July 31, 2009 -- A "hedonometer," or a device that measures happiness, has been created by scientists in Vermont. The software created by Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth collects sentences from blogs, and is now analyzing Tweets, zeroing in on the happiest and saddest days of the last few years. "We wanted to capitalize on the explosion of blogs and now Twitter to build an instrument that would give us some measure of the emotional signal from a large collective of people," said Peter Dodds, a researcher at the University of Vermont and co-author of a new paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies. "All this new data is basically helping us gain insight into social phenomena that didn't exist a few years ago." The scientists started at the Web site wefeelfine.org, which combs through 2.3 million blogs looking for sentences that begin with "I feel" or "I am feeling." The words that came next were ranked on a happiness scale of 1 to 9. A total of 1,034 words were ranked, with "triumphant" registering at 8.87 on one side of the scale and "hostage" measuring at 2.20 at the other end. Using 10 million of these sentences from the last several years, the scientists calculated the general level of happiness for each day. Related Content:
The consistently happiest days are, not surprisingly, vacation days and holidays. The overall happiest days of the last few years were election day (Nov. 4) and President Obama's inauguration (Jan. 20). On these days, people typically typed sentences with words like "pride" and "proud." Some of the saddest days over the last few years have been the anniversaries of 9-11 and even the day before that solemn anniversary, Sept. 10. Michael Jackson's recent death also caused a drop in the average national happiness. Analyzing blogs only measures the general climate of happiness across the entire United States (90 percent of the analyzed blogs were from the United States.) To find the level of happiness in your neck of the woods the researchers are now applying their software to 140-character Tweets. "There are something like 1,000 tweets a minute," said Dobbs. "That's really a lot of data that we can analyze." There are other ways to measure happiness. Many of them involve someone with a clipboard on a street asking something to the effect of "Are you happy today? Yes, No, or Unsure?" The method gathers data, but there well-documented problems with the method; people tend to overestimate their level of happiness. Using people's own writings largely avoids this on-the-spot bias, giving scientists another tool to understand the roots of happiness. Get More NewsSpiders, Scorpions Among World's Oldest CreaturesMany creepy crawlies have been on Earth much longer than previously believed.Blood-Sucking Vampire Bats Sing DuetsWhite-winged vampire bats "harmonize" with separated roost mates.Oldest Hebrew Writing Possibly FoundAncient inscriptions on a 3,000-year-old pottery shard could make history.Rare, Prehistoric-Age Reptile Found in N.Z.A tuatara has been spotted on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in 200 years.Iceman Has No Living RelativesOetzi, the 5,300 year-old frozen mummy, left no living genetic legacy.SLIDE SHOW: Landscapes of TerrorWhat makes a place feel scary? There are scientific explanations.It's Official: People Are Warming the PolesHumans are conclusively to blame for polar warming, say scientists.Eight-Armed Animal Preceded DinosaursWhat may be one of Earth's first animals was no bigger than a coaster and had eight arms.Phoenicians Live on in People's GenesOne in 17 Mediterranean men may be descended from ancient Phoenicians.Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to Frog DeclineA pesticide is found to promote parasites among amphibians.Hubble Telescope Taking Photos AgainThe Hubble Space Telescope is once again snapping stunning photos of the universe.Andean Mummy Hairs Show Hallucinogen UseScientists find direct evidence of hallucinogenic drug use among ancient Andeans.Opals on Mars Reveal Planet's Long Wet PastOpals found on Mars suggest the planet has been wet for much longer. |
advertisement
Top Stories Today10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
10 Feb
|
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
