Week 5- Science of Happiness Notes

 Section 1: Mindful Awareness and Happiness 

Video: Want to be Happier? Stay in the Moment. 

  • The Paradox of Happiness- Even though our lives have gotten dramatically better, (increased tech, longer lives, etc.) we are not actually happier.  
  • Happiness has a lot to do with the contents of moment-to-moment experiences. 
  • Trackyoyrhappiness.org is a tool to measure independent factors' small impacts on fluctuating happiness throughout one's day. 
    • Over 650,000 real-time reports 
    • Over 15,000 people 
    • Wide variation in age, income, education, etc. 
    • 86 Occupational categories 


  • Mind Wandering- mind's ability to stray from the present. 

  • The possibility that minds wandering and the pleasures of the mind allow us to go somewhere happier and reach higher levels of momentary happiness. 
  • Data’s response to previous theory: People are substantially less happy when their minds are wandering, and they are not focused on the present moment. 
  • This is true for every activity, not just when dealing with unpleasant presents. 
  • How? When our minds wander, we often think about unpleasant things (stressors, anxieties, etc.) 
  • There is a strong relationship between mind-wandering now and being unhappy a short time later. This shows a cause of unhappiness from mind-wandering. 
  • 47% of the time people are mind-wandering. It is frequent and even ubiquitous.  

Video: A Brief Introduction to The Default Mode Network. 

  • Group of brain regions increases in activity when we are not focused on a task. 

  • Called Default Mode Network 
  • Medial Prefrontal cortex, medial parietal cortex, and medial temporal lobes. 
  • Theory: These regions associations focus on introspection and mind wandering. 
  • Theory: The network’s activity is the baseline of processing and information movements. (Prepare to react to an environment) 
  •  Psychological disorders including ADHD, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's are associated with abnormal functions in these areas. 

Section 2: What is Mindfulness? 

Video: Defining Mindfulness 

  • “Mindfulness is the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose in the present moment  and non-judgmentally.”- Jon- Kabat Zin 
  • We observe our own minds in a present sense. 
  • We are present in the moment and not forcing anything. 
  • Mindfulness is the awareness that arises out of intentionally paying attention in an open, kind, and discerning way.”- Shauna Shapiro 

 

Video: Origins of Mindfulness 

  • Allan Wallace (involved in Tibetan Buddhist Traditions) recommends being attentive to your breathing. Relaxed posture practiced breathing and sensations of the breath.  
  • Being mindful of the body, body scans, intentional screening. 
  • Love and Kindness practice. Direct kind thoughts to those you know. Cultivating warm feelings and extending these feelings to others. 
  • Yoga practice, mindful awareness of the body. Practices truthfulness, peace, and awareness, 
  • Emphasis on being aware of the mind in a nonjudgmental way. 
  • Judeo-Christian tradition: centering tradition and prayer in which one sits and is at ease with the body, say sacred words/ passages/ images.  
  • A recent meta-analysis in 2011: findings show that people with chronic physical problems using mindfulness showed reduced physical and psychological distress. In addition, the analysis showed reductions in anxiety and depression.  

  • Why is this important? Mindfulness is accessible.  

  • If it's not inclusive, it’s not sustainable- anyone can meditate and practice mindfulness. 

 

Video: What is Mindfulness? 

  • We waste lots of time avoiding the present as we worry, predict, and plan. 
  • We set high expectations for the future and are never pleased with the present moment, even when it’s the future we were thinking about.  
  • Mindfulness = presence of heart 

 

Video: The Stars of our own Movie 

  • Our constant thinking always gets in our way. 
  • “And meditation-- in Tibetan, the word for meditation is familiarization. It means cultivating intimacy with the full spectrum repertoire of what it means to be human” 

  • Show up in the present moment. 

  • Be willing to suspend judgment or take off the egotistical lenses (I, me, my). 

  • By releasing self-centeredness, we can create awareness that has no center. 
  • Awareness has no limits and no center; it is not limited to conceptual matters. 
  • Awareness is a kind of wisdom. 
  • Cognitive knowing can be lost, and we do not take advantage of having it. 
  • Part of cultivating mindfulness is gratitude. 
  • Mindfulness is about living your life like it matters, moment by moment. 

 

Section 3: Benefits of Mindfulness for the Mind, Brain, and Body 

Video: Mindfulness & Psychological Well-Being 

  • Cultivating states of non-judgmental awareness boost positive emotion, reduces stress, and strengthens coping.  


  • Early studies- UNC 

  • Longitudinal study incorporating loving-kindness meditation 
  • Participants reported emotion before and after the course. 
  • Meditators self-reported an increase in positive emotion. 

  • Teaching teachers meditation techniques (SF Public Schools) 

  • Decrease negative emotion in educators as well as a decrease in levels of depression.  
  • Drops in contempt and hostility. 
  • The teacher became more mindful of others and their emotions (pro-social communication) 

  • Criticism: Journal of Consulting in Clinical Psychology Report on impacts of mindfulness: 

  • Really no powerful effect on overall positive emotion 
  • Significant changes in satisfaction and compassion as well as self-compassion 
  • How does it impact anxiety and depression? Mindfulness leads to a reduction in these struggles. 
  • Mindfulness is a tool for tackling stress.  

  • Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. 

  • Teasdale’s Development (England) 
  • Using the wisdom of cognitive therapy and mindfulness. 
  • Incorporating mindfulness in cognitive therapy significantly decreased the likelihood of relapsing into depressive states as well as reducing relapsing into a major depression by half. 

 

 

Video: Mindfulness & Physical Well-Being 

How does mindfulness impact the body? 

