The Positive Power of Negative Emotions by Dr Tim Lomas

Author:Dr Tim Lomas [TIM LOMAS, DR]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780349412856
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2016-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

The Love Seeker

It’s not just about the house. Having a strong, well-maintained structure that provides shelter for everyone inside is vital. But then what really starts to matter is how those people treat each other. The previous level of the House Builder referred not merely to keeping ourselves alive by addressing our physiological needs but also to cultivating a prosperous and equitable society that meets our safety and security concerns. We all benefit from a society in which we are guarded from crime (a good police force and a fair legal system), supported when we’re weak or out of luck (strong welfare provision) and so on. But is that enough? What about those moments that light up our days – a kiss from a loved one, a kind word from a colleague, a smile from a stranger? What if we can’t trust our neighbours, have no friends to lean on or find work drudgery because we don’t get along with our colleagues? To explore these questions, we shall revisit Scandinavia. This time, though, the discussion will be more than a straightforward celebration of the region; because, even in these pinnacles of civilisation, there are some remarkable differences in health and happiness. And many of these can be traced back to the Love Seeker: our need to belong and to be loved.

In the early years of this century, Markku Hyyppä and Juhani Mäki conducted a landmark study on the cold western coast of Finland.12 Nestled within the Finnish-speaking majority of the region is a Swedish-speaking minority, a legacy of the seven centuries during which Finland was ruled by its western neighbour. Other than this linguistic difference, though, the two groups are very similar. They share almost identical genetic profiles, physical constitutions, levels of educational attainment, job prospects, socio-economic status, access to services (such as healthcare) and so on. To use the metaphor of the previous level, the two groups share a single house. Their ecological context is identical too, of course: they breathe the same air, eat the same fish, look up at the same stars. Yet the members of the Swedish-speaking minority tend to live far longer than their Finnish-speaking compatriots – fully eight years longer in the case of the men. So what is going on?

After analysing the two groups’ behavioural patterns, Hyyppä and Mäki felt that the difference in life expectancy can be explained by a single factor, namely ‘social capital’. We’re all familiar with the concept of economic capital: the money in our bank accounts, the financial resources that allow us to buy what we need and splash out on what we want. Similarly, social capital is the sum total of our social resources: the number of people we know and feel we can turn to for help, the degree of trust we have in our neighbours, the extent to which we feel part of our community, the quality of our friendships, the number of communal activities in which we participate, the depth of the love we receive from those who are close to us and so on.

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