Doing Good, Feeling Good

Altruism has always been a puzzle to the scholars of selfishness, especially economists, who rely on people to act in their own interest. Now new studies suggest that giving money to others can make you happier than spending it on yourself.

In the journal Science, Harvard researchers report on questioning 632 Americans about how much they earn, what they do with it and, separately, how they rate their own happiness.

Weeks after getting large bonuses at work, employees who had given to others or to charity were happier than those who had bought stuff for themselves, regardless of how much they got. In another study, volunteers who were handed cash felt better after spending it on others rather than themselves.

"This may come as a surprise for economists," says one of them. "Often people don't know what really makes them happy."

In our post-Darwin world, science has tried, without much success, to explain altruism on the basis of group survival and in recent years even with brain scans. But the mystery remains, and it can be a source of comfort.

If they keep working on the problem long enough, it may turn out that the Golden Rule is more than a soupy concept after all.

Happiness Gap Between Women and Men

Fifty years ago, at a Smith College alumni reunion, Betty Friedan handed out a questionnaire asking classmates how they felt about their lives, which inspired the sacred text of gender inequality, “The Feminine Mystique.”

Now, according to the New York Times, researchers studying data about people’s satisfaction have made a discovery: “In the early 1970s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places.”

To explain why, the social scientists report: “Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more.

“Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work--and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes.”

All this suggests that inequality has not disappeared but morphed. The educated women Betty Friedan found unhappy as housewives now have careers but are still doing most of the caring for homes, children and aging parents.

If there were a companion movement to Feminism, Masculinism might examine to what extent all this is due to unfair expectations of women or just the fabled insensitivity of men who are happy to spend their free time drinking beer and watching ball games on TV.

Behind such clichés, at the brink of possibly electing a woman to run the country, there are complicated questions about family politics to be aired and considered. Perhaps Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Edwards, Judith Giuliani and Jeri Thompson can get together and start a national discussion.