Happy Days Are Here Again

Be Happy Well, it's over. Happy now? Or are you crushed?

If your candidate won, you're probably elated. Triumphant. Feeling transcendent joy beyond the ability of human language to express.

If he lost, you may feel that the world has ended but no one noticed. Deep despair. Certainty that terrible things will happen very, very soon. In one AOL poll taken about a week before the election, 58 percent said if their guy lost they'd be "devastated."

Not even close to being true, say happiness experts. A month from now you'll hardly notice, they say. Winners may find that the angels have stopped singing; losers that the demons never materialized.

"People tend to overestimate both the intensity and the duration of their emotional responses to events like elections," says Elizabeth W. Dunn, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

What's Focalism?

One reason is "focalism." "When we imagine an event, we imagine it in sharp relief, but even if your candidate wins, your life won't revolve around him," says Dunn.

Another reason is "immune neglect." We have a kind of psychological immune system—our minds protect us from things that make us feel bad. "We're really good at making the best of a bad situation, but we don't always recognize that ability," Dunn says. "If my candidate loses, for example, I'll probably stop reading the newspaper for a few days."

"People tend to underestimate how resilient they are," says Gretchen Rubin, whose blog The Happiness Project explores her personal attempt to put happiness theories to the test. "We come to grips with things faster than we think. And little things matter much more to your happiness than you think. The president's important, but in terms of shaping everyday experience, having a really good coffee shop that you go to every day probably matters more."

Happiness experts have put that election theory to the test. In 1994, a guy named George W. Bush defeated Ann Richards for governor of Texas. Before the election, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin asked voters how happy or unhappy they thought they'd be afterwards. A month later, winners were about as happy but losers were significantly happier than they expected. "We tend to idealize our candidates and demonize the opponent," says Dunn. "But afterwards you may begin to recognize the strength of the other candidate."

Use the box below to tell us how much you think the election's outcome will effect your happiness:

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Fleeting Feelings

Dunn co-authored a study on the 2004 presidential election of John Kerry v that former governor from Texas. Again, "winners" and "losers" overestimated how good or bad they would feel a couple of days later, with one exception: People who scored high on a test for Emotional Intelligence (identified as high-EM) were better at predicting how they would actually feel afterwards. The researchers concluded: "In essence, high-EM individuals have an intuitive understanding of one of the central conclusions of happiness research ... Well-being depends less on the objective events one encounters than on how those events are construed, dealt with, and shared with others."

So, share. If your candidate wins, "Enjoy it," says happiness blogger Rubin. "Elation is a great thing." To keep the feeling going, suggests Dunn, "keep reading about your candidate, keep paying attention to what he's doing. That way you can keep reaping enjoyment." Call a friend who shares your politics. Have a post-election celebratory drink.

Take a Blog-Break

And if he just lost? "Get enough sleep and stop reading the blogs," suggests Rubin. And yes, congregate. "One key to happiness is strong social bonds,"she says. "When we're upset, we often have an urge to isolate ourselves. But it's better to put yourself where you'll interact with other people."

Rubin even sees a bright side for both winners and losers. "Everyone in this country has been so energized by this election," she says. "For a major democracy, that's something everyone can be happy about."

Use the box below to tell us how much you think the election's outcome will effect your happiness:

See your post along with along with comments from other iVillagers at the Stress & Women message board.