  • Jon Kabat Zin Study 

  • 10-week MBSR program 
  • 65% of participants showed a 33% reduction in pain ratings (those who suffered from chronic pain) 
  • 50% showed a greater than 50% reduction in pain. 
  • Why? Mindfulness enables people to disassociate the sensory dimension of pain (how it really feels) from the alarm reaction or emotional dimension of pain. This enables one to reduce the experience of suffering.  

  • Richie Davidson and Zin Study 

  • Technology workers 
  • Blood draw measurements of immune system 
  • Meditators showed more robust repones to the flu shots.  

  • Emory Team 

  • Compassion focused mindfulness program 
  • The participation resulted in reductions of stress markers in the blood and saliva. 
  • Self-reported decreases in anxiety and greater hopefulness. 
  • Those who meditated more frequently showed a stronger response to stressful situations and a quicker recovery. 

  • The heartrate and Vagus nerve system 

  • Attention to the breath, specifically in the exhale. 
  • A slower exhale associated with the vagal tone which leads to a greater ability to regulate emotion, more likable social interpersonal style. 

  • Aging 

  • Telomeres- DNA protein complexes at the end of linear chromosomes and they’re required for the complete replication of DNA and chromosome stability 
  • Telomeres protect against cellular aging and death 
  • An aged immune system is associated with short telomere length 
  • People who are chronically stressed have shorter telomere length 
  • Studies show that meditators show greater telomere activity and length after 3 months. 
  • Mindfulness makes people age more gracefully 

 

Video: Mindfulness and Neuroplasticity 

  • Neuroplasticity- The idea that our brains change throughout life as a result of day-to-day experiences and activities. 
  • Maguire’s studies on taxi drivers in London 

  • Spatial layout required for the profession. 

  • Drivers had a larger concentration of connection of cells in the hippocampus, known for spatial awareness and storage.  

  • Certain brain regions gain density and interconnection after meditation. (Area implicated in interoceptive awareness and empathy) 
  • Meditation is directly linked to neural empathic increases. 
  • 2013 study looking at the grey matter. 

  • Meditators had a greater grey matter in hippocampal regions. 

  • Meditation leads to structural changes in the brain in areas linked to emotion, awareness, and empathy. 

  • Studies show that after meditation, people responded differently to upsetting stimuli than they had before. People were more aware and less fearful. 
  • Other studies show that meditation increased the ability of reward circuitry in the brain. 
  • Key Effects of mindfulness 
  1. Improved attention 
  2. Less distractable focus 
  3. Shifts in habits of thinking, more positive outlook, more prosocial and kinder. 
  4. More involved in present moment 
  5. In touch with emotions and more aware of feelings 
  6. More resilient 

Video: Mindfulness Changes the Brain 

  • Background information: 

  • Positive emotion (optimism, creativity, joy, etc.) appears as activity in the left prefrontal cortex.  
  • Negative emotions (anxiety, fear, etc.) appear as activity in the right prefrontal cortex. 

  • Studies show that meditation can increase activity in the left to the right ratio. 

  • Why is this good? 

  • Happiness set: people have a continuum of happiness that doesn’t change that much. 
  • This research shows that even if external forces do not have a significant impact on increasing someone’s happiness, internal landscapes can change through internal work.  
  • “Happiness can be changed because the very structure of our brain can be modified”. 

 

Essay: Stalking the Meditating Brain 

  • The brain is unlike any part of the human body, it is always changing. 
  • We are largely in control of our brain’s plasticity. 
  • Training our minds for as little as 30 minutes a day can be detected on a brain scan. 

 

Essay: The Trouble with Mindfulness 

  • Question #1: Will mindfulness disengage me from world problems? 

  • Answer from Rick Hanson: being more in touch with yourself allows you to better engage with the outside. 
  • Study in which people sat in a waiting room, some who had been trained/ engaged in mindfulness and some who had not. A woman who is on crutches and in obvious pain enters and does not have a seat. The outcome showed that those who had been trained in mindfulness were more compassionate and quickly offered their seat. 

  • Question #2: Will mindfulness make me less productive? 

  • Studies show a positive correlation between workplace mindfulness and productiveness. 

  • Question #3: Will mindfulness meditation take up too much of my time? 

  • Small commitments can make momentous changes. 
  • “In a 2011 study from the University of Wisconsin, non-meditators were trained in mindful attention meditation over a five-week period and tested on brain activity patterns using an EEG. Mindful meditators who practiced on average five to 16 minutes a day saw significant, positive changes in their brain patterns—patterns suggesting a greater orientation toward positive emotions and connections with others—as compared to those on a wait-list for the training”. 

Section 4: Real World Applications of Mindfulness 

Video: Applications of Mindfulness Research 

  • Studies suggest that mindfulness correlates with greater relationship satisfaction via: 

  1. Boosts in individual wellbeing. 
  2. Increased emotional skillfulness. 
  3. Increased empathy. 
  4. Healthier stress response. 

  • Parenting 

  • Nancy Bardacke’s work: Mindfulness-based childbirth and parenting program. 
  • Boosts positive emotion. 
  • Reduces anxiety and the likelihood of depression. 

  • In schools 

  • Mindfulness is critical to social-emotional learning. 
  • Large behavioral changes after six-week mindful schools' program. 

  • At Work 

  • As teachers cultivate mindfulness, they feel reduced stress and burnout. 
  • Healthcare workers involved in a study in which one group participated in mindfulness while the other was a control, mindfulness practices showed effects in healthcare workers such as greater self-compassion and increased drive and motivation. 

  • Mindfulness as a tool for incarcerated individuals. 

  • Looking at prisoners who go through MBSR program. 

  • A decrease in anger. 

  • A decrease in hostility. 

  • Mindfulness dealing with Trauma. 

  • Largely productive in reducing intrusive thought. 

 

 

  • 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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