06/21/2017
Scientific data exists not only in the theory: many of them are quite capable of improving our life or at least explain how it is arranged. One of the questions to discuss is how many friends we need for happiness. Do you and your Russian lady have lots of friends?
Communicating with friends brings more joy than communicating with relatives or staying alone.Most of us do not need scientific proof that communication makes our lives better: almost everyone understands this, based on their own experience. But how many friends do you need to be happy? Many people will say that this is a very personal issue, but, strangely enough, the researchers have a fairly accurate answer on this. "National surveys have shown that if a person has five or more friends the important problems can be discussed with, he is much more likely (60%) to consider himself very happy," notes the famous American psychologist and researcher in his book Finding Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's happiness.
Of course, many other scientists call other numbers: for example, according to a study of British psychologist Richard Tunney of Nottingham University, people who have more than ten friends are usually happier than those who have only five. Of course, the number of links depends on your sociability and many other personal qualities and external circumstances. Nevertheless, it is always worth remembering that friends can make your life much happier: Chikszentmihayi notes that communicating with them brings more joy than communicating with relatives or staying alone.
"Again and again, our research proves that people fall into depression if they are alone and feel much better when they are in the company of other people," says Chiksentmihayi. - The thing is that when we have to interact with someone, even if it's a stranger, our attention is concentrated, colliding with external requests. The presence of another person forces us to set goals and give us a response to our actions. " The psychologist is sure that there is a direct connection between the amount of communication and the quality of life: the more energy and forces you invest in building relationships with other people, the happier you become.
