The strenght of existential and fundamental values
Happiness is influenced by a multitude of factors that play different roles from one person to the next. Nevertheless, a recent LHI survey brought out just how strongly factors drawn from existential and fundamental values influence the achievement of happiness at the cost of personal and societal values.
As a result, good health comes in fourth among factors important to happiness, after freedom of expression, a feeling of security, and confidence in the future.
The items in the second survey were deliberately drafted differently in order to more clearly define the relationship between happiness and the major factors that influence it and to determine just how important these factors are.
The survey questions were expressed along the following lines: "From a purely personal point of view, do you believe that you could really be completely happy...." The results provided the following rankings.
