Authentic Happiness

Nun Study

• 180 Nuns

• 90% of the most cheerful quarter lived to 85 at least– Only 34% of the least cheerful quarter did

• 54% of the most cheerful quarter was alive at 94– Only 11% of the least cheerful quarter did

Duchenne smiles

• “genuine” smiles vs. fake smiles– Sorted based on senior class photos– Contacted at 27, 43, 52 years of age– Duchenne smile women were more likely to:

• Be married, stay married, experiences more personal well-being

– Attractiveness was measured as well- no link was found

Hedonism

• How you feel at the moment– Momentary pleasure

• Colonoscopy experiment (Kahneman)– Group 1: regular colonoscopy where the scope moves

throughout– Group 2: extra minute tagged on to the end where the

scope is stationary• Group 2 had more overall discomfort (an extra minute with

the scope inserted), but the stationary scope is not as bad as a moving scope

– Group 2 reported the experience as better and were much more likely to undergo the procedure again

The Harry truman effect

• Tonic vs Phasic activity– Tonic activity: introversion, IQ, depression, anger-

measured without regards to an actual activity– Phasic activity: when presented with a challenge

• Can tonic measures predict outcomes to phasic situations?– Sometimes, but not always– High IQ people fail and low-IQ people succeed –

there are no perfect predictors– After being fairly undistinguished, Truman took over

after FDR and is thought of as one of the greatest presidents (according to Seligman)

Evolutionarily speaking

• Negative traits have an important place and have been passed down– The strongest and possibly most aggressive

will survive– For many years, positive traits were ignored

here and believed to be extra– Some even assumed that the “nice guy” loses

Barbara Fredrickson

• In the late 90’s and early 2000’s she proposed that positive traits do have an important place in survival– Those with positive traits are more likely to

have support systems and love and other aspects of life that make you more likely to succeed and get through the bad times

– People that don’t have these in place are more likely to have disorders

Experiment

• When primed with happier or positive thoughts/statements, people are faster at coming to proper conclusions– Simply sorting words into categories– Doctors diagnosing diseases

Depressive Realism

• Alloy and Abramson– Validated the “happy but dumb” idea a bit– Two groups

• Group 1: Gave control over the green light• Group 2: Given no control over whether the green light was

on or off• Groups were asked how much control they had• Depressed subjects were very accurate in both groups• Nondepressed subjects were accurate when they had

control, but assumed that they had control (35% control) even when they had none

Happy vs Depressed people

• 80% of American men think they are in the top ½ of social skills

• 85% of Americans think they are above average for intelligence

• Most people think they are above average at work and as a driver

Happy people

• Remember more good events than actually happened– Forget more bad events

• Lopsided in their beliefs about successes and failures– If it was a success, they were responsible and

they are good at everything– If it was a failure, you did it to them and it was

just this one little thing

There is a debate though

• Happy people– When given information, are more likely to

make important real life decisions well– Aspinwall

• Gave health information to people• Optimists were more likely to remember the

dangers of coffee drinking and sun bathing a week later than pessimists were

– They are possibly more able to deal with them and combat them, so they will not just ignore them as pessimists might

Mood can work for you depending on the task at hand

• Things that require critical thinking are benefitted by having a more pessimistic/realistic mindset– Taking GREs, SATs, doing taxes, deciding whom to

fire, dealing with failed romances, making crucial decisions in competitive sports or college

• Things that require creative, generous, and tolerant thinking are benefitted by having a more optimistic mindset– Marketing, finding ways to increase love, pondering a

new career field, deciding whether to marry someone, hobbies and noncompetitive sports, creative writing

A study

• 2282 Mexican Americans age 65 or older– Controlled for age, income, education, weight,

smoking, drinking, and disease– Happy people were half as likely to die or

become disabled

Happiness may

• Increase productivity

• Lead to better evaluations at work

Positive emotions can undo negative ones

• Fredrickson– Showed students a clip where a man is dangling from

the edge of a building and close to falling• Heart rates increase

– Showed students one of four clips next• Waves to induce contentment• Puppies to induce amusement• Sticks to induce no emotions• Cry to induce sadness

