Dead center

So, this is just a quick post as a follow-up to the last one. The chart immediately below is of vague provenance; I found it on a few websites (this might be the original) but none sourced it fully, so I am not sure if the placements are based on data or guesswork. It's just food for thought for all of us, I suppose. That teacher is right there at the junction of all four quadrants was just a little too coincidental considering the other day's topic, though.

 

Of course, given how much work Coco has been doing in her own classroom with happiness, I feel it incumbent to add a dimension beyond this quadrant layout. This next chart is based on actual research: a study called "High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being" published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The graph illustrates how after about $75,000 per annum, income has a negligible effect on increasing the markers for happiness. This result has been borne out in many other studies, not just this one.

Which leads us to question the upper right of that quadrant chart. One-percenters may have more money and more stuff, but it is doubtful - according to the data - that they are enjoying  themselves all that much more than us plebs.  Cold comfort, perhaps.

On the other hand, I imagine few would doubt that a little more do-re-mi would make the lives of those in the lower-left-quadrant a little sunnier.

At least, that's the perspective from the middle.