Bryan Caplan (my microeconomics prof) has some a great post on the latest in happiness research. (Hattip to Marginal Revolution.) In it he astutely observes how avoiding blame helps bring joy (emphasis mine):F&L also provide a fascinating discussion of the forces that moderate hedonic adaptation. It helps the bereaved and the handicapped to socialize with people with similar problems. It helps to have advance notice: You get over the death of a loved one more easily if you have some time to get used to the idea. And - expected utility theory notwithstanding - people adapt more easily to 100% certain bad events than to 95% certain bad events.How true! Next time you're tempted to blame someone for your misfortunes, remember that this seems to be a quick path to misery. (Could this be empirical evidence for the power of forgiveness?)
If and who you blame for bad events matters too. In one study, "[V]ictims of severe accidents who blamed themselves for the accident were coping more successfully eight to twelve months afterward than those who did not, and... victims who blamed other people (as opposed to some nonspecific external cause) displayed especially low coping scores." This rings so true to me that my head is still spinning. Have I ever felt unhappy for long about something without blaming another person? I'm drawing a blank.
Happiness research has been drawing mixed reactions from the economics profession. Some economists, like Bryan Caplan, really love it and think there is some tremendous insight to be gained. Others, like Arnold Kling, are not too keen on it. (Read perspectives of some other economists here and here.)
A number of my classmates are dismissive of happiness research because of policy implications it might have. I do not think this is a good reason to reject this research, but do agree that we should resist any clamoring for the government to become the Happiness Police or establishing a Gross National Happiness Index in order to monitor policy effects.
I side strongly with Bryan Caplan on this -- I want to learn as much as possible about this and am excited to see some rigorous research being done in this area. I do not want to reject the results of research merely because I don't like what it indicates.
Last November, I heard Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, speak on happiness at a conference here in DC. I was very interested in many of his findings and would like to learn more about happiness and its causes. While I certainly don’t think it is the job of the government to make sure I’m happy, it sure would be nice to get some insights on how I might pursue happiness on my own…
Let me close this post with lyrics from a Johnny Cash song, courtesy of Bryan Caplan:
How many times haveP.S. – If these issues interest you, be sure to check out Will Wilkinson’s Happiness and Public Policy blog.
You heard someone say
If I had his money
I could do things my way
But little they know
That it's so hard to find
One rich man in ten
With a satisfied mind
...
Money can't buy back
Your youth when you're old
Or a friend when you're lonely
Or a love that's grown cold
The wealthiest person
Is a pauper at times
Compared to the man
With a satisfied mind
Questions: What is it that makes you most happy? What is your opinion of happiness research? How happy are you? What do you think we can do in our own individual lives to increase our own happiness?
2 comments:
Of course, most serious happiness researchers are awake to these problems, and have spent many many years attempting to establish the validity of the measures they use. They're not there yet, by any means, but I don't think that many of the reasons noted by the previous commenter have a lot to do with that.
On the culturally defined concepts point, two things are worth noting. One is that researchers are working with more than just survey evidence. Brain scans, experience sampling and other less culturally relative methods are all used, and, interestingly, they all tend to correlate pretty well with the survey measures. Two is that, most survey measures tend to ask either questions about life satisfaction, or a range of alternative questions desgined to capture an overall sense of well being, rather than just asking "how happy are you?" precisely because of the fear that "happy" doesn't translate as well across cultures.
I think the second point is really just trying to elevate a disagreement about ends into a conceptual difficulty for happiness economics. Of course the economist's notion of utility in the strict sense of a representation of preferences is not the same thing as a self report of happiness. I doubt you'll find a single person within happiness research that would disagree with that. Indeed, most of them argue very forcefully for that exact position. Their point is that we don't value utility-so-defined as and end in itself. You can disagree with that, and they can disagree with you (and I will disagree with you too). But it's not a deep and intractable methodological issue.
Thanks for your challenging inquiry!
Many studies indicate that people are happiest when they feel they have control over a situation.
Accepting responsibility, whether it is valid or not provides that allusion of control.
Hence accepting responsibility leads to a higher level of satisfaction than blaming others or outside circumstances.
Accepting responsibility for our part of a problem does indeed lead to greater happiness. It also allows us to learn and grow from the experience.
Michele Moore, CEO
Happiness Habit, Inc.
www.HappinessHabit.com
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