– Puppy and waves bring the heart rates back down while cry makes them go even higher

Moebius syndrome

• Facial paralysis the leaves victims unable to smile– Unable to show positive emotions with their

face– Have difficulty with friendships

• A rich social life is found in most people that rate themselves as “very happy”

Broad theme

• Positive feelings are there to allow the body/mind to grow into something better

Happiness Formula

• H = S + C + V– H = enduring level of happiness– S = set range– C = circumstances of your life– V = factors under voluntary control

Enduring level of happiness

• Different than momentary happiness

• Has a genetic component– Twin studies

• Certain aspects are changeable

Set range

• Roughly ½ of your happiness score is accounted for by the score your parents would have gotten

• People that win the lottery see an increase in happiness for a short period of time– Happiness levels revert to where they were

pre-lottery– 22 lottery winners reverted to their baseline

levels of happiness over time- ended up no more happy than 22 matched controls

The bright side of a set range

• When things go bad, you typically will rebound back to your normal range– People with extreme quadriplegia consider

their life to average or above-average (84%)

The hedonic treadmill

• You rapidly adapt to good things after a short period of time- then you need more– Those that have less are typically just as

happy as those that have more– Major events, wealth, raises, attractiveness,

health – NONE of these really have a large effect on happiness over time- all of these lead to more resources

Circumstances of your life

• Money– At the whole country level

• Overall national purchasing power and life satisfaction go in the same direction

• Once the GNP exceeds $8000 per person, the correlation disappears

• Many exceptions to the rules for countries– Brazil, China, Argentina more satisfied than their wealths

predict– Former Soviet countries and Japan are less satisfied

than their wealths predict

Purchasing power within a country

• Has more than doubled over the last half-century in the USA, France, and Japan, but satisfaction has not changed at all

• In very poor countries, the rich are happier than the poor

• In wealthier nations, where most have a basic safety net, increases in wealth have little to no change on satisfaction

• Most importantly may not be buying power, but the type of government and the level of freedom

The Forbes 100

• The 100 richest in the world are only slightly happier than the average American

Circumstances continued

• Marriage– Robustly related to happiness– 40% of married people were “very happy”

• Only 24% of unmarried people

– Among those in “not very happy” marriages, happiness is lowest though

Social Life?

• In one study, every person in the top 10% of happiness (except one) was in a romantic relationship

• Very happy people lead a more rich and fulfilling social life than average or unhappy people– Spend the least time alone– The most time socializing– Rated highest on good relationships by themselves

and by their friends

Negative Emotion?

• Is being happy simply avoiding the negative emotions in life?– Positive emotions and negative emotions

have a very small negative correlation– Gender differences

• Women experience twice the depression as men– Also experience more positive emotion (frequency and

intensity)

Other factors…

• Age?– No real change in satisfaction with age

• Increases very slightly with age• Fewer extreme emotions with age though

• Health?– “barely” related to well-being– What matters more is subjective perception of how

healthy we are• Others have it worse

– Severe health problems (5+ health problems) will bring unhappiness though- moderate problems don’t

Religion?

• Religious americans are less likely to abuse drugs, committ crimes, divorce, and kill themselves

• Also are physically healthier and live longer• Can deal with problems more easily

– Disabled children, depression, divorce, unemployment, illness, death

• Are moderately more happy than nonreligious people

Why does religion lead to more happiness?

