...Pursuit of Happiness PSY/220 Chelsea Holloman October, 25, 2015 Erika Chomina Carter According to Baumgardner and Crother, the authors of the book Positive Psychology, the American emphasis on the pursuit of happiness is focused mainly upon each individual’s idea of happiness. Being happy, having a positive attitude, and feeling good about the self are central values in American culture. The pursuit of happiness is described in the Declaration of Independence as an inalienable right. In a society that offers abundant opportunities and considerable individual freedom, people are encouraged to make life choices based on what makes them happy and satisfied. What makes Americans happy is heavily influenced by their culture’s individualistic model of self. Consistent with the SWB conception, happiness in America is an individual’s subjective judgment about his or her own life. Happiness is both subjective and individualized, in that the basis of judgment reflects the person’s unique personal makeup and his or her own idiosyncratic criteria. (Baumgardner & Crother, 2009, p. 118.) Americans have what is referred to as an individualistic style of happiness. Although it is possible for groups of Americans to have similar interests, the goals that we set for ourselves that lead us to our happiness are unique to each individual, much like a fingerprint. We can have similar desires with different reasoning for them or different desires with similar reasoning for...
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...Pursuit of Happiness PSY/220 June 16th, 2013 Pursuit of Happiness The cultural and historical factors of the pursuit of happiness in America has to do with the declaration of independence which was written on July 4th 1776 the famous phrase is "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” This phrase gives examples of the various "unalienable rights" which the Declaration says all human beings have been given by their Creator and for the protection of which they institute governments. It is also the American dream and what the United States was built upon. For many happiness may mean being loyal to their country, bringing honor to their home, others might be graduating from high school and going to college, there are many factors to how each one will influence each person. It is important to note that the way happiness is portrayed for example in the United States, immigrants that come into the country to chase the American Dream including those from the United States. The portrait of the perfect family, the perfect job, and no problems to worry about keep everybody looking happy; this would be a stereotype of what happiness looks like. Studies have been conducted about the cultural factors of happiness and American people were asked what brings them happiness? The American people’s responses were going and finishing college, getting married, and the pursuit of self-success. In American culture there are unique internal attributes that distinguish Americans from others...
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...Why is it that some individuals are so high above the curve in terms happiness and optimism, even in the face of challenges and misfortunes? Whatever it is, there are individuals in psychology who wish to study and understand the science of happiness. These individuals specialize in the relatively new field of psychology, positive psychology. Such researchers wish to gain insight on acquiring happiness and building a resiliency to negative emotions. With an increasing emphasis on measuring college success, primarily through academic outcomes, it becomes understandable that school professionals shouldn’t neglect student’s well being. Furthermore, a college student’s level of happiness should be monitored and remain a priority for the university/colleges...
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...What does happiness mean to you? Defining happiness Defining happiness can seem as elusive as achieving it. We want to be happy, and we can say whether we are or not, but can it really be defined, studied and measured? And can we use this learning to become happier? Psychologists say yes, and that there are good reasons for doing so. Positive psychology is “the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” These researchers’ work includes studying strengths, positive emotions, resilience, and happiness. Their argument is that only studying psychological disorders gives us just part of the picture of mental health. We will learn more about well-being by studying our strengths and what makes us happy. The hope is that by better understanding human strengths, we can learn new ways to recover from or prevent disorders, and may even learn to become happier. So how do these researchers define happiness? Psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes what psychologists call “subjective well-being” as a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive emotions than negative emotions. Martin Seligman, one of the leading researchers in positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness, describes happiness as having three parts: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure is the “feel good” part of happiness. Engagement refers to living a “good life” of work...
