Is Happiness a Personality Trait?

What is happiness? That, dear readers, is a question that has been mulled over for millennia. Happiness is complex. It’s not as simple as having the right job or eating a decadent piece of chocolate cake. It goes beyond having enough money in your bank account or finding the perfect life partner – though both are likely to help. Happiness, for some people, can be the resulting sum of all those things, but it can also be a fleeting and elusive sensation, even for people who seem to have all the right ingredients for a happy life.

In honor of the United Nations’ International Day of Happiness, which happens to be March 20, we thought it would be fun to explore the role of personality in how people tend to experience that positive sense of well-being commonly referred to as “happiness.”

If you’re not sure what your personality type is, now is a great time to take our free personality test!

What Is Happiness, Anyway?

Happiness is usually regarded as a balance of emotions that generally leans more to the positive side. If you look at your life in a big-picture sense, this would include feelings associated with things like your different relationships, work, life goals, how you feel about yourself, and those physical and material things that bring you pleasure.

Aristotle proposed that there are four different levels of happiness:

That which is external and short-lived, like that chocolate cake mentioned earlier
The satisfaction that results from comparing oneself favorably to others
The feelings that one experiences when doing good for others, having a sense of purpose, or working for the greater good
The potentially spiritual sense of fulfillment or deep harmony within oneself

These levels of happiness help explain how one person can be sincerely happy and satisfied with their dream job and home, while another person in the same neighborhood with a similar job might draw their happiness from the volunteer work that they do on the weekends. Both are legitimately happy, just in different ways.

Aristotle certainly didn’t write the modern definition of happiness, but his breakdown of the feeling has stood the test of time and is still highly regarded in both the realms of philosophy and psychology. If it serves a purpose here, it’s to drive home the point that happiness is multifaceted and deeply layered. For Aristotle, the key to sustaining happiness is in achieving a healthy balance of these four distinct levels, which is where our personality traits can come into play.

Personality and Happiness: There’s Definitely a Connection

The way that a person experiences happiness in all its glorious subtleties has a lot to do with their personality. It doesn’t do much good here to compare any one personality type to another, but if we take a look at individual personality traits, it becomes clear how they influence our tendencies for those happy feelings.

It’s commonly thought by many personality researchers that there are only two factors in the personality mix that play a role in how happy we are: our levels of social energy and how confident or resilient we are in the face of challenges. (These factors are similar to, though not exactly the same as, the Extraverted and Turbulent traits in our theoretical framework.) Time and again, you’ll read that people with high levels of social energy tend to be happier because they have more enthusiastic social interactions. You’ll also read that the more self-doubting or sensitive to stress a person is, the less happy they’ll be, because they likely struggle more when it comes to regulating their negative emotions.

While there is certainly some truth to these statements – as the data from our vast library of surveys often confirms – breaking down happiness into a dichotomy of only two personality traits is oversimplifying the matter.

If we refer back to Aristotle’s third level of happiness, which relates to a sense of service or purpose, he seems to imply that there is more to being happy than having an active social life. He alludes to a higher quality of social interactions marked by a sense of connection, suggesting that compassion and empathy may also play a role in how happy we are. He also proposes that happiness is found by working toward something larger than oneself, which requires imagination, forethought, and – in a practical sense – a certain level of planning and industriousness.

So, considering this expanded and, admittedly, more philosophical understanding of this emotional state, how do our personality traits influence our experience of happiness?

Extraverted and Introverted

Aside from being more oriented toward social interaction, Extraverts have a much stronger tendency for self-expression than Introverts do. In general, Extraverts also report greater levels of self-confidence. Both of these factors are considered strong indicators of overall positive well-being.

Introverts have a stronger bent toward privacy. This applies to both their social interactions and when and how they share their thoughts and feelings. They usually find social connection and self-expression to be deeply rewarding – they just require the right circumstances and the right company to feel comfortable opening up and connecting with others.

It’s been theorized that cultural favoritism for Extraverted qualities contributes to Introverted personalities experiencing lower levels of self-confidence. Interestingly, Introverts who are comfortable with their Introverted nature have a tendency to experience levels of happiness that are somewhat comparable to Extraverted personalities’.