• Used to be thought that it was just an increase in social support

• Possibly the belief of hope and a meaning of lifef could be important as well

Others

• Education– Only among those with low incomes

• Climate– Not at all- misperception that californians are always

happier in the sunlight and on the beach• Race

– Hispanics and african-americans have less depression than caucasians

• Gender– No difference among averages- women are just more

extreme• None of these has any real effect on happiness

Voluntary factors under control

• Satisfaction with the past, present, or future– Separated pieces

Starting with the past

• Main idea– Emotions drive thoughts and thoughts drive

emotions• Depressed people (emotion) focus in on and have

sadder memories (thoughts)• Thinking about loss (thought) causes sadness

(emotion)

– If thoughts can change emotions, change the thoughts and you can change the emotions (ie. be happier)

Past Psychological views on the past

• Many theories in psych stemmed from the idea that your past determined your future– Darwin– Freud

• Researchers have been unable to find effects of childhood events on adult development– Parental death, divorce, physical illness, beatings,

neglect, sexual abuse– Some support came, but not nearly as much as was

expected

Current research

• Finding more and more effects of genes on current behaviors than nurture on current behaviors

• Childhood events are no where near deterministic on adult behaviors/development

Emotional hydraulics

• Emotions are like a balloon– If you do not allow yourself to express an emotion, it will come

out at some other point, usually a less desirable one

• James-Lange theory of emotion is counter to this– For sadness and anger, expressing it makes more come– This is why psychoanalysis failed- people were told to focus on

all of the bad stuff that screwed them up- they got more depressed instead of less

– When asked to bottle up anger, blood pressure decreases– When asked to express their anger, blood pressure increases

Gratitude

• 3 groups– Keep a journal of things they were grateful for – Keep a journal of things that were hassles– Keep a journal of live events

• Gratitude group had increases in joy, happiness, and life satisfaction

• By remembering, focusing on, and releasing positive emotions, they are increased

Forgiving

• The removal of negative emotions from the past• Recommends the “REACH” technique

– Recall the hurt– Empathize why the person hurt you– Altruistic gift of forgiveness (think of when someone

forgave you and they didn’t have to)– Commit yourself to forgive publicly– Hold onto the forgiveness

• When assigned to two groups (one that forgived with these steps and a control group)– Less anger, less stress, more optimism, better health,

more forgiveness

What about the future?

• Same from learned optimism– Permanence

• How permanent are the things that happen

– Pervasiveness• How much of your life is like what just happened to

you?

• ABCDE model for increasing optimism and hope

The present

• Pleasures– Ecstasy, thrills, orgasm, delight, mirth,

exuberance, comfort

• Gratifications– Lose self-consciousness– Enjoying great conversation, rock climbing,

reading a good book, dancing, making a slam dunk

Pleasures

• Reliable to predict that they bring delight– Short lived– habituation

• Each subsequent pleasure that is the same is never as good as the first

• Neurons respond to things that are new– Habituation is hard wired into us

• Spread your pleasures out as much as possible to counter habituation

– Take a mouthful of ice cream for 30 seconds– If you still want another mouthful after 30 seconds, then do it, but wait

with it for another 30… you’ll stop fairly soon– Spread out how often you listen to certain cds to make them always

sounding fresh– Do something nice for someone else, but do a different nice thing each

time- or else they grow used to it

Savoring

• The awareness of pleasure and of the deliberate conscious attention to the experience of pleasure

• Five techniques for savoring– Sharing with others– Memory building (grab mementos)– Self-congratulation– Sharpening perceptions– Absorption

• Four types of savoring– Basking in praise, thanksgiving, marveling in the

moment, indulging the senses

Gratifications

• Typically don’t have a discreet emotion that accompanies it the way pleasures do

• It is more about the total absorption, the suspension of consciousness, and the flow– Emotions are completely absent

Eudaimonia

• Living the good life– Distinct from pleasures– Accompany gratifications

Critical components of flow

• Task is challenging and requires skill and concentration

• There are clear goals and immediate feedback

• There is deep, effortless involvement

• There is a sense of control, but the sense of self vanishes

• Time stops

Facts about flow

• Some experience it frequently• Others rarely• Low flow teenagers

– Mall kids, watch TV a lot

• High flow teenagers– Hobbies, sports, homework

• High flow kids do better on self esteem, engagement, well-being– These are more likely to make it to college, have more

successes in life, more social ties– Except that they would rather be doing the low flow activities

