Last week I posted a poll on my LinkedIn & Instagram networks: Truth, or Happiness?
This is a question I've had since I was younger. I've asked it of many people I adore or admire.
I was fascinated by the results. Here are the main takeaways:
- Truth was the more popular choice.
- On LinkedIn, 65% picked Truth, and 35% picked Happiness.
- On Instagram, 62% picked Truth, and 38% picked Happiness.
- The results between LinkedIn & Instagram were surprisingly similar, even though I have quite different networks on both.
- On both LinkedIn & Instagram, men deviated slightly from the mean towards Happiness, while women deviated slightly from the mean towards Truth.
- For fairness, I disqualified answers of the sort "But sticking to truth brings happiness!" There are only two options, no explanations! (Conversely, one could argue, happiness increases your incentive to be truthful.)
- I also wonder if the results would have been different if the poll was anonymous.
My answer, since coming up with question years ago, was, and still is, Happiness. But I'm less convinced of it now, than I was 10 years ago.
Thanks for playing!
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