The third study revealed that the key elements contributing to these positive effects of open-world games include the sense of exploration, opportunities to develop and experience mastery and skill, a sense of positivity, and a sense of purpose and meaning in life. In other words, playing open-world games satisfies fundamental psychological needs: autonomy (through exploration), competence (through the development of in-game skills), and relatedness (through forming connections with the game world and in-game characters).
“This study indicates that open-world games significantly contribute to cognitive escapism, relaxation, and overall well-being. Specifically, these games’ immersive environments and player autonomy play a crucial role in reducing stress and enhancing mental health. Open-world games could be used as therapeutic tools for stress and anxiety management, offering a cost-effective and accessible method to improve mental health,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the role open-world games play in players’ lives. However, it should be noted that all study data were self-reported, leaving room for reporting bias, which may have affected the results.
The paper, “(https://doi.org/10.2196/63760) Open-World Games’ Affordance of Cognitive Escapism, Relaxation, and Mental Well-Being Among Postgraduate Students: Mixed Methods Study,” was authored by Ailin Anto, Arunima Basu, Rania Selim, Thomas Foscht, and Andreas Benedikt Eisingerich.

(https://www.psypost.org/unraveling-the-happiness-paradox-the-mental-exhaustion-of-chasing-joy/) Unraveling the happiness paradox: The mental exhaustion of chasing joy
Feb 28th 2025, 12:00

