As Aristotle noted in the Nicomachean Ethics, we all want to live happy lives, but there is vast disagreement about

what happiness consists in. Some say that the happy life is a life of pleasure, others that it consists in living virtuously (or morally). Yet others believe it involves the renunciation of earthly things in favor of intellectual and spiritual contemplation some declare that happiness is secured through money and honor. Subjectivists claim that there is no answer to the question, "Which of these conceptions of happiness is the true conception?" because happiness is a purely subjective phenomenon For example, some existential philosophers considered life as a meaningless struggle for the individual. In the Myth of Sysiphus, Albert Camus introduced his philosophy of the absurd: man's futile search for meaning, unity, and clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God and eternal truths or values. Video

However, we have failed to recognize that genuine happiness likely consists of more than satisfaction and pleasure. At the very minimum, we must recognize that the quality of a person's happiness necessarily depends upon the kinds of values which inform a person's understanding of happiness and thus set the parameters for how one pursues the happy life. For Psychologist John F. Schumaker, the values of individualist, materialist cultures are far too shallow, amoral, and non-sustainable for their realization to lead to a genuinely happy life. Because of this, Schumaker declares that, "in reality I believe that a heart-felt happiness is beyond the reach of most people who regard consumer culture to be their psychological home" (287). As members of a culture, we rarely define our own happiness. Rather, we pursue happiness through the values embraced by our culture. If our culture's highest values include family, charity, and attunement to the environment, then we will generally identify happiness with becoming a good parent or spouse, and a helpful, socially involved citizen, who respects and reveres nature and engages in modest patterns of material consumption. On the other hand, if our culture values nothing more than financial success, the acquisition of material luxuries, and the primacy of the individual, then we will typically pursue happiness through the lens of these values instead: society shapes our values

The problem not all values lead equally to happiness. At some point, increases in income -- especially if this additional income is merely spent upon further material goods, such as bigger TV's, vehicles, and

houses -- do not lead to increases in happiness, even when happiness is conceived (and studied) as subjective well-being. The centrality of individual happiness, to the exclusion of concern for others, leads to narcissism and egoism which often leave the individual in an existential void, alienated from others, out of touch with nature (and perhaps polluting it), People are compulsively obsessed with the self-defeating question, "Am I really happy now?" As John Stuart Mill once quipped, "Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so. The reason why the pursuit of happiness has become, on Schumaker's view, a nearly impossible task in modern society ? The fast-paced, success-driven, materialistic lifestyle of most of its members has led to a fragmentation of healthy social institutions, healthy values, and thus healthy individuals. Schumaker summarizes the situation as follows: "All indications suggest that modern culture has become insane due to the fact that its patterns of indoctrination are causing the majority of people to become so removed from their core human needs that serious problems are being caused in terms of mental health, social well-being, physical fitness, and planetary survival" (139).

People are being alienated from "core human needs," according to Schumaker, not only through the obvious factors of materialism and heavy advertising but also through the false promises of positive thinking and self-esteem, these ideas should be grounded by concrete values and standards. Even the murderer, the jerk, and the fool can smile and be happy, if thinking makes it so. the pressure to "succeed" makes it difficult even for people to feel good about themselves, their dedication to a single aspect of life leads them to neglect all others (such as family and relaxation) leads people to conceive of everything as, more or less, a business transaction, which is only worthwhile if there is something "in it for them." Borrowing a phrase from William Matthews, Schumaker characterizes the financial success that may result from this kind of life as "unsuccessful success" (199). African and South American societies in which the people are generally happy despite great poverty, as well as the Ladahkis of Tibet and the Samoans, all of whose happiness is bolstered by their intimate and supportive social networks and their non-materialistic values. The Happiness Conspiracy" by psychologist John F. Schumaker The Pursuit of Happiness

xThe Paradox of Hedonism the person who is constantly aiming at happiness tends to find it harder to achieve. To pursue happiness, we have to predict what will makes us happy, but were not very good at that. Why not? HabituationWe get used to new things, so they make less of a difference than we think they will. 2. Set pointwe have an inborn happiness-level that doesnt change much, so we overestimate the impact of new circumstances. The value of recurrent ideas 12 Great truths: Insights into mind and heart from ancient cultures and modern psychology 10 Great truths: Insights into mind and heart from ancient cultures and modern psychology Expected conclusion: Ideas about human nature and well-being that arise across eras and cultures usually contain deep wisdom Unexpected conclusion: Most of the great truths are united by the theme of relatedness What the ancients knew

Didnt know much about biology (or chemistry, physics) Extraordinary insights into: --consciousness and the divided self --grasping attachments and the pursuit of happiness --social relations: reciprocity, gratitude, forgiveness, generosity --moral psychology/sociology (esp. hypocrisy, moralism, and virtue) Not so useful (in our altered world) on: love, work, and finding meaning in life The Divided Self (Great Truth #1) Take home lesson: Self-change is elephant training ) Change the elephant, gradually --Develop new habits, take 12 weeks to stick --Use small but immediate rewards --Try cognitive therapy, meditation, self-hypnosis 2) Change the elephants surroundings --Animals are stimulus bound. People too. Choose your environment and associates carefully. 3) Get relations right BETWEEN elephant and rider --know your elephant, and its strengths and weaknesses Happiness Hypoth #1: Happiness comes from outside (from getting what you want: e.g., wealth, sex, power) Major life events matter MUCH less than we expect! ) Age? Small age trends, peak is in 60s! 2) Gender? No difference overall 3) Race? Small or no differences

