Critics come down hard on fatally flawed happiness study

A high-profile 2013 study that concluded that different kinds of happiness are associated with dramatically different patterns of gene activity is fatally flawed, according to an analysis which tore into its target with language rarely seen in science journals.

The paper, published like the first in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, faults the research for "dubious analyses" and "erroneous methodology" and says it "conjured nonexistent effects out of thin air".

In the 2013 study, researchers had adults answer 14 questions meant to sort them into two groups: interested in hedonic well-being (fun and selfish pleasure) or eudaimonic well-being (leading a meaningful life).

The two groups, researchers led by psychologist Barbara Frederickson of the University of North Carolina reported, had different patterns of activity in 53 genes. Hedonists had DNA activity akin to people suffering from chronic, illness-inducing stress.

Hedonists, it seemed, were headed for a disease-ridden existence and an early grave.

The claim caught the eye of Nick Brown, a British IT worker who has become a persistent amateur critic of what he sees as shoddy statistical analysis in psychology research.