Might there be a third factor? Could it be that positive and negative outlook are largely caused by genetic variation? That would tend to explain why people tend to have a baseline happiness that they return despite the impact of events.
Great questions. Thanks! Seems like that is part of the story for sure but not the whole story. From a very recent study I just saw: "This study shows that beliefs about the general character of the world are moderately heritable, with broad-sense heritabilities ranging between 21% and 49%. These findings highlight that primal world beliefs are not only formed by ones individual environment but are also genetically influenced." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2024.2387340#abstract
Might there be a third factor? Could it be that positive and negative outlook are largely caused by genetic variation? That would tend to explain why people tend to have a baseline happiness that they return despite the impact of events.
Great questions. Thanks! Seems like that is part of the story for sure but not the whole story. From a very recent study I just saw: "This study shows that beliefs about the general character of the world are moderately heritable, with broad-sense heritabilities ranging between 21% and 49%. These findings highlight that primal world beliefs are not only formed by ones individual environment but are also genetically influenced." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2024.2387340#abstract