Week 1- Science of Happiness Notes

Section 1: What is happiness?  

Video: “Philosophical and Spiritual Views on Happiness” 

Confucius:  

• JEN/REN = dignity,  
• humanity towards others 
• happiness seeks to enhance the welfare of others

Buddhism:  

• Emphasis on compassion 

• Peace and contentfulness
• Nirvana 
• Recognizing difficulties and detaching from negatives  

Taoism:  

• Lao Tzu 

• The meaning of life cannot be grasped by rational mind
• Experiences 
• Weakness vs. Tenderness 

Aristotle: 

• Book titled “Nicomachean Ethics" 

• Happiness is found at the end of life, when remembering all the good you contributed, Givings to the earth
• Principle of moderation: all emotions/ tendencies have their place when cultivated correctly and in the correct context

European Philosophy:

• Happiness is found in pleasure
• Hedonistic view 

• Absence of pain 
• Sensations measure happiness 

Utilitarianism:

• Happiness found in your actions that positively benefit many people
• Positive societal contributions feed happiness 

 

 
VIDEO: HOW SCIENTISTS DEFINE AND MEASURE HAPPINESS 

Clarifying the conceptual domain of Happiness- 

Well-being: “Overall my life is going well” 

Traits: “I’m an enthusiastic person” 

Emotion: “I feel reverence and gratitude” 

Sensation: “The sun feels good on my skin” 

• Overall Wellbeing/ Satisfaction + Positive (vs. Negative) Emotions = Happiness (Subjective wellbeing) 

Methods of Studying Happiness- 

• Observation and experience sampling of people (capturing people in their daily lives) 
• Cross-sectional surveys of happy people (studies of people at happy moments in their life) 
• Longitudinal studies of what makes people happy (grasping a sense of what is the trajectory of a happy life? What are the predictors over time?) 
• Experimental studies (compare effects of a variable vs. Control conditions, effects of emotions and outcomes) 

Measuring Happiness- 

Self-Report: 

• Ed Diener, University of Illinois 
• Satisfaction with Life Scale measures how many people agree with statements like “The conditions of my life are excellent"
• Scale of positive and negative emotion measures self-reported levels of positive and negative feelings

Experience Sampling: 

• Matt Killingsworth, UC Berkely 
• In the moment check-ins (through cell phone) 

Expressive Behavior: 

• From video, audio, or photos 
• Code the action of facial muscles 
• Useful for infants and children 

 

TERMS OF HAPPINESS: DEFINITIONS 

Happiness 

• Term to describe range of positive emotions including joy, contentment, pride, and gratitude
• Interchangeable with “selective well-being" 
• How satisfied one feels with their life plus impacts of positive/ negative emotions 

(Terms describing what scientists measure to measure happiness): 

Life Satisfaction 

• A general assessment that, one's life is good and worth living
• Usually measured with the satisfaction of life scale developed by Ed Diener 

Positive Effect 

• Technical term describing the experience of feeling a positive emotion (such as joy, love, or amusement) 
• Important ingredient to happiness, often used interchangeably however it generally refers to a fleeting emotional state rather than a way of being

Subjective Well- Being 

• Researchers often use this term interchangeably with happiness
• Refers to the way people evaluate their lives in terms of both global life satisfaction and emotional states
• Often assessed by measuring life satisfaction and positive affect 
• Strongly linked to positive health  

NOTES ON ESSAY BY DARRIN M MCMAHON 

Before the 17th century 

•  happiness was perceived as a “matter of luck or divine virtue”
• Today, we think of happiness in connection to something we develop. This can become problematic when we forget that struggle, pain, and failure is a large part of the pursuit of happiness
• In Indo-European language, “happiness” is defined almost identically to the word “luck” (happiness is something out of our hands. It is written in the stars, or in the hands of God. We cannot control happiness) 
• In Greek and Roman philosophy, happiness was to be earned
• The major difference between classical philosophical identifications of happiness and our modern-day definitions is, for them, happiness was not simply a “function of good feeling”. It was more of a lifelong experience that entailed pain and struggle 
• Ancient agreement (including primarily Aristotle) that happiness was not something to just be “handed out”. Happiness takes work, struggle, adaptation, and therefore very few would be able to attain it in their lifetime 