A new study published in the journal (https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70000) Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being shows that the more we try to boost our happiness, the more we drain our mental energy needed for self-control. In other words, the very act of chasing after happiness can leave us vulnerable to poor decisions, like overspending or overindulging, because it uses up the mental resources that help us resist temptation.
The desire for happiness is almost universal. People across cultures and backgrounds value feeling good and strive for positive emotions. This widespread pursuit of happiness has even fueled a massive self-help industry, filled with books and programs promising to unlock the secrets to a happier life.
However, some researchers started noticing a troubling pattern. Instead of leading to greater well-being, these relentless efforts to be happier sometimes seemed to backfire. People who strongly focused on increasing their happiness often reported feeling less happy in the moment and less satisfied overall. This paradox raised important questions. If happiness is so desirable, why does trying harder to achieve it sometimes make things worse?
Previous research hinted that pursuing happiness might make people feel like they were running out of time, adding stress and reducing happiness. The current research team wanted to investigate another possible consequence: whether the very act of trying to be happier could drain our mental energy, making us less equipped to handle life’s challenges and temptations.
To investigate this idea, the researchers conducted a series of four studies, each designed to examine different aspects of the relationship between seeking happiness and self-control. In the first study, they surveyed 532 adults recruited online. These participants answered questionnaires designed to measure their tendency to actively seek happiness and their general level of self-control.
To measure happiness seeking, the researchers used a scale called the Valuing Happiness Scale. This scale includes statements like “To have a meaningful life, I need to feel happy most of the time,” and asks people to rate how much they agree with each statement. Higher scores on this scale indicated a stronger tendency to pursue happiness.
To measure self-control, participants completed the Brief Self-Control Scale. This scale asks about people’s ability to resist temptations and control their impulses, with items such as “I am good at resisting temptation.” Higher scores on this scale indicated greater self-reported self-control. The researchers also measured participants’ general mood using a questionnaire that assessed both positive and negative emotions, to ensure that mood wasn’t influencing the results.
The second study aimed to see if the link between happiness seeking and self-control held up when looking at actual behavior, rather than just self-reports. For this study, 369 participants were recruited online and from a university. Similar to the first study, they completed the Valuing Happiness Scale. This time, instead of a self-control questionnaire, participants were given a decision-making task. They were presented with twelve different scenarios involving purchasing items, like clothing or travel, at various price points. They were asked to rank these items in order of preference, as if they were deciding what to spend money on.
The researchers measured how long participants spent on this decision-making task. The thinking was that making choices requires mental effort and self-regulation. If seeking happiness drains mental resources, then people who are more inclined to seek happiness might have fewer resources left for the decision-making task, and thus spend less time and effort on it. This study also included a subtle measure of mood, where participants rated how much they liked different shapes. Previous research suggests that liking simple shapes can reflect a person’s underlying mood state.
The third study moved beyond surveys and decision-making tasks to examine a more direct behavioral measure of self-control in a real-world setting. Researchers approached 36 people passing by a university library. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was shown an advertisement that included the word “happiness,” designed to subtly prompt them to think about happiness. The other group saw a neutral advertisement without any happiness-related words. As a cover story, participants were asked to evaluate the advertisements.
Afterward, they were told they were participating in a chocolate taste test. They were given a bowl of chocolate candies and asked to taste and rate the chocolates, and were told they could eat as many as they wanted. The number of chocolates consumed was used as a measure of self-control. Resisting the temptation to overeat chocolate requires self-control, and if seeking happiness depletes self-control, then those primed with happiness might eat more chocolate. Participants also reported their current mood.
Finally, the fourth study aimed to compare the pursuit of happiness to pursuing another goal, to see if the effect was specific to happiness or just any kind of mental effort. In this study, 188 participants recruited online were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a happiness-seeking group or an accuracy-seeking group. All participants were presented with 25 pairs of everyday products, like iced latte versus green tea, and were asked to choose one from each pair. The happiness-seeking group was instructed to choose the option that would improve their happiness. The accuracy-seeking group was told to choose the option that represented the most accurate judgment based on their preferences.
After this choice task, participants were given anagram puzzles to solve. Anagrams are words with scrambled letters that need to be rearranged to form a new word. The researchers measured how long participants persisted in trying to solve these anagrams. Persistence on a challenging task like anagrams is another measure of self-control and mental resources. Those with fewer resources would be expected to give up sooner. After the anagram task, participants answered questions to check if the happiness manipulation worked, and to measure their tiredness, mood, and engagement with the tasks.
What did these studies reveal? Across all four investigations, a consistent pattern emerged. In the first two studies, the researchers found that people who scored higher on the happiness-seeking scale reported lower self-control and spent less time on the decision-making task. This suggests that a general tendency to pursue happiness is associated with reduced self-regulatory resources.
Importantly, these relationships held even after considering participants’ mood, indicating that it wasn’t just a matter of happier or sadder people having different levels of self-control. In the third study, those who were subtly primed with happiness through an advertisement consumed more chocolate candies than those who saw a neutral advertisement. This provides experimental evidence that even briefly focusing on happiness can weaken self-control, leading to increased temptation.
Finally, the fourth study showed that participants instructed to make choices to improve their happiness spent less time trying to solve anagrams compared to those asked to make choices for accuracy. This suggests that the act of actively pursuing happiness during decision-making specifically depletes mental resources, more so than simply engaging in a similar cognitive task focused on accuracy.
These findings point to a potentially important limitation to our pursuit of happiness. The researchers suggest that actively trying to make ourselves happier requires mental effort, specifically the kind of effort we use to regulate our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This kind of self-regulation is like a muscle; it can become fatigued with overuse. When we are constantly trying to manage our feelings and actions to achieve happiness, we may deplete our mental resources.
As a result, we have less willpower left over to control our impulses, resist temptations, and make good decisions in other areas of our lives. This depletion can then lead to behaviors that actually undermine our happiness in the long run, such as overeating unhealthy foods, overspending, or acting impulsively in relationships.
“The pursuit of happiness is a bit like a snowball effect. You decide to try making yourself feel happier, but then that effort depletes your ability to do the kinds of things that make you happier,” explained study co-author Sam Maglio, a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.
The researchers acknowledge that their study has some limitations. For example, the effect sizes in the experimental studies were relatively small, suggesting that while the effect is real, it might be subtle. Future research could explore this phenomenon over longer periods to see how the pursuit of happiness impacts self-control and well-being over time. It would also be interesting to investigate whether cultural background influences this relationship, as different cultures may have different ideas about happiness and how to achieve it.
Despite these limitations, this research provides important insights into the happiness paradox. It suggests that the very act of striving for happiness can be mentally taxing, potentially leading to reduced self-control and choices that are ultimately detrimental to our well-being. The researchers suggest that instead of constantly chasing after happiness, perhaps a more effective approach is to shift our focus.
Rather than trying to maximize positive emotions, we might benefit from appreciating what we already have and accepting the natural ups and downs of life. As Maglio puts it, “Just chill. Don’t try to be super happy all the time. Instead of trying to get more stuff you want, look at what you already have and just accept it as something that gives you happiness.” This shift in perspective, away from relentless pursuit and towards mindful appreciation, may be a more sustainable and less draining path to genuine well-being.
The study, “(https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.70000) Happiness depletes me: Seeking happiness impairs limited resources and self-regulation,” was authored by Aekyoung Kim and Sam J. Maglio.

Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC
Baltimore, MD

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