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...SUMMARY OF WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT 2013 WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT 2013 was edited by John Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs In July 2011 the UN General Assembly passed a historic resolution. It invited member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use this to help guide their public policies. The first WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT was published in 2012. The need is a rising worldwide demand that policy framing must be closer to issues that really matters to people as perceived from their lives. The reports look for differences and trends in the equality or inequality with which happiness is distributed within and among countries and regions. The essence of traditional virtue ethics is that happiness is achieved by harnessing the will and the passions to live the right kind of life. A desirable level of happiness means feeling mildly to moderately positive usually, with occasional negative emotions in appropriate situations. Promoting a healthy start in life is vital, and there is ample evidence to indicate that early intervention programs have an important protective or preventive effect. Also, individuals who are happier tend to have better social relations. Well-being is also related to having less gossip and more meaningful conversations. The questions to use must be chosen according to end use purpose since they are of critical importance for measuring subjective wellbeing. The contextual impact of preceding questions must be also taken care of. The analysis...
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...30/04/2013 Workplace Happiness Lecture Key Questions • What is happiness? • Why is happiness important? • Cognitive Lens: How do we understand/misunderstand what will make us happy at work? • Situational Lens: When are people happy at work? • Trait Lens: Who is happy at work? What is Happiness? 1 30/04/2013 What is Happiness? • Happiness: – an emotional state. – how you feel about yourself and the world. • Satisfaction with Life: – more global judgment about your acceptance with your life conditions. – more of a cognitive assessment. What is Happiness? 2 pathways to well‐being Removing negative states • Depression • Anxiety • Insecurity • Addiction • Violence Promoting positive states • Hope • Optimism • Empathy • Courage • Gratitude ‐5 0 +5 Taking away obstacles Bringing in enablers 2 30/04/2013 Happiness as Flourishing Elevated levels of Emotional functioning Psychological functioning Social functioning PERMA & flourishing Worker Well-Being Positive Emotion Engagement Relationships Meaning Accomplishment Positive Relationships 7 Is being happy and satisfied the same thing? How happy are workers? • • • • • • • Time magazine poll (12/2004) “Would you say that so far you have lived ‐‐the best possible life you could have. ‐‐a very good life ‐‐a good life ‐‐a fair life ‐‐a poor life 3 30/04/2013 How happy are workers? • • • • • • • Time magazine poll (12/2004)...
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...Emotions Shantia Ezekiel PSY/355 3 August 2015 Emotions Five theories of emotion try to give explanation to the interpretation for this occurrence; however this article will envelop the James-Lange, Lazarus, and Facial Feedback Hypothesis theories with a justification of the experimental and correlation research methods. Within a human beings motivation is emotion which is a vital aspect to personality and can make humans perform in a negative or positive way. Emotions influence all humans to motivate from internal or external dynamics. Emotion is defined as "a universal, functional reaction to an external stimulus event, temporarily integrating physiological, cognitive, phenomenological, and behavioral channels that facilitate fitness-enhancing, environment-shaping responses to the current situation" (Deckers, 2010). Emotions are shown by behaviors, physically and cognitively by facial responses. The change in emotions is what motivates human beings to do certain tasks. William James, Lazarus, and Carl Lange started a vast assortment of research to establish what behaviors are associated with motivation and arousal in human beings. William James and Carl Lange started the studies that were vital in discovering the explanations in behaviors concerning the arousal in human beings. Just about one hundred years later psychology studies from Cacioppo have conveyed explanations to how stimulus may make behaviors and behaviors may bring emotions. The theoretical experimentation...