17th and 18th centuries 

• “The happiness revolution”, the bible of European enlightenment (French Encyclopédie) declares that everyone has the right to be happy,  
• Thomas Jefferson’s ideology of self-pursuit, the pursuit of happiness as a right 

End of 17th century 

• John Locke declares “business of man is to be happy” (Pleasure = good and Pain = bad) 
• The ideology of John Locke still lingers as we identify suffering as bad, and join in the belief that all people should and have the right to be happy 

“Unnatural happiness”, the dark manipulative side of ideological pleasure and well-being 

• Increased practice of small “infusions of happiness”  
• Feeling good opposing being good 
• Unnatural expectation that the human default is happiness, causing one to feel that any emotion other than happy to be faulty, or wrong (symptoms to “unhappiness of not being happy”) Cure= internal reflection, identification, and focus 

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT HAPPINESS 

• Happiness does not mean experiencing pleasure or being joyful all the time
• Research conducted by June Gruber (psychologist at Yale) suggests that seeking extreme positive emotion is associated with being at risk for mania
• There is no uniform prescription for happiness

 

Section 2: Why does happiness matter? 

 

VIDEO: THE BENEFITS OF HAPPINESS 

• The benefits of working towards happiness are multifaceted (healthier minds, bodies, relationship's, communities) 
• Greater life expectancy, at peak happiness level one could be adding 5-7 years to their life, later in life it will add around 20 months to their life
• Physical health: Greater resistance to diseases, illnesses, etc. 
• Social health: greater chances in friendships, relationships 
• Happiness and positive emotion foster creativity (problem-solving skills, critical thinking, processing, negotiation) 
• Cultural impact: happiness has a significant impact on nations (productivity, health, well-being) 

 

ESSAYS: WHY BE HAPPY? AND SIX WAYS HAPPINESS IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH 

• Happier people experience increase energy, are more sociable, are charitable, and are liked greatly by others
• Happy people are more likely to get married and sustain their marriage
• Happy people are better leaders, innovators, negotiators, and make more money at work
• Case study: Bhutan making nationwide well-being priority in hopes of boosting economic ventures
• Happiness boosts the immune system and protects your heart
• Happiness combats stress and prevents aches and pains
• Happiness fights against disease and disability 
• Happiness lengthens lives

 

VIDEO: MORE OR LESS HAPPY, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? 

• Approx. 50% of reasons for happiness are determined by our genes
• Approx. 10% lies in life circumstances
• Approx. 40% is in our power to change 
• What do happy people do? Research shows they are good at relationships, are more helpful and grateful, more optimistic, likely to live in the present, savor pleasures, practice spirituality or religion, have meaningful life goals (whether personally or at work) 

VIDEO: WHY STUDY HAPPINESS? 

• Past 30 years, epidemic of loneliness (especially in the US due to fast pace culture) 
• Rise in narcissism and materialistic nature 
• Tackling the rise of inequality in America (themes like altruism, compassion, volunteerism can help to combat trending inequalities) 

Section 3: Happiness and Positive Emotions 

 

VIDEO: POSITIVE EMOTIONS OPEN OUR MINDS (DR. BARBARA FREDRICKSON) 

• Truths of positive emotions: they open us (changes our hearts and minds and outlooks on life) 
• In studies in which positive emotions are inflicted (shown photos, given candy) people are likely to step back and see the big picture and open their minds
• Eye-tracking experiment: when rewarded with a positive (ex: candy) people are likely to look around at a photo instead of the just center image
• Positive emotions extend awareness
• Due to extended awareness, we engage our imaginations more and are more creative
• People are more likely to be resilient when experiencing positive emotions (research shows kids are more likely to score high on tests when thinking of a positive memory before taking the test) 
• An experiment showing physicians making better medical decisions when rewarded with positive emotion
• People are more likely to see beyond labels/ social groups (race, ethnicity, class) when induced in positive emotion
• Individuals are more trusting after experiencing positive emotions
• Positive emotion enhancing interconnection (importance regarding tackling large societal issues) 

