Schopenhauer based his advice on his philosophy and personal experience in 19th century Germany. How well does it fit the situation of the average citizen today? We can check by comparing his recommendations with the empirical research findings on conditions for happiness in modern society. For instance, if Schopenhauer is right that one can better keep away from people, empirical studies would show loners to be happier than people who socialize. Below we consider the reality value of his recommendations one by one. For each we check whether there is corresponding empirical research and to what extent the available findings fit the advice. We draw on a large body of empirical research on happiness. The abundance is such that we cannot separately cite all the studies we used. Instead, we used the empirical findings that are gathered in the World Database of Happiness (WDH) (Veenhoven, 2006). We will note the section in the WDH where these data can be found, in particular the relevant sections of the ‘Catalogue of Correlational Findings’, which can be browsed on the web. (http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl). We also used the narrative reviews by Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith (1999) and Veenhoven (1997) and the book Understanding Happiness by Headey and Wearing (1992).

4.1 Do not seek wealth

Schopenhauer writes that a lot of money does not make one very happy. Everybody needs a basic income to be able to survive, but after that, wealth is very relative. This view is corroborated in the findings of contemporary empirical research. The many correlational studies listed in the WDH (findings on ‘Income’) typically show little relationship between objective income and happiness in affluent nations. Satisfaction with income is more strongly related to happiness than actual income. Schopenhauer is right when he states that satisfaction with income is more a matter of interpretation than of objective circumstances.

4.2 Do not seek status

Schopenhauer sees social status as fundamentally unimportant, but acknowledges that it is difficult to accept that people do not respect you. This view is not wholly supported by contemporary research findings. Many studies have found positive correlations between happiness and indicators of social prestige—in particular with occupational prestige, managers and professionals being typically happier than clerks and unskilled labourers (WDH, findings on ‘Occupation’). Satisfaction with perceived popularity is more strongly related with happiness than actual socio-metrical popularity (WDH, findings on ‘Popularity’).

Schopenhauer’s own life illustrates the importance of fame. He was said to have been quite happy after the success of Parerga und Paralipomena, because he was finally as popular as he thought he should be. He died, relatively satisfied, at the ripe age of 72.

4.3 Personality is crucial

Schopenhauer declares that a person’s character is the basis for a relatively happy life. Other circumstances are less important. Our lives are destined by luck and the characteristics with which we are born. Schopenhauer therefore advises us to seek happiness in ourselves.

Many empirical investigations on happiness consider its relationship to personality. The results of much of this research are stored in the WDH (findings on ‘Current personality’), and the correlations are typically strong. Diener et al. (1999) describe personality as ‘one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of subjective well being’, although the complicated interaction between personality, life events, coping strategy and circumstances of the environment has not been explored in full. Schopenhauer’s emphasis on the characteristics with which we are born is also justified. Happiness is partly dependent on inheritance and has trait-like properties (Diener et al., 1999), although the actual circumstances of life are important as well (Headey & Wearing, 1992; Veenhoven, 1994).

4.4 What kind of personality makes you happy?

Extraversion enhances well being, because of the greater sensitivity to rewards and by seeking more pleasant social interactions. Optimism stimulates happiness by generalized positive expectancies of the future and the related thought that outcomes in the future are under personal control. Neuroticism lowers well being by its focus on the negative aspects of the world (Diener et al., 1999). This is almost the exact opposite of what Schopenhauer proposes to his readers.

A defender of Schopenhauerian pessimism can ask what the relevance is of the differences of opinion about personality. As stated, personality is largely inheritable, and in a happiness enhancing self-help book it is not as important to be right about the happy personality traits, as it is to give solid advice on changing the interaction with the environment. It can even be said that Schopenhauer offers solace to people without happiness-enhancing personality traits. He warns that negative affect has nothing to do with personal inferiority, but is a logical consequence of the state of the world. This stimulates acceptance and may serve as an antidote to negative rumination.

However, the position of Schopenhauer on personality is problematic in a self-help book, because personality also influences the interaction with the (social) environment. Schopenhauer tells his readers not to try to solve problems in the interaction with others, but to avoid them altogether and to use emotion-focused coping for the remaining negative affect.

Headey and Wearing’s (1992) analysis of the interaction patterns of different personality types yield a different conclusion. They found that certain types of personality encounter certain types of events in their lives. The same people keep telling us that they made new friends, that a friendship with someone of the opposite sex became closer, that they got promoted at work, or were sacked. Harmony or fights in the family also tend to be recurring experiences. Headey and Wearing use the personality traits extraversion and neuroticism (emotional (in)stability) to explain the differences in types of events people encounter. Headey and Wearing distinguish between positive and negative life events and between well being and psychological distress. Table 1 gives an overview.

Table 1 Personality Full size table

The phlegmatic type rates low on well being and low on psychological distress. These people lead a rather monochrome life. The sanguine type rates high on well being and low on psychological distress. They lead a rather happy and social life, without worrying too much. The choleric type has both high levels of well being but also of psychological distress. The melancholic type rates low on well being and high on psychological distress. According to Headey and Wearing, people experience a personal dynamic equilibrium in patterns of life events. This means that people’s lives are strongly influenced by their personality and will in time return to the pattern of events that is typical for their personality type. History will repeat itself.

Headey and Wearing (1992, pp. 172–192) also offer advice on how to increase our chances of happiness. Since social interaction is one of the more important satisfiers, one of the possibilities is to learn the social skills that extrovert and stable people have naturally. It is also important to find some kind of meaning or purpose in life. In general it might help to explore fully the activities one likes to do best. Headey and Wearing tell their readers to enthusiastically seek interaction with the environment, and not to limit themselves to emotion-focused coping. This is the opposite of what you would do if you were to follow Schopenhauer’s self-help book.