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...GROUP TESTING REPORT SYMBIOSIS COLLEGE OF ARTS AND COMMERCE (An autonomous college affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University) Senapati Bapat Road-411 004 GROUP TESTING REPORT Submitted by Ms. Ipshita Munshi Class: TYBA Roll No.: 2497 Under the guidance of Dr. Alpana Vaidya In partial fulfilment of B.A. Degree in Psychology April 2016 SYMBIOSIS COLLEGE OF ARTS AND COMMERCE (An autonomous college affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University) Senapati Bapat Road-411 004 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Ms. Ipshita Munshi of Division G and Roll no. 2497 has satisfactorily completed her group testing report in the subject Psychology (special) Psychological Testing (Practicals) as part of the B.A. Degree in Psychology for the academic year 2015-2016. Date: 9th April 2016 Place: Pune Exam Seat No. : 1161 Dr. Alpana Vaidya Head of Department (Psychology) Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce INTRODUCTION The primary motive of human behavior, according to Frankl’s existential theory (1959) is the will to meaning or else a person’s strive to find a reason for his/her limited and often “confusing” existence. The meaning of life differs from person to person and from moment to moment. Thus, it cannot be defined in a general way. Human beings experience the meaning of life when they correspond in time to the demands of the situation they are in, when they discover and undertake their own unique duty in life and when they allow themselves to experience or believe in an...
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...25 April 2014 Authentic Happiness We began this course with the question “What is happiness? and Can we all achieve authentic Happiness? In our life we are taught many things, but we are not taught how to achieve our own happiness. Over the last five weeks we truly learned what happiness is and I believe we all can achieve authentic happiness in our life. In Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman uses happiness and well being as the terms to describe the goals of Positive Psychology. The desired outcome of Positive Psychology is happiness and well being. We learned from this course how to embrace both our positive feelings and activities to achieve authentic Happiness. Happiness as defined in the dictionary, is a feeling of luck, fortune, and contentment. Happiness is the component of two separate aspects, life satisfaction as a whole and moment to moment moods. I can be satisfied with my overall life, yet still have moments when I am not happy. Or I could be dissatisfied with my current circumstance and wish for change, but still have many moments of joy throughout the day. The challenge most of face is in raising the level of happiness is how to increase the number of momentary positive feelings and how to sustain them. We are taught to believe that it is our circumstances influence our level of contentment, we learned from this course our behavior and thoughts can offset our level of happiness. Happiness may be influenced by our circumstances, but it isn’t dependent on...
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...Happiness By Huang Lu Xin Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological and religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, endeavor to apply the scientific method to answer questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained. It's of such fundamental importance to the human condition that Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were deemed unalienable rights on the United States Declaration of Independence. Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. Happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. There is a book named ‘Handbook of Emotion’. The editors and contributors are foremost authorities who describe major theories, findings, methods, and applications. In the 2nd Edition of the Handbook of Emotion, evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby say that happiness comes from "encountering unexpected positive events". In the...
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...cultivating experiences of positive emotions at opportune moments to cope with negative emotion”. This was developed by Folkman (1997) and W. Knight (2001), similarly claiming that the experience of positive stimuli may help to reduce chronic stress. However, Knight and Schriffin and Nelson (2008) both proposed that in the presence of positive stimuli, heart rates lower while happiness levels rise, resulting in overall decreased stress levels. Subsequently, this investigation intends to explore the effect of positive stimuli upon happiness and stress levels within participants, measured through the Oxford Happiness Index. Aim: To investigate the relationship between heart rate and happiness levels, measured through the Oxford Happiness Index scores. Research Design: Experimental Method of Data Collection: Subjective quantitative (OHI) and objective quantitative (HR). IV: Physical arousal and psychological state before and after exposure to stimuli. DV: OHI scores and heart rate. Hypothesis: As heart rate decreases, the OHI will increase after exposure to stimuli. Data analysis: Measures of the OHI were taken through pre and post exposures to the calming stimuli to establish a base-line of measurement. The mean, median and standard deviations of the data were recorded, tabulated and graphed, shown through Figure 1 and 2. A higher standard deviation results in a more varied distribution of OHI scores in response to the positive stimuli, while a higher mean...
