In general, do you think people are happy or sad?

In general I believe people are more happy than sad. But I will say that it does seem to me people are struggling a lot more these days to feel and appear happy than in years past. I do know the vast majority of Americans are struggling to meet their needs and expectations of what they want and need to be as happy as they want to be.

I do not see people acting like they’re better or always criticizing people as you asked in your question and if I do run across such a person I avoid them like the plague.

In general, people are neither. They just live average lives that have few happy points and few sad points.

Both, I don’t like it when people label others as one or the other. We have our sad moments and our happy moments. Thats life.

@cruiser no me too but I’m asking at the same time do you think the ones acting like that and criticizing people its because they have a void inside!? A problem!?

I agree that it is equal parts happy and sad. The folks that concern me are the ones that are apathetic.

@Mp123 IF I see a Fluther chronically breaking bad in questions and answers I often do see/assume they either have a chip on their shoulder, an axe to grind or are simply a troll looking for attention and in any case I go out of my way to ignore their petulant behavior. I never have taken the time to to a psychoanalysis of the reason(s) for their behavior, but since you asked I guess I would assume these people have issue(s) and could very well have a void as you suggest they are attempting to fill.

I can only speak for myself. Depending on many factors including how I feel physically, the day’s news, my cat’s health, the weather, etc., I can feel happy (or happy-ish), sad (or down), optimistic or pessimistic… in other words, depending on what’s going on I can feel lots of ways, good and not-so-good, sometimes at the same time, and then a while later feel completely differently. Aren’t most people like that?

Happiness is not a sustainable commodity, life goes in cycles from extreme joy to extreme sadness, from periods of stability to periods of transition and change. Depending on where someone falls in the ebb and flow of things their level of happiness will be effected.
I have gone from the pinnacle of happiness and joy to the dregs of despair this past year.
From years of stability to being tossed into the vortex of uncertainty.

The closest thing to sustainable happiness is contentment.

On that happy note I’m now thinking of going up to the roof to contemplate the pavement below.

Happiness can’t be measured objectively because it is, by definition, a purely subjective phenomenon. In other words, the only thing that counts in deciding whether someone is happy or not is whether they consider themselves to be happy. There is no other measure. If you ask them (and a lot of research has involved asking this question), most people report that they are happy overall.

Happiness is only loosely related to the circumstances of one’s life. Genetics seems to account for about half of what determines happiness. Major life events can impact happiness, but usually not as much as you might expect. The relationship between material wealth and happiness is not at all straightforward either.

Overall, research indicates that individuals tend to to hover around a stable level of happiness for most of their lives, with only occasional short-term bumps either way. For most, that level is a little to the “happy” side of neutral.

The question details bring up another matter: Are people necessarily as happy as they present themselves to be? This is actually quite a different question. People may have complicated reasons for making themselves appear happier to others than they actually are.

Most people run at a baseline, neither happy or sad. We can alter that baseline for happy or sad, but very few people are terminally happy or sad. We just are.

Personally, I have a baseline that’s a bit melancholy, but I would not describe it as sad.

I am naturally a very optimistic and good natured personality, it takes extreme stress to darken my aura, and even now, in an unhappy circumstance I energize myself by engaging others with my humor. I have dark days but find if I actively get outside myself and engage others it helps ramp up optimistic energy for me.

If sad they are most likely quite sane. If happy, most likely insane.

Happiness is overrated. I would take pity on someone who has never loved and lost. I love the line in the song Try To Remember from the Fantastikcs that goes “Without a hurt the heart is hollow.”

I think people change ever moment of the day, might wake in a bad mood, and end feeling happy. Some people can choose a mood too, though sometimes I think that would be difficult. Generally I think normal people are more on the good side of neutral mood. Sometimes people with tragic backgrounds seem to be the happiest, and vice versus. I suppose it all depends on personality, events during the day or in a person’s life, their past experiences and how they acted, and so on. I am generally pretty happy, I think.