I think that's absolutely true, but I don't think it means they are happier. Fascists are high on copium at all times. Their default state is seething, a lot of those motherfuckers are on the brink of complete mental breakdown at all times. They go through life constantly angry at everything and everyone. But culturally they have to say they're happy and loving life and everything is great, even when they don't mean it.

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 1 points 1 week ago

It begs the question of what happiness is, and that's a hard question to answer.

Saying "I am happy" because of social pressure to look happy is different from being in a positive mental state most of the time.

There are affective self-ratings from 1 to 10 that have been used, and these show statistically significant patterns. But the most rigorous approach is the Day Reconstruction Method, where you get randomly prompted during the day to rate your mental state and state what your activity is. It's more labor-intensive and takes more time, though.