Seligman’s theory

• Striving for the immediate easy pleasure leads to depression– Reduces flow opportunities

• Over the last 50 years, more is done for people, making life “easier” and thus less flow is experienced, and depression levels have sky-rocketed

• Along with this, a focus on how we feel at the moment, (supported by many therapists as a good thing) may get people to harp on these feelings– Flow is accompanied by the absence of feeling

Character Strengths

• Many believed that character/personality was simply formed by your environment– If you are raised in a bad enough

environment, even the “good” people will eventually turn to violence and lawlessness

– If this is the case, what is the point of discussing “character” when all it is would be a reaction to your environment

Six main virtues

• Wisdom and knowledge

• Courage

• Love and humanity

• Justice

• Temperance

• Spirituality and transcendence

Wisdom and knowledge

• Curiosity

• Love of learning

• Critical thinking/open-mindedness

• originality/practical intelligence

• Social/emotional intelligence

• Perspective

Two others

• Courage– Valor and bravery– Perseverance– Integrity

• Humanity and Love– Loving and allowing oneself to be loved– Kindness and generosity

Justice

• Duty, teamwork, loyalty

• Fairness and equity

• Leadership

Temperance

• Self-control

• Prudence/discretion

• Humility and modesty

Transcendence

• Appreciation of beaty and excellence

• Gratitude

• Hope/optimism

• Spirituality/faith

• Forgiveness and mercy

• Playfulness and humor

• Zest/passion

Seligman’s thoughts

• The more you use your signature strengths every day, the happier you will be because you will engage in flow more often and thus more gratifications

Finding happiness at work

• Money isn’t everything– Lawyers are the highest paid profession– Highest depression rate (3.6x more than other

jobs on average) • High turnover rate

• Those that view their job as “a calling” are much happier at work than those that view their work as a job– Works in any job

Examples

• Janitors– If they see their job as helping enhance the work of

the doctors, helping them save lives- they are happier

• Haircutters– Make their job intimate and interpersonal

• Nurses– Focus on the details of the patient’s charts and help

the family

• Kitchen workers– More like culinary artists than cooks

Properties of “a calling”

• Uses your signature strengths (according the Seligman)

• Contributes to a “greater good”

• Allows you to experience flow

Experience of flow

• More likely to happen at work– Active activities produce flow approx. 39% of

the time and produce apathy 17%– Passive activities (watching TV) produce flow

14% of the time and produce apathy 37% • Average state of an American watching TV is

mildly depressed

Why are lawyers in particular so unhappy?

• Pessimistic quality of the job– Pessimists do worse in almost every aspect of

life, but do better in law school• Able to think of all of the possible bad things that

can happen in a case and defend against them

• High stress environment• Low level of decision latitude

– Very few choices for an low level associate

• Nurses and secretaries also fall on this list

Levels of depression

• Married people lowest

• Never married people 2nd

• People divorced once

• People cohabiting

• People divorced twice highest

John Bowlby

• Claimed that a parent-child bond was irreplaceable– Examined orphans in the wake of WW2

• These kids were found to be: “affectionless, lacking feelings, with only superficial relationships, angry, and anti-social”

• Led the way for Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation

Are securely attached people better in romance?

• So long as one of the partners is secure, that is way better than otherwise– Of course, two securely attached people is best

• Securely attached people deal with adversity in relationships much better too– Avoidant people tend to try and forget anything

happened (not ideal)– Anxious people focus on themselves– Secure people reach out the their support system

Romantic illusions

• Asked married couples to rate themselves, their partners and an ideal partner on strengths and faults– Asks friends of them couple to fill them out about the

couple as well

• Look at the discrepancy between how they rate their partners and how others view them– The bigger the discrepancy (in a positive direction)

the happier and more stable the relationship• Partners try to live up to these illusions• Also easily dismiss problems because they believe so

positively about their mate

Seligman’s claim

• Two pessimists married don’t not usually last– Any other combination will work though