Put on happiness

YOU don’t have to be an extrovert to act like one, and the reward for those who make an attempt to be more talkative, bold or assertive is feeling happier.  

In the first of three experiments in the United States, 46 students kept track of when they were being outgoing and how they felt every few hours for two weeks. In all cases, they had the most fun when they were extroverted. In the second experiment, they kept diaries for 10 weeks, and researchers looked at how often the students were extroverted over a week and how they felt at week’s end. An analysis showed that the link between being outgoing and a good mood was not just momentary.