 

VIDEO: POSITIVE EMOTIONS TRANSFORM US (DR. BARBARA FREDRICKSON) 

 

• Humans replace 1% of their total body cells each day
• The latest science suggests our emotions affect the pace of cell renewable (positive emotion literally changes who we are over time though it takes continuous effort and control) 
• Research on meditation to elevate positive emotion (love and kindness meditation: asking people to cultivate warm and loving emotion in hopes of teaching yourself how to self-generate that feeling towards people you meet, even if you feel neutral or negative towards them) Verdict = positive emotions CAN change and grow 
• Increased positive emotion through mediation builds resources (mindfulness, warm relationships, resilience, reduction in self-reported health problems, increased vagal tone or heart rate variability) 
• Focusing on micro-moments to feed positive emotion 

ESSAY: A BETTER WAY TO PURSUE HAPPINESS (LAHNNA CATALINO) 

• “Prioritizing positivity” method of seeking happiness: organizing day to naturally encounter positive emotion, incorporating things you love to do into your day (gardening, drawing, time with family...) 
• Prioritizing positivity goes hand in hand with good mental health
• Monitoring one's happiness from one moment to the next may interrupt their happiness completely, therefore incorporating positives into an itinerary is a good way to boost positive emotion 
• Releasing the idea that you need to be happy all the time is vital in seeking happiness

ESSAY: HOW HAPPY BRAINS RESPOND TO NEGATIVE THINGS (SUMMER ALLEN AND JEREMY ADAM SMITH) 

• Research conducted by William Cunningham at the University of Toronto and Alexander Todorov of Princeton University finds that people may be able to compensate for their negativity bias by consciously trying to focus on positives (found through studying action in the amygdala) 
• Action in the amygdala spiked when people viewed others in need, suggesting that the amygdala may also play a role in compassion
• Additional research conducted by Cunningham and Ph.D. student Tabitha Kirkland suggests that happy people may not just filter out negatives, but see the world in a broader view, with the good and the bad  

 
Section 4: Pessimism. Myths, and Misconceptions of Happiness 

 
VIDEO: PESSIMISM AND PURSUING HAPPINESS 

• Happiness is relatively stable across one’s life
• Hedonic Adaptation: we adapt to all things positive

 
VIDEO: WHAT GETS IN THE WAY OF HAPPINESS? 

• Losing pleasure after adapting to something (after needs are met) (ex: materialistic pursuit) 
• Affective forecasting: predicting how much an event will impact you (humans are not great at predicting this. We tend to get over hard things faster and we adapt to great pleasure quickly) 
• The psychological immune system allows us to recover from hard events more quickly than we think we will
• Satisfaction decreases quickly from materialistic goods
• Satisfaction is longer lasting from experiences
• Money is not linked to happiness after reaching a threshold where our needs are met

 

VIDEO: MONEY AND HAPPINESS 

• Increased desire for money through time (study involving college students 1970s-90s) 
• Money matters at the cultural level (in instances of great poverty) 
• In industrialized cultures, there is less of a link between money and happiness
• After 75,000 per year income, loss of impact on happiness 
• Extreme wealth does not guarantee happiness 

VIDEO: SO, WHAT CAN MAKE US HAPPY? 

• Basics: exercise, sleep, sense of achievement 
• Happy mood associated with moderate-intensity excersise
• Exercise and happiness relationship linked to goals involved
• Social and academic achievement foster increased happiness
• Social connection, kindness, pro-social behavior are massive catalysts for increased happiness

• References:
• Dacher Keltner, Ph.D., Founding Faculty Director, Greater Good Science Center, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory, UC Berkeley

      Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., Science Director, Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley

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