What Makes Us Happy?

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/happiness

by toffer • 17 years ago

74 31 17 years ago

badger74• 17 years ago

The following talk is required viewing before any discussion on happiness can take place. It's absolutely and completely vital to understand the points demonstrated in this talk to have an informed opinion on the subject.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_...

Long story short: Choice makes us unhappy, yet we believe that it's what will make us happy and so we strive for it. We actively seek out that which will make us unhappy in the search for happiness.

akamaka3• 17 years ago

I couldn't get halfway through the article, as it's filled with pointless details.

This TED talk, on the other hand, is straight to the point.

Watch it instead.

greendestiny• 17 years ago

The article truly has nothing to do with the role of choice on happiness, its about the study of entire lives with depth.

ilitirit• 17 years ago

I suppose it depends on how you approach the article. I didn't really expect a concise, scientific piece from The Atlantic, especially one that starts off as a flashback reminiscent of a mild psycho-drama. I didn't expect it to give me the secret to happiness either. I read it more as a collection of non-fictional short stories with a binding theme (life and happiness) I suppose. That's probably why I enjoyed it more than you did.

coglethorpe• 17 years ago

If you like the talk, read Gilbert's book "Stumbling on Happiness," which is the long version of the talk.

badger74• 17 years ago

Books? You have time to read books? (I jest - 'tis nearing the top of a very long list...)

tremendo2• 17 years ago

or "The paradox of choice: Why more is less" by Barry Schwartz.

derefr2• 17 years ago

Well, just the right amount of choice (just enough to occupy your mind, but no more), where all choices lead to situations involving similar amounts of choice, is commonly known as "fun." We're trying to optimize for a specific level of choice (the "fun" level), and we go over as often as we go under—over leads to stress, under leads to helplessness.

aoeu• 17 years ago

Gilbert appeared on edge.org..

"You may think that it would be good to feel happy at all times, but we have a word for animals that never feel distress, anxiety, fear, and pain: That word is dinner."

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gilbert06/gilbert06_index.ht...

tremendo2• 17 years ago

Very long article but I still found it valuable. It identifies a few factors as being better predictors of happiness in later life, not just having say factor #1 or #3 but a combination of them simultaneously, the more--of course--the better.

It does seem to put more weight on how we deal with adversity as being probably more important, having a range of "strategies" from the more immature to the more advanced, which suggests that they are learned or one can eventually make the leap to the better ways. Also it mentions how physical health as a young adult is a better predictor of mental health later in life, but not so much of physical health. And of course, that warm, deep personal relationships are very important too, not so much quantity, but quality.

Have not watched the TED video suggested by badger7, but I believe there is value in this article too. Do not dismiss it for being too "narrative" or simply long.

spon• 17 years ago

Here's an interesting passage from the article:

"But what does it mean, really, to be happier? For 30 years, Denmark has topped international happiness surveys. But Danes are hardly a sanguine bunch. Ask an American how it’s going, and you will usually hear 'Really good.' Ask a Dane, and you will hear 'Det kunne være værre (It could be worse).'

"'Danes have consistently low (and indubitably realistic) expectations for the year to come,' a team of Danish scholars concluded. 'Year after year they are pleasantly surprised to find that not everything is getting more rotten in the state of Denmark.'"

"Of course, happiness scientists have come up with all kinds of straightforward, and actionable, findings: that money does little to make us happier once our basic needs are met; that marriage and faith lead to happiness (or it could be that happy people are more likely to be married and spiritual); that temperamental “set points” for happiness—a predisposition to stay at a certain level of happiness—account for a large, but not overwhelming, percentage of our well-being. (Fifty percent, says Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness. Circumstances account for 10 percent, and the other 40 percent is within our control.) But why do countries with the highest self-reports of subjective well-being also yield the most suicides? How is it that children are often found to be a source of “negative affect” (sadness, anger)—yet people identify children as their greatest source of pleasure?"

biohacker42• 17 years ago

Danes have consistently low (and indubitably realistic) expectations...

Life consistently sucks, but if you accept that, you can be pleasantly surprised.

mrbgty• 17 years ago

I'm a little skeptical of this type of happiness in Denmark. It seems to come with a feeling of giving up. Yes, things could be worse, but if they were, would you really care or try to make it better? Are you giving up on life?

known• 17 years ago

Happiness? Quite Simple. Practice Altruism.

Luff• 17 years ago

Happiness? Not that simple. Where does happiness come from? Most rationals would answers evolution. If that's the case, then it should have a function. Figure that one out and you will also learn how to become happy.

derefr2• 17 years ago

"Happiness" is a vague emotion, like love, not an objective, short-term, measurable one, like calm, contentment, or excitation. However, all states of happiness usually share in common a factor of endorphin release.

Endorphins are basically one of two basic mechanisms for "fitting" data in the brain-as-neural-net, with the other being pain: pain is the reinforcement mechanism that trains your neurons to not do that again, while endorphins tell your brain to do please do that again. People are "happy" (have endorphins) when they're doing things that their body encourages them to do. To be happy is simply to be one with your body's material desires (though note that your brain is part of your body, and it has material desires of its own, for things like friendship.)

jseliger• 17 years ago

The answer would tend to be "not what you think." I'm surprised the article doesn't mention Daniel Gilbert's book Stumbling on Happiness (see more about it here: http://jseliger.com/2009/04/23/stumbling-on-happiness-—-dani... ), which discusses the role of income, perception, consumption, and more.

nearfar• 17 years ago

For a completely different take on happiness (24x7 happiness, not the typical affective pleasure), see:

http://actualfreedom.com.au/

cgs• 17 years ago

Interesting bits from the article:

In an interview in the March 2008 newsletter to the Grant Study subjects, Vaillant was asked, “What have you learned from the Grant Study men?” Vaillant’s response: “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.”

“What we do,” Vaillant concluded, “affects how we feel just as much as how we feel affects what we do.”

bf2• 17 years ago

Drat, I was hoping for a link to a Hannah Montana website, because that would make <i>me</i> happy.

bf2• 17 years ago

"Hacker News" doesn't support HTML tags? Are you f*ing kidding me?

pg• 17 years ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

What Makes Us Happy?

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