Happiness in poorer countries does not follow the typical U-shaped curve − people are often happiest in middle age
- Written by Michael Gurven, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Scholars have long assumed happiness was like a U-shaped curve − which looks a bit like a smile. Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty ImagesHappiness over one’s lifetime has been popularly described as looking like a U-shaped curve: The joys of youth are followed by the challenges of our 20s and 30s before an upswing later in life that...