A weakness in their argument is that they base their advice for the people low on well being on the behaviours that work well for the people with other personality traits, whereas Schopenhauer strongly emphasizes that personality is given. Can the advice to change the interaction with the environment be counterproductive, as it requires from people that they change something that is outside their control, their personalities? We were unable to find intervention studies that enable us to answer this question directly, but a secondary analysis of the Australian Panel Study allowed us to test if the benefits of intimate social ties had equally strong positive effects for different personality types (see below).

4.5 Avoid problems

In Schopenhauer’s general rules, the emphasis lies on finding freedom from pain and being satisfied with little. This advice is unfortunate for two reasons. The first is that absence of distress is not sufficient to warrant happiness. We have described above that phlegmatic people are low on distress and low on well being. Also, choleric people are high on distress, but high on well being as well. It can be concluded that happiness is a more positive state than the mere absence of pain.

The second reason is that emotion-focused coping keeps people from actively pursuing the goals in life they find important. Schopenhauer tells them not to try too much, because in the end nothing lasts. Research, however, shows that having goals can add structure and meaning to daily life and that progress towards goals can produce high well being (Diener et al., 1999). Reaching a certain goal makes people feel more in control of their lives and increases feelings of self-worth (Baumeister, 1991, pp. 119–127). Happy people are usually active, outgoing, concerned in the world and involved in the lives of other people (Veenhoven, 1988).

4.6 Do not be optimistic

We mentioned above that optimism is correlated with higher well being, and it is worthwhile to go deeper into this subject, because Schopenhauer believed that superficial optimism would render people vulnerable to depression. He advised people not to be too optimistic, because the worst is yet to come. Research however shows that optimism is also a positive trait in challenging circumstances. It helps people to see the negative in perspective: by seeing the future as enjoyable, you are more likely to see negative events as temporary. Optimism gives people the strength to deal with the negative, because it helps people to focus on aspects of a given situation that are within their personal control, so they can make the best of adversities. Optimism correlates positively with well being (Scheier et al., 2001).

Pessimism however is not always bad. Norem (2001) explains that defensive pessimism (the cognitive strategy where individuals set low expectations for an upcoming performance, despite having done well in the past) helps people high on anxiety to prepare for challenges. People using this strategy usually perform well. They realize what a bad performance can mean for them and this inspires them to put effort into the preparation. By expecting the worst they curb anxiety about failures. In these circumstances the low expectations are not self-fulfilling. Unrealistic optimism can lead to risk behaviour and quitting when things turn out to be more difficult than expected. People need enough optimism to start something new and enough pessimism to see that the road ahead might be difficult.

Schopenhauer’s position has some characteristics that can be thought of as a form of defensive pessimism. His message is that no matter how terrible our ordeal is, we must try and make the best of it. We should never give up, and should never let our misfortune get to us. He also makes it easier to accept misfortunes by helping people to acknowledge that they are only partly to blame for them. After all, we must realize that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. Try to face the negative aspects of life bravely, and concentrate on what you have instead of what you lack: this is also a form of advice that is almost optimistic. The same is true for his idea that we should not hesitate to spend time or money to avoid misfortunes.

Schopenhauer’s pessimism is not absolute and he avoids important pitfalls of pessimism (suppression of thoughts, giving up, self-distraction, cognitive avoidance, focus on distress and overt denial), but this does not mean that he uses his pessimism constructively. His idea is that we can teach ourselves to adapt to a miserable world by changing our reactions to it and to enjoy Byron’s ‘solitude of kings’, but he forgets that it often works out better to try to change the world according to our needs and wants. Not all people are awful and we can even find some friends and a partner of our liking. Our well being is greatly served by it.

4.7 Shun people

According to Schopenhauer people and friendship should not be trusted and especially the talented should prefer loneliness. The empirical findings indicate that this is not correct. A positive attitude towards social interaction and friendship shows a positive correlation with happiness and so does the number of visits of relatives, the number of friends, the number of close friends, the attendance at parties, the amount of intimate discussions and social participation (WDH, correlational findings on happiness and ‘Friendship’, ‘Family’ and ‘Social involvement’).

4.8 Do not marry

In Schopenhauer’s view, marriage has been created by women to make sure that men take care of them financially, and is something that would make men unhappy. This idea is not supported by contemporary data.Footnote 3 In fact, being married is good for the well being of both men and women, but the correlations are even higher for men (WDH, correlational findings on happiness and ‘Marital status’). It seems that women are more able to form social networks that buffer the loneliness of being single. Below we will see that marriage is especially profitable for neurotics.

4.9 Remain yourself

Schopenhauer warns his readers about the dangers of conformism. You can better be yourself and not pay too much attention to the opinions of others. The existing findings on this subject are mixed. There is a positive correlation between happiness and being courteous, cooperative, tactful, conscientiousness, trustworthy and with seeking social approval, which seems to indicate that compliance with a group raises happiness. On the other hand happy people appear to be less conforming, more independent, less inhibited and less inclined to feel guilty (WDH, correlational findings on happiness and ‘Personality’).

The advice of Schopenhauer may have been too extreme in his emphasis on self-determination, but his emphasis on internal motivation instead of giving in to societal pressures, is probably conducive to happiness. Internal motivation goes with more interest, excitement and confidence, which explains enhanced performance, persistence and creativity and heightened vitality, self-esteem and happiness (Ryan & Deci, 2000).