I'm very surprised that UQ came to such a facile and seemingly predetermined conclusion. .

This presupposes that all conservatives are materially well-off, which they are not.

I would think it more likely that the reason conservatives are happier is that their world view is more optimistic by its very nature.

It's generally accepted, is it not , that human beings need, for their well-being, to feel in control of their lives to a large extent.

A liberal , in my experience, embraces and celebrates change for change's sake---the 'move on ' mentality---- along with prescriptive views about other people's lives, and encouragement of victimhood and dependency.

That view has pessimism and instability built in---divides people into the powerful and the helpless----and places a premium on being able to present as 'victim'---'oppressed'---'marginalised' etc---and therefore being dependent on the largesse or patronage of others or big government.

The powerful liberal 'helpers' feel good about others being dependent on them, but it's hardly a positive outlook.

A conservative is much more likely to seek ways to improve his lot---to embrace change only when it's for a better outcome---whether it's for him or the country----to seek to design and manage his own life, with the personal control that all human beings need .

A liberal wants people to be helped with hand-outs , while a conservative wants people to be helped to be the best they can be , but in the end to have the satisfaction and happiness that comes from achieving that by their own efforts, as much as possible.

A liberal wants to do these things publicly---while a conservative would rather do them privately.

A liberal likes to be part of organised, visible shows of compassion, attracting attention---while a conservative is more likely to make sure, as far as he's able, that the most deserving person or cause is helped---even if it's not the most prominent or the support of it attracts no public attention.

A liberal believes self-esteem can be grafted on, or the result of flattery ---conservatives believe it develops from earned successes and the security of loving families and interested and dedicated teachers.

Consequently, [ in my opinion], a liberal is looking for superficial affirmation from 'others' and usually from strangers---often a recipe for disappointment---- while a conservative is a realist and wants to feel comfortable in himself—comfortable with his own decisions and his actions.

You can sum up the 21st century by the phrase " Short Term Happiness via burning Fossil Fuels"......I'd rather be slightly less happy and have a future, as it is, I was born into a world of ignorant docile happy fools who think having a large portion of the population hold their "Own Opinion" about scientific topics doesnt hurt anyone.....bring on the climate change

BREAKING NEWS: Informed people worry about reality and making a positive, ignorant people Know everything is fine

Felix MacNeill...

In describing it as 'crude' you make a correct assessment of your conclusion on conservatives.

Your conclusion is not only crude, but dumb.

You couldn't get much more liberal than Jimmy Carter, probably America's worst ever president.

Bill Clinton's a liberal, and his social engineering that mandated the issue of the sub-prime loans and that, along with his administration's repeal of the Glass Steagall Act, produced the global financial crisis that bedevils the world today, has damaged America beyond anything imaginable.

The repeal of Glass-Steagall allowed banks to merge into megabanks, and to then produce the dodgy mortgage-based securities based on the sub-prime loans, and the credit default swaps that underpin them.

Now the world is awash with these worthless instruments and no one knows what to do about it.

How dumb is that?

Of course we know he was even dumber in his personal life.

Obama, having done not much at all in his first term—not even passed a budget---is now in his second term becoming known as 'assassin-in-chief'', and plans to extend his policy of assassination by drone to US citizens he assesses to be an 'imminent danger' to the US.

To do this he has to suspend due process---how dumb is that slippery slope?

He also plans to allow the use of drones of all sizes, for all sorts of uses in the airspace of American cities---dumb beyond belief!

He was also off shooting baskets or something[ it's a big secret] while his people were, for hours, watching four Americans , including an Ambassador, who had been asking in vain for their government to provide some protection for them----- die at the hands of Islamic terrorists affiliated to Al Qaeda in Libya.

No doubt Obama wanted to have plausible deniability for the sake of his election campaign.

That's not just dumb----it's evil.

Liberal[ ie Leftist ] politicians spruik about social justice, but in reality, it's conservative governments that actually deliver on it in a sustainable way, as they regularly clean up the economic disasters and mess left by liberal governments , and increase wealth and well-being of citizens across the board..

“The trouble with the world”, Bertrand Russell wrote, “is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.”

This idea that we can be "happy" all the time is possibly unnatural and foolish? stereotyping will get us any conclusions we chose to argue too I suspect, particularly research based on what undergraduates whose minds are still bubbling with development say they feel. We usually substitute the hard question "how do you feel" with an answer we "think" according to heuristics research I seem to remember.

Move along folks ... nothing to see here ... conservatives are happier than leftwingers. That's not really a surprise... they don't think as much. And they adore complaining. Never happier.

And what's this curious slithering into a US Conservative/Liberal spectrum of opinion. Here Liberal means conservative. Now in America it might mean something different but in Australia our right wingers would be considered lefties. Patriots would be shooting at them.

So don't go calling me a liberal ever - no matter how small you make the L - in this country liberals wear blue suits and have blue hair some of 'em... Folks like me despise 'em. We still have lefties here and we like to keep those liberals over there we we can see 'em.

Please don't just mindlessly absorb these models and descriptors as though Alabama has become some acceptable framework for studying social and political thinking here.

Awful the way we just import this cultural sludge.