A vast study of people in 158 countries shows that among the nonmaterial personal needs of respect, autonomy and social support, respect is the strongest predictor of positive feelings, say Weiting Ng of SIM University in Singapore and Ed Diener of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Gallup Organisation. In the survey of 838,151 people, respect levels were gauged through respondents’ answers to the question of whether they had been ‘treated with respect’ the previous day.

(Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, October 27th, 2014