Intuitive and Observant

These personality traits are generally indicative of whether people are inclined to become wrapped up in the potentials and possibilities of, well, pretty much anything or whether they are more centered in the here and now.

Intuitive personality types have active imaginations that can, and often do, fuel a tendency to be highly idealistic. They are prone to setting high – or outright unrealistic – expectations that they may find difficult to live up to. But this same capacity for expansive thinking makes them well equipped to confront these self-generated challenges to their happiness. They are significantly more likely to appreciate happiness-boosting activities, such as meditation or writing, and they frequently find joy and satisfaction in pursuits that they regularly come to define as passions.

For people with the Observant trait, it’s generally easier to stay grounded in the present. They tend to be more agile in overcoming disappointments or regrets and are more likely to feel like they’ve done the best they can with the opportunities that they’ve been given.

Thinking and Feeling

This particular facet of personality contributes to happiness by influencing one’s connection to the greater good and sense of purpose in life. It even plays a role in how we compare ourselves to others, which is important for our overall sense of well-being.

Feeling types, who are highly influenced by their emotional capacity, have a strong tendency to be empathetic and are likely to take pleasure in helping others accomplish their goals. They tend to find purpose through serving others, and it’s usually important for them to have a sense of belonging.

Thinking personality types are much less inclined to find purpose or meaning in their social connections, but rather tend to find happiness and satisfaction in their own accomplishments. They are likely to be at least somewhat competitive and more objective in how they compare themselves to others, which likely contributes to greater confidence in their intellect and chosen life and career paths.

Judging and Prospecting

When it comes to happiness, the Judging and Prospecting personality traits also play a central role. Judging types tend to approach life with the industriousness needed to accomplish goals both large and small, while Prospecting types are known for their ability to embrace those fun, spontaneous moments in life and are more likely to actively seek out opportunities to feel good.

People with the Judging trait are more inclined to be goal-oriented, for both self-improvement purposes and just getting through day-to-day life. They are typically pretty good at executing their ideas and usually do their best to accomplish what they’ve started. Achieving their goals – or even just the process of working toward them – is profoundly satisfying for these personality types and contributes to their sense of pride and purpose.

Prospecting personalities are the ones most likely to set aside time for fun, and they are more flexible when it comes to working their way through life – allowing plenty of space for spontaneous feelings of happiness. They are usually more willing to walk away from soul-sapping responsibilities and, say, take a time-out for that slice of chocolate cake.

Turbulent and Assertive

As mentioned earlier, this aspect of personality is one of the most influential when it comes to happiness and life satisfaction.

Assertive personality types generally enjoy higher levels of self-confidence and optimism across the board. This helps them pull themselves back from negative thoughts and stressful experiences with relative ease.

Now, to be perfectly frank, Turbulent types are much more likely to struggle on this front, and consequently, they may find that it requires more of a conscientious effort to maintain sustained happiness. They are somewhat predisposed to focusing on the negative details in life, feeling more pessimistic about their prospects for the future, and falling into the trap of unhealthy social comparisons.

For Turbulent personality types, it’s possible that Aristotle’s second level of happiness, which refers to the feelings of satisfaction gained from comparing yourself favorably to other people, represents dangerous territory. Their ideal balance for happiness might be found by focusing more on the pleasures of the present and their higher purpose instead.

Happiness Is Self-Acceptance

As Aristotle laid out for us millennia ago, different kinds of happiness exist, and those different kinds of happiness can be achieved – or enjoyed – no matter which combination of personality traits you have.

Connecting with others or finding happiness through good deeds or a sense of purpose doesn’t require an Extraverted or Assertive personality type. Some people feel a sense of positive well-being as they work their way through long-term goals, while others are more focused on those pleasures that can only be found by living in the moment. There’s nothing “happier” about deriving pleasure from owning your dream car, enjoying a life full of parties with interesting people, or finding joy in the company of your cats or reading a good novel.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter which combination of personality traits you have or which kind of happiness most resonates with you – authentic happiness is found through self-acceptance and balance.

Learning about your individual traits and recognizing your tendencies allows you to lean into them and develop your strengths to their fullest potential. This process of self-discovery and personal growth can help you understand the ways that your personality contributes to your overall well-being and align yourself with the levels of happiness that best suit you.

We invite you to describe how your particular personality traits influence your happiness in the comments below.