Happiness - an exploration
by Nat Binzen
What we’ll cover
Origins of the question of happiness
2,300 years ago
Aristotle asked the question, “What is the ultimate purpose of human existence?”
People are typically observed seeking pleasure, wealth, and a good reputation
“that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else”
His answer: happiness
eudaimonia - flourishing�hedonia - pleasure
Could there be other answers?
Age of Enlightenment
In the United States Declaration of Independence, Jefferson gave us the immortal formulation for inalienable rights:
"Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"
Among the possible influences for this phrasing, there are associations with:
There’s an ideological debate here…
So we begin with…
So, is happiness…
Is happiness…
or
Two major questions for ‘the pursuit of happiness’:
What does happiness consist of? (What’s it look like?)
What causes happiness? (What brings it about?)
In other words,
What are we pursuing? And/or is �the pursuit itself the happiness?
The emergence of Positive Psychology
Happiness is now seen as an essential psychological ingredient for optimal human functioning that makes life worth living.
A contemporary definition of happiness: a positive mental or emotional state caused by enjoyment and contentment
Measured by instruments like the Subjective Happiness Scale
Happiness is conceptualized as:
Set point theory
A person’s “set-point” of happiness sets around age 16 and remains relatively consistent thereafter.
“Your set level is a combination of hereditary genes that you receive through your DNA and your own personality traits.”
It can also be increased or decreased as a result of life events, such as changes in…
…but people usually return to their original ‘setting’.
“Some of the proven ways you can increase your set level of happiness are positive long-term changes in circumstances (winning the lottery, a promotion at work, hiring a life coach) and changes in attitudes…[and altruism].”
The unhappiest people
People aged 40-59 are the least happy people in the world
How does Set Point theory square with that?
So how can we increase our set point again?
“Our genes and personality traits do determine our levels of happiness, but only 50% of it. 10% of our happiness is determined by circumstances (health and financial security can cause high levels of unhappiness, but they actually make up the smallest amount of our happiness). The remaining 40% of our happiness is up to us. Through our attitudes, activities and actions, we have complete control over our happiness.”
- Ed Diener: ‘Subjective Well-Being’
The predominant research-based determinants of happiness are:
How would you study happiness?
What variable(s)?
How would you know you’ve found something useful or interesting?
Exploring the elements of happiness
mental and emotional well-being
Our cognitive activities: �thoughts + emotions
Joy is one of the primary emotions � (=happiness) … along with…
fear, sadness, anger, shame�(pride, guilt, awe…)
Indicates happiness as a transient emotional state experienced in the present tense
Assumption: Thoughts lead to emotions
For example:
relationships & sociability
People get a ‘happiness boost’ when they are around positive, loving companions; sources of love and support increase feelings of self-worth
How: choose to be around people who increase your chances of happiness
The happiest people are true to themselves: they know who and what makes them happy and they exert every effort to stay in these good, positive environments
Set aside quality time / plan experiences / talk to a new person every week / smile at others
“one thing continuously demonstrates its broad and enduring importance: Good relationships.”
other candidates for elements of happiness
engagement - with things…
lifestyle
anticipation of good things
attitude
positive affectivity (emotions)
acts of gratitude and kindness
Focus on the research, and how evidence is produced
Does happiness lead to success, or does success lead to happiness?
Two groups
Then participants have to do a 10-minute problem-solving exercise.
Result: The “positive affect” group solved the problem 14% faster. Implication: being happier enables greater success
What do you think?
From 2017 The Science of Happiness videos - If You're Happy and You Know It
Showing gratitude as a strong variable for happiness
From 2017 The Science of Happiness videos - An Experiment in Gratitude
Those who wrote it down, but did not make the call: 2-4% increase in happiness
Those who got the person on the phone: 4-19% increase in happiness
Result
Anticipation of good things
The effect of anticipating a nice vacation boosted happiness for eight weeks before the vacation.
After the vacation, for most people, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels.
Only those who had a “very relaxing” vacation had longer effects.
chill…
Consider the source
Is this good research? Does it �tell us something important?
Experimental research in psychology may look at its object in a very short-term, narrowly focused way.
Smile and be happy? A case of the psychology research replicability crisis
“One long-standing hypothesis is that smiling makes you feel happier. In a classic 1988 study, researchers asked 92 Illinois undergraduates to hold a felt tip pen in their mouth either with their teeth, forcing an unnatural grin, or with their lips, making them pout. The students then looked at four examples of The Far Side comics. On average, those with the forced smiles found the one-panel comics slightly funnier than those with the forced pouts.
But when 17 different research labs got together to retest the pen-clench smile’s effects on 1,894 new participants, the finding failed to hold up, the researchers reported in 2016.
from Here's the Happiness Research that Stands Up to Scrutiny (Scientific American)
Smile and be happy? On the other hand…
Posing smiles can brighten our mood - Stanford Report �Oct 20, 2022 — After analyzing their data, the �researchers found a noticeable increase in �happiness from participants mimicking smiling �photographs or pulling …
Psychologists Find Smiling Really Can Make People Happier Knoxville Apr 11, 2019 — Smiling really can make people feel happier, according to a new paper published in Psychological Bulletin.
New research finds forcing a smile is a real mood-booster Nov 24, 2024 — A new study shows that forcing a smile might improve your own mood. Sebastian Korb is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex in England.
Didn’t find clear evidence of benefits for:
Negative experiences, adverse life events, risk factors
Happiness methods may hit a limitation with people who have had life experiences of prolonged abuse, hopelessness, fear, shame.
These experiences are encoded in memory �and affecting brain features/functioning.
They may lead a person into an ongoing �pattern in which they act with caution, �anxiety, compulsion, depression, etc., �which may affect their �opportunities for success…
Sociocultural/cross-cultural method
The predominant happiness determinants were: mental, emotional, and physical well-being; a purposeful holistic work–life balance; nurturing social relationships; caring for self and others; and being in harmony with one’s culture, traditions, community, religion, and environment.
It’s a meta-analysis of many other studies. Three inclusion criteria:
(i) the happiness variable was measured specifically within the study
(ii) happiness was a dependent variable only and not an independent variable
(iii) happiness was measured quantitatively
Does more money correlate with greater happiness?
A much-publicized 2010 study indicated that the happiness effect of increased income diminished over $100,000. Later studies called it into question. “Reconciling previously contradictory results, researchers from Penn and Princeton find a steady association between larger incomes and greater happiness for most people but a rise and plateau for an unhappy minority.
“Emotional well-being and income aren’t connected by a single relationship: ‘The function differs for people with different levels of emotional well-being’
Methodology - resolving contradictory findings
“The researchers began this combined effort recognizing that their previous work had drawn different conclusions. Kahneman’s 2010 study showed a flattening pattern where Killingsworth’s 2021 study did not. As its name suggests, an adversarial collaboration of this type—a notion originated by Kahneman—aims to solve scientific disputes or disagreements by bringing together the differing parties, along with a third-party mediator.
“The 2010 data showing a plateau in happiness had mostly perfect scores, so it tells us about the trend in the unhappy end of the happiness distribution, rather than the trend of happiness in general.”
How would you study happiness?
What variable(s)?
How would you know you’ve found something useful or interesting?
Design a study
How do the main determinants of happiness (well-being, work-life balance, relationships, harmony with culture, caring for self and others) stack up against Aristotle’s suggestions (wealth, status, leisure)?
concluding
question