Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Pursuit of Happiness
An article in yesterday's Post-Dispatch discusses the research of several scientists studying happiness. Evidently, some scientists are starting to question the idea that people have a "set-point" to happiness that is hard to alter; instead, they are looking for ways to increase happiness.
That article was a bit light on actual science, but some googling led to this article about Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, a professor at University of California, Riverside. She found that some strategies, such as being mindful of one's blessings or doing acts of kindness for others, can increase people's levels of short-term happiness. She says, “Following through on new intentions or activities is not necessarily easy.... We assume that happiness-increasing strategies can be effectively pursued only with concerted, consistent commitment and effort.” Sounds like hard work to me.
In an interview, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert discusses how "genes and culture" lead people astray in their pursuit of happiness:
As for the health benefits of happiness, according to this article, people with happy dispositions are less likely to get sick when exposed to cold germs. As we head into cold season, you might want to count your blessings and do some good deeds to be on the safe side.
That article was a bit light on actual science, but some googling led to this article about Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, a professor at University of California, Riverside. She found that some strategies, such as being mindful of one's blessings or doing acts of kindness for others, can increase people's levels of short-term happiness. She says, “Following through on new intentions or activities is not necessarily easy.... We assume that happiness-increasing strategies can be effectively pursued only with concerted, consistent commitment and effort.” Sounds like hard work to me.
In an interview, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert discusses how "genes and culture" lead people astray in their pursuit of happiness:
The interplay between these two, genes and culture, are both self-perpetuating systems. They are systems that want to survive, and the way they survive is getting us to do things for them. For example, our genes require that we reproduce. Our culture requires that we consume goods and services. So both our genes and culture conspire to lead us to believe that things like, oh, having children or getting rich will make us very happy. But the data from economics and psychology are abundantly clear. Having children tends to create a small negative effect on people's happiness and having money has a very little relationship to people's happiness, so both of these are bad theories about the kinds of things that will bring us happiness in the future.Cheerful stuff, eh? The Post-Dispatch article offers parents a ray of hope by saying that parental happiness does increase once children leave home, and in this article Gilbert admits that children can bring "transcendent moments of joy."
As for the health benefits of happiness, according to this article, people with happy dispositions are less likely to get sick when exposed to cold germs. As we head into cold season, you might want to count your blessings and do some good deeds to be on the safe side.
posted by Tess | 5:26 PM
4 Comments:
Interesting stuff...two quick comments. 1) The article mentions studies of Germans. Since I live in Germany right now (only for a few more weeks!) I can observe that most young German academics seem very unhappy and anxious for the most part, because their job situation is extremely dire. I wonder what is the effect on happiness for people who encounter large-scale structural problems that they can't control? 2) On the same subject of jobs, the article also notes that being laid off, like divorce or loss of a loved one, is one of the major life events that can send happiness plumetting. Maybe politicians who determine jobs and trade policy (to say nothing of CEOs and finance capitalists) should think about that when they celebrate the creative dynamism of the globalized economy that has led to so many working people in industrialized countries losing their jobs (and security, and health care...) Okay, sorry for the political digression. See, I can turn anything into a political commentary!
Okay, one more quick comment. I am a bit surprised to hear that parenting children has a somewhat negative effect on happiness. In my experience, visiting families with small children (such as Ben at Tess & Tom's house!) can give me a little happiness boost. I suppose, though, that having to deal with the stresses of parenting every day is a different matter. Maybe that's why people seem to want to be grandparents so much, even more than parents.
c_l, there's abundant evidence that being uncertain about one's "place," whether that means a human uncertain about a job or a monkey uncertain about its place in the hierarchy, makes stress go up. . . which usually means happiness goes down. for more, take a look at _why zebras don't get ulcers_. i think you'd especially like the chapter in which the pervasive stress-related effects on SES in humans is constrasted to the more flexible ways that rank has an effect on stress in primates.
I think Tom has a point, at from my highly scientific anecdotes ;) Finding one's place brings happiness, no matter what that place might be. If a person is unhappy parenting, perhaps too stressed or regreting what they sacrifice to complete the daily chores of being a parent, they get depressed. Finding fulfillment within that framework -- or even within the framework of the daily corporate grind -- means you have at least some control over your day. People with no control are unhappy people, which is why I think we equate moneyw ith happiness -- money lightens certain practical burdens and that feeling of being out of control.
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