It is better to be right than to be happy – at least for one husband on the cutting edge of science.
As part of an unusual experiment, the husband was instructed to “agree with his wife’s every opinion and request without complaint,” and to continue doing so “even if he believed the female participant was wrong,” according to a report on the research that was published Tuesday by the British Medical Journal.
The husband and wife were helping a trio of doctors test their theory that pride and stubbornness get in the way of good mental health. In their own medical practices in New Zealand, they had observed patients leading “unnecessarily stressful lives by wanting to be right rather than happy.” If these patients could just let go of the need to prove to others that they were right, would greater happiness be the result?
Enter the intrepid husband. Based on the assumption that men would rather be happy than be right, he was told to agree with his wife in all cases. However, based on the assumption that women would rather be right than be happy, the doctors decided not to tell the wife why her husband was suddenly so agreeable.
Read more at the LOS ANGELES TIMES.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
I heard a wonderful Shabbos Shuvah derashah from Rabbi YY Jacobson in Crown Heights. He asked if we ever noticed how quickly children settle their fights. One minute, the little boy fights with his friend over whose turn in next. Within 2 minutes or so, watch them at play, and you’ll see no remnants of discord.
On the other hand, adults can fight to the death and until death to prove who’s right.
Rabbi Jacobson concluded that children know that it’s better to be happy than right, while adults lost that wisdom and presently would rather be right than happy