The baseline-related differences co

The baseline-related differences considered so far have mainly concerned different in cognitive processes: Happier people tend to think in ways that sustain or increase their happiness. Other cognitive processes of this kind are examined in chapter 14. In addition, differences in behavior as well as cognition are important; more happy individuals tend to behave in ways that increase the probability of later happiness. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) reviewed the correlates of several forms of positive affect, showing that affect is significantly associated with more activity, involvement with other people, energy, and a greater investment in one’s surroundings. “Happy moods appear to lead people to seek out others and to engage with the environment at large, to be more venturesome, more open, and more sensitive to other individuals” (p. 836). Those perspectives and activities increase the probability of further pleasant episodes and also encourage success in many domains of life.
In overview, the fact that some people are consistently (“as a person”) more happy than others providers for each individual a baseline against which responses to environmental inputs are set. Two kinds of baseline-relevant mechanism can be envisaged. First is a straightforward incremental effect in responding to the environment. For the same input, people are differentially happy beforehand, and a constant stimulus impact will make them similarly differentially happy (perhaps at an altered level) afterward. Second is a more variable process. Research has made a start in detailing characteristic ways of thinking about and acting on the environment that are associated with different personal baselines. Happiness-related differences in behavior mean that happier individuals are more likely to engage in new activities and be exposed to new challenges. And, because people with different baselines of happiness process new information in divergent ways baseline-related differences in mental processes are expected to reduce the observed correlation between environmental features and well-being.