Myers and Diener concluded that happiness is not determined by age, gender, or wealth, but is instead linked to personality traits, strong relationships, meaningful work, and religion. They identified three key components of happiness: adaptation (we return to a baseline level of happiness after positive or negative events), cultural world view (our culture shapes how we interpret life events), and values and goals (happiness depends on having meaningful aims, with factors like money only contributing if they support these goals). Understanding these patterns can help psychologists promote greater well-being in society.
