Forget Lady Luck! People who believe in FATE are more likely to be anxious and neurotic, study reveals
- 844 students were surveyed on their happiness, personality and belief in luck
- Those who believed in fate were more likely to be anxious and neurotic
- The findings undermine the term ‘happy-go-lucky’, researchers claim
Whether it’s after betting big at the casino or following a job interview, many people turn to ‘Lady Luck’ for help.
But a new study may put you off relying on fate in the future.
Researchers from the University of Bath have revealed that people who believe that luck is a random, external phenomenon, are more likely to be anxious and neurotic.
However, people who consider themselves lucky in terms of their personal circumstances are more likely to describe themselves as happy.
The findings undermine the term ‘happy-go-lucky’, the researchers claim.
Researchers from the University of Bath have revealed that people who believe that luck is a random, external phenomenon, are more likely to be anxious and neurotic (stock image)
Nirvana fans are more likely to be neurotic
A study suggests that what we listen to says a lot about our personality.
Researchers found that Ed Sheeran’s song Shivers is most likely to appeal to extroverts.
Those with neurotic traits are most likely to be into Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit, while agreeable people tend to like Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, or Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s Shallow.
Meanwhile conscientious people are unlikely to enjoy Rage Against the Machine.
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‘The happy do not seem to go lucky,’ explained Professor Edmund Thompson, who led the study.
‘To the contrary, a personal belief in luck as an entity determining outcomes is found to be linked with pessimism and negativity rather than to a cheery, carefree and optimistic disposition.
‘These results hold true even after controlling for the effects of age and sex’.
In the study, the researchers surveyed 844 students in Hong Kong.
The survey was designed to assess their happiness, personality traits and belief in luck.
The results revealed that participants who believed that luck is a random, external phenomenon were more likely to be anxious and neurotic.
Meanwhile, people who thought that they were generally lucky, in the sense of having been personally fortunate, were more likely to be happy.
‘We find that people seem naturally to make an unconscious distinction between, on one hand, believing in luck as an agentic phenomenon capable of determining their lives and, on the other, considering themselves “lucky” in the sense of being fortunate purely by random chance,’ said Professor Thompson.
‘Those who irrationally believe in luck as an agentic phenomenon would appear to do so because they are by disposition more neurotic, pessimistic and negative: these are personality traits long associated with lower levels of life-satisfaction, wellbeing and happiness.
‘However, those who think they are fortunate because things have “luckily” turned out well for them, often by complete accident rather than purposeful design, generally believe this because they have a suit of characteristics disposing them to objectivity, logic and gratitude, personality traits found broadly to be linked to higher happiness levels.
‘When it comes to happiness, the saying that the “happy go lucky” may be wrong, but the expression “count your blessings” would seem to be quite right,’ he concluded.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal part of life that affects different people in different ways at different times.
Whereas stress can come and go, anxiety often persists and does not always have an obvious cause.
Along with depression, anxiety is among the most common mental-health condition in the UK, affecting 8.2million people in 2013 alone.
Around 40million adults suffer from the condition in the US every year.
Anxiety can make a person imagine things in their life are worse than they are or that they are going mad.
Although it evolved as part of the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism in our caveman days to avoid danger, anxiety can be inappropriately activated in everyday life when stress builds up.
It can have a clear cause, such as moving house or having surgery. However, sometimes little life events build up until a person is unable to cope, with anxiety then taking them by surprise.
Physical symptoms can include:
- Increased heart rate and muscle tension
- Hyperventilation and dizziness
- Nausea
- A tight band across the chest
- Tension headaches
- Hot flushes
- Sweating
- ‘Jelly legs’
- Shaking
- Feeling like you are choking
- Tingling in the hands and feet
Some psychological symptoms are:
- Thinking you are going mad or losing control
- Thinking you may die or get ill
- Feeling people are staring at you
- Feeling detached from others or on edge
Treatment often involves counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy.
Activates like yoga, exercise, reading and socialising can help to manage anxiety.
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