"For instance, someone who got married in 1990 might experience a boost above their trait level of happiness for that year," Lucas explained.
"This boost might carry over for a year or two, which means that those people who were happier than average in 1990 would also be happier than average in 1991 and perhaps 1992, but by 1993, the effect might have dissipated, bringing them back to their trait level — or some new level that resulted from additional intervening life events."
Daily happenings also influence feelings of satisfaction in the short-run.
David Myers, a psychology professor at Michigan’s Hope College, told Discovery News that he fully agrees with the findings, which demonstrate "our emotional responses to good and bad events have a shorter half life than most people suppose."
Myers likens feelings of well-being to our cholesterol levels.
He explained, "Both are genetically influenced and moderately stable, yet also influenced by our lifestyles."
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California at Riverside and associate editor of The Journal of Positive Psychology, agrees we only have so much control over our own level of happiness.
"Approximately one-third of our happiness is likely unmodifiable and genetically determined," she concluded. "One-third is influenced by major life transitions and events — like marriage or job loss — and one-third is influenced by daily or momentary events, such as stress at work this week, the weather and daily uplifts."