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...Mahatma Gandhi one defined happiness as “when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Barring any better definition of happiness from either positive psychologists, self-help gurus, or any other academic source, I tend to think this is a great summation of the definition of happiness. Gandhi doesn’t say anything about how these things make you feel, rather looks at it from a point of view of harmony between thoughts, expressions, and actions. Since one single accepted definition of happiness doesn’t seem to exist, and happiness is different for everyone, this begs the question; how can you increase your own personal level of happiness? Since WW II psychologist have been studying our brains as they pertain to our mental health. Approximately 30% of people in the USA suffer from some sort of mental disorder (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). After we figured out how to treat these 30% of people, psychologists then turned to the remaining 70% of the population with the thinking that “although these people may not be experiencing severe pathology, there is good evidence to indicate the absence of maladies does not constitute happiness” (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). The conclusion these psychologists came to was that “…we believe “happiness” is a condition over and above the absence of unhappiness… A review [of the literature] led us to identify three constituents of happiness: (i) pleasure (or positive emotion); (ii) engagement; and (iii) meaning”...
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...your natural abilities and happiness by consciously adjusting the chemistry of your brain's cranial fluid which is affected by your thoughts, diet/nutrition, exercise, rest, environment and physiology. Since your thoughts have the biggest impact on the brains chemistry, there’s where I’m going to focus. When you have positive thoughts, your brain secretes positive chemicals and increases the power of your brain. When you have negative thoughts, your brain secretes negative chemicals and decreases the power of your brain. This is a simple, but profound concept to realize. Happiness depends on it. Your thoughts from outside stimuli have two components: facts and emotions. While you may not be able to control the facts you encounter in your life, you can choose how to respond emotionally to these facts. If you choose positive emotions, you will be happy. If you choose negative emotions, you will become unhappy. Your happiness depends on what emotions you choose to experience and how you live your life. For becoming happy in relative thinking there are no general rules. Happiness means nothing more than feeling well as result of an action, the deep experience of something being alright. This feeling completely depends on what is considered by happiness in your circle of thought (local ethics). You don't find happiness, you choose happiness; it is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings you...
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...The Pursuit for Happiness Pablo Pereira Concha LDS Business College Pablo Concha Professor Rice ENG 101 3/17/2015 The Pursuit for Happiness Aristotle, the great philosopher, once said: “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” When asked about what they really want in life, most people include the word happiness on the list. Today happiness is viewed in many different ways. Everyone defines happiness according to their personal perspective. Whatever it is that makes you happy is determined by you, and only you. This difference is what makes the world interesting. Like everything else in life, happiness is most commonly discussed in three different aspects of life, personal, professional, and spiritual. There are several simple things can be done to increase happiness in each aspect of life. Even though different goals and actions are set for each aspect, analyzing them make us conclude that somehow they can connect and affect each other. Analyzing them makes us also conclude that if there’s one aspect that can affect all the others, that would be the spiritual. We live in a world that is progressing at such a fast pace that sometimes we wonder if we can catch up. But yet, when it comes to understanding ourselves and our surroundings, we seem to be trapped in the shallow. Being trapped in the shallow can create a sense that something is missing, an inner hole. We search and search for filling up that empty spot...
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...negative and positive – and the ability the person has to adapt to them. It is also because a person’s sense of well-being is based off their own perception of it as well as what is socially acceptable. The construct is also measured by a person’s perception and socially accepted concepts of “well-being”. A person’s well-being is what they make of it. The ability to find happiness does not come from outside sources. However, the ability to equate one’s sense of well-being is influenced by outside sources. People have the tendency to trust what is shown to them through advertisements and shows of what is the proper amount of well-being. In truth, this is different for each person. Asking to give a moderation or value to it does have its psychological benefits, but it can also provide for a conflict in a person. We seek to be what we are supposed to be. Part of that is seeking to be happy and have that sense of “well-being”. Quantifying it, or trying to, in any sense will always be subjective because we are all different, having our own perceptions, and our own scales of positive and negative. 2. On p. 18 of your textbook, the authors present the hypothetical possibility of being hooked up to an ‘experience machine’ that would guarantee a constant state of happiness and positive emotion. Would you choose to be hooked up to such a machine? Why or why not? In your response, differentiate between hedonic and eudaimonic concepts of happiness. I had to think...
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