 Wealth? Its complicated... --In very poor countries, and for poor people: YES --Above subsistence level, correlation becomes small --In the U.S., correlation is .12.... or maybe .18? --But part of that is reverse correlation --Tripling national wealth since WWII had NO effect --Were on a hedonic treadmill: the more we get, the more we want. --But RELATIVE position matters a little Formua for Happiness: H=S+C+V Happiness is an interaction between genetic Set point, life Conditions, and Voluntary activities. S= Briefly, about 20 years ago, the research started showing a strong genetic component to baseline happiness, which has since been refined; that is, happiness turns out to be extremely heritable. Recent research has shown that there is a range for each individual, rather than a set level of satisfaction. Where you are in that range is highly influenced by other factors C=Life conditions are mostly things you cant change (sex, age, race, etc.) some things change very slowly under normal circumstances (wealth, occupation, education, residence, marital status). people generally adapt to their conditions and return to a baseline happiness rather quickly (surveys of quadripelegics and lottery winners show both returning to their preaccident, pre-windfall levels within a year). There are, however, six life conditions that people seem not to adapt to: noisy environments, commuting, lack of control, shame, conflict in relationships. V=There are then things that we do that change our affect with more or less permanence. Haidt divides these into two categories: pleasures and gratifications. Pleasures are usually physical, namely sex and food; they give real emotional impact, but they can be overdone and become banal. They are real forms of happiness in human life but cannot be depended on for lasting change in our baseline happiness v=gratifications and flow Gratifications are activities that we engage in that last for hours or days or weeks afterwards. They come from engaging in activities where we feel confident in our abilities but where we are slightly challenged, so we are fully engaged in what we are doing. Researchers call the affective state flow and people remember the state long after and get real emotional pleasure long after the activity is completed. Hedonic treadmill -allows humans to continuously adapt to their circumstances. . Pleasure comes more from making progress towards goals than from achieving them. (Buddha suggests that happiness is really a matter of internal discipline and relief from attachments to outcomes.

The elephant is still with us. And, he cares about prestige, competition, not happiness. (101) Selective enjoyment becomes very important savor and vary your experiences. variety is the spice of life because it is the natural enemy of adaptation. The pleasure of reaching a goal - like getting a promotion or finishing a big project - surely gives us a momentary emotional boost. We feel delighted, perhaps even euphoric, for maybe an hour or a day or a couple of days. But more often than not, when success is within reach, and some final event confirms what weve already begun to expect, at the end of our quest, we typically feel more of a sense of relief and the pleasure of closure. We celebrate momentarily and often ask, whats next? The Progress Principle: how it works animals get a rush of dopamine the pleasure neurotransmitter when they do something that advances their evolutionary interests and moves them ahead in the game of survival. : Food and sex give pleasure. This pleasure reinforces our behaviors we want more. Behavior reinforcement works best when it comes seconds, not minutes later. Think about how difficult it would be to teach a dog the game of fetch if you were to reward him with a treat 10 minutes after he retrieved the ball. There would be no connection between the behavior and the reward. The same is true for people. Our brains feel pleasure when we take a step in the right direction but it has difficulty making a connection between an accomplishment on Friday with actions or rewards on Monday. contentment is a short-lived feeling of release after a goal is achieved. Another way to put it is that many small goals equals many sources of pleasure. When in pursuit of a goal, it is the journey that counts, not the destination. We know that most of the pleasure we experience along the way comes with each step that brings us closer to our ultimate destination. Think about it. The final step in the process is often no more thrilling than the pleasure of taking off a heavy backpack a sense of relief. Thus, the Progress Principle: Pleasure comes more from making progress towards our goals than from achieving them. Importantly, people win at the game of life through the use of this Progress Principle by achieving high status, a good reputation, genuine friendships, a supportive mate, accumulating resources and rearing children to be successful at the same game. Or as the ancient proverb goes, "many small steps make the journey of life." Happiness Hypothesis #2: Happiness comes from within There IS a biological set point, but your happiness on any given day forms a distribution around that point: H=S+C+V

S is your Set-point. --Raise it with therapy/prfeesional help C is the few Conditions that matter --increase your relatedness, and control V is the Voluntary activities that you choose to do There IS a biological set point, but your happiness on any given day forms a distribution around that point: H=S+C+V S is your Set-point. --Raise it with Prozac/Zoloft/Lexapro C is the few Conditions that matter --increase your relatedness, and control V is the Voluntary activities that you Why are religious conservatives so happy?

Beliefs: --self-efficacy vs. victimology While people begin with different opportunities, hard work and perseverance can usually overcome those disadvantages Lifestyle = Community: --Marriage (and larger families) --Churchgoing --More charity --Hive psychology? The New Synthesis in Moral Psych Intuitive primacy (but not dictatorship) 2) Moral thinking is for social doing 3) Morality binds and builds 4) Morality is about more than harm and fairness Factors that increase MCC Group is fundamental source of value --Emphasize similarity, shared traditions --Authoritarian or Authoritative parenting --Moral imperative to punish --Religiosity --Emphasis on duties, not rights --Ethos of support for authority and local institutions