Happiness

RP RajarethinamMMC 1979-85 and happily forever

rpmmc@yahoo.com

Aspects of happiness

• Psychology• Philosophy• Evolution• Neuroscience• Pathology• Practical aspects• Mentalizing

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What we want…

Edward Frascino New Yorker (with out permission)

So, What is it?

• Hedonia (pleasure or positive affect)– Not hedonism but more of a mood or trait

• Eudaimonia (A life well lived)– Accomplishing or getting what you want

• Engagement (Just do it)– Just enjoying life or being interested in doing

what you are doing.

Kringelbach, M.L. & Berridge, K.C. (2010).

First ‘World Happiness Report’ • Happier countries tend to be richer

– social support, absence of corruption & personal freedom.

• Over time, as living standards rise, happiness increased– Interestingly this effect was not seen in US!

• Unemployment is as bad as bereavement or breakup. • At work, job security and good relationships do more for job

satisfaction than high pay and convenient hours.• Behaving well makes people happier.• Mental health is the single biggest factor.• Stable family life and enduring marriage.• In advanced countries, women are happier than men• Happiness is lowest in middle age

– grumpy middle aged men, living in USA who are a bit kuku

J. Hellwell, Rlayard, J. Sachs, WHO

The evolution conundrum

• Survival of self and the species – So the rewarding experience of food and sex,

comfort, safety and less pain• Consciousness of death as the end– So, life is short – give it a shot– A gift that helps us anticipate and maximize

pleasure• Happiness comes with depression and

anxiety – why?RM. Nesse and KC. BerridgeScience ‘97

Philosophy(struggle of the conscious and pleasure)

• Hinduism– Reach Motcha by Bakthi– Karma or control of behavior – God is sometimes ‘used as a concept’

• Buddhism– Freedom from suffering– Nirvana

• Stoicism and Judeo-Christian ideas– of being a sage – austere indifference to joy, grief, pleasure, or pain

High Spirituality

Barbara Smaller – New Yorker (with out permission)

When I was making money, I made the

most money, and now that I am spiritual I’m

the most spiritual

Are these same or different

• Spirituality• Pleasure• Bliss• Drugs for pleasure or addiction – With or without guilt

• Sex and food– With or without guilt

• Does altruism justify violence?– இன்தென�ருத்ருக்குநல்*துபண்ணி�ன�எதுவுகேமப்ப�ல்ளை* ...

The pleasure network

• Shared by basic and higher order pleasures– Basic (food, sex) and higher order (Money, art,

music, altruism or transcendence)• Deep brain structures– Nucleus Accumbens, ventral pallidum,

• Cortical – Orbitofrontal, cingulate, M.Prefrontal, insular

The ‘H spot’ of pleasure

• Hedonic Hotspots (no, not that one!)– Brain is highly interconnected and so you do not

need to hit the spot!– Coding vs. causing

• Pleasure electrodes– Nucleus acumbens (rats prefer over food and

cocaine)– Wanting vs. liking (drug addiction)

Cortical Pleasure

• Incentive salience– The importance of the stimuli (say, drug)

• Midlateral - Orbitofrontal cortex – Sex, drugs, food, chocolate and music!

• Medial unpleasant? Anterior more abstract? Or is it all “emotion”

• Right Mania and Left depression?• Cortex causes or discriminates?

Mental health aspects of happiness

• Anhedonia– Lack of interest

• Depression– Extreme sadness for inadequate reason

• Anxiety– Unnecessary or unproductive fear

• Mania– Excessive and unreasonable happiness

Is happy lack of pain?

“Am I a happy man or just an asymptomatic

one?”

Benefits of happiness

• Higher income and superior work outcomes – e.g., greater productivity and higher quality of work,

• Larger social rewards – e.g., more satisfying and longer marriages, more friends, stronger

social support, and richer social interactions

• More activity, energy and flow, and better physical health – e.g., a bolstered immune system, lowered stress, and less pain– more creative, helpful, charitable, and self-confident, better self-

control, and greater self-regulatory and coping abilities

• longer life.Sonja Lyubomirsky UC Riverside

What can we do?

• 48% Genetic, 40% situation and only 12% in your hands.

• And it is 80% inherited!– 48% Genetic:

• It is the hedonia or the inherent attitude – nature• Can not be changed and so blame your parents

– 40% Situation• Lottery tickets• 5 year multiple entry visa

– 12% in your hands David Lykken and Auke TellegenUniversity of Minnesota Psychological Science Vol.7, No. 3, May 1996

Practice Happinesslive like there is no tomorrow

• Set aside time to recall moments of gratitude• Engage in self-regulatory and positive

thinking• Practice altruism and kindness• Pursue significant, intrinsic life goals• Affirm one’s most important values, • Savoring positive experiences

Sonja Lyubomirsky UC Riverside

Practice Happiness• Set aside time to recall moments of gratitude

– keep journal on “counts one’s blessings” or write gratitude letters • Engage in self-regulatory and positive thinking

• reflect, write, and talk about happiest and unhappiest life events or goals for the future

• Practice altruism and kindness– routinely commit acts of kindness or try to make a loved one happy

• Pursue significant, intrinsic life goals– listing and taking action on “baby steps” towards goals

• Affirm one’s most important values, • Savoring positive experiences

– using one’s five senses to relish daily moments – Live like there is no tomorrow

Sonja Lyubomirsky UC Riverside

Pop Psychology

• Dan Gilbert - synthesis– We are able to find happiness– Adversity or good fortune does not affect the

long term happiness• Matt Killingsworth - Mind wandering– Stay on task to be happy– Do not let mind wander

Ted talks Ted radio hour NPR

The Quintessential Wandering Mind

Alex Gregory – New Yorker (with no permission)

Pop psychology

• Carl Honore - Slow down– Take your time

• Graham Hill - Less is better– Less material, fewer things to own

• David Steidnl - Grateful– Be grateful to what you have

Ted talks Ted radio hour NPR

Mentalizing

• Thinking about thinking or theory of mind• A temporal lobe function– Involves attention, insight and awareness

• Helps understand or observe source of dissatisfaction

• Helps control and guide contentment– (93% of US college professors assessed

themselves as above average!)

Interpersonal arena and personalities

• Trust• Love• Personalities– Manipulation, suspicion, reaction and

assumption• Reward in a social setting• Let go

Some CBT principles to ponder

• Set and setting• Optimism• Contentment– Kida mark vs. Blue label

• Being good – Honest, well intentioned, trusting despite betrayal

• Accepting failure (and death)• Smile

So?

• You are one in 6000000000• You live about 100 years out of eternity• You are so small in time and space• Your value is negligible• Why bother?

• Take it easy and smile