Sense of Belonging Can Make You Happier

                People who feel a strong sense of belonging to social groups are much happier than those who do not. Researchers studied the extent to which almost 4,000 participants felt connected to certain groups, and then measured the impact this had upon their levels of happiness. The study found that the more an individual identified with a particular group, the happier they were with their life. With each additional group that people connected with, their happiness increased by nine percent.

Selfie-Lovers Feel They Look Better Than They Are

                People who love clicking pictures of themselves regularly tend to overestimate how good looking and likable they are. Researchers conducted a study on 198 college students, 100 of whom were regular selfie takers. All participants were asked to take a selfie using a smartphone and also had a picture taken by another person. They then had to rate each photo on the basis of how attractive and likable they thought their friends would think they were in the picture if it were uploaded to social media.

                The pictures were also rated by 178 members of the public, who determined how attractive, likable and narcissistic they thought the people in the photos were likely to be. Researchers found that both the regular selfie-takers and the non-selfie-takers thought they would be seen as more attractive and more likeable in their photos than they were actually seen by independent raters. They also found that the selfie-takers overestimated themselves much more – and tended to think they looked better in the selfies than in the photos taken by other people. Regular selfie-takers were also judged by the external raters as looking “significantly more narcissistic”.