Happiness, Unselfishness, and Popularity

Summary The interrelations among happiness, unselfishness, and popularity were investigated in a sample of 175 men and women undergraduates and college-aged volunteers. Happiness and popularity were assessed directly by self-rating scales and unselfishness was measured covertly by reported interest in “helping people.” Happiness was found to be related to self-reported popularity with the opposite sex for men and women (rs = .37 and .35, respectively) but to unselfishness for men only (r = .27). Unselfishness also correlated with popularity for men only (r = . 26). For both sexes, the partial correlations between happiness and unselfishness (popularity controlled for) were insignificant. It was suggested that unselfish men may be more popular with the opposite sex and, therefore, report greater happiness.