Happiness: Fluff or Science?

Happiness in general, and what makes people happy more specifically, are essential elements of positive psychology. When you hear people say that they just want to be happy or want others around them to be, what thoughts enter your mind? Do you perceive them to be idealistic or living in a dream world? Although there has been some attention paid to wellbeing, success, and high functioning, most of the funding and research in psychology historically has been dedicated to mental illness, mental disorders, trauma, and tragedy. Positive psychology changed all of that. New findings have surfaced some truly fascinating considerations regarding the science of wellbeing. Here are a few regarding physical, social, and emotional wellbeing to whet your appetite.

Physically speaking, happiness is found to:

  • lower heart rate and blood pressure and encourage healthier heart rate variability,
  • act as a barrier between you and germs so you are less likely to get sick,
  • boost our immune system,
  • act as a protective factor against disease and disability,
  • help people cope with chronic pain better,
  • reduce frequency of aches and pains, and
  • lengthen one’s life!

Socioemotionally, happiness is found to:

  • encourage greater protection against stress and release less of the stress hormone cortisol,
  • help us make others happier,
  • promote healthy relationships,
  • be contagious; when we spend time with happy people, we’re likely to feel happier as well!

But what exactly is happiness, and can it be measured? Happinesshas been described as the ‘positive emotions we have in regard to the pleasurable activities we take part in through our daily lives’. While happiness alone can be hard to measure, the key components that play into it, can and have been researched quite extensively. Examples of positive emotions that increase our happiness and encourage flourishing include pleasure, comfort, gratitude, hope, and inspiration.

I came across scientific literature as a new parent. Scientists Ryan and Deci referred to happiness as “hedonia: the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative emotions” in 2001. They continue to explain that human wellbeing is made up of both hedonic and Eudaimonic principles. Eudaimonia has been translated from ancient Greek to mean welfare, flourishing, and wellbeing (Kraut, 2018) but most simply is taken to mean happiness (Deci & Ryan, 2006; Huta & Waterman, 2014; Heintzelman, 2018). The concept of Eudaimonia comes from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, his philosophical work on the ‘science of happiness’ (Irwin, 2012). From https://positivepsychology.com/eudaimonia/

In 2001, Ryan & Deci found that certain factors correlate in affecting one’s happiness. These include:

  • Personality type,
  • Positive versus negative emotions,
  • Attitude towards physical health,
  • Social class/wealth,
  • Attachment and relatedness,
  • Goals and self-efficacy, and
  • Time and place.

This is all well and good. But it seems a bit general, doesn’t it? Keep reading! More recent studies have shown that:

  • Money can only buy happiness up to about $75,000 – after that, it has no significant effect on our emotional wellbeing (Kahneman & Deaton, 2010).
  • Most of our happiness is not determined by our genetics, but by our experiences and our day-to-day lives (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
  • Trying too hard to find happiness often has the opposite effect and can lead us to be overly selfish (Mauss et al., 2012).
  • Pursuing happiness through social means (i.e., spending time with family and friends) is more likely to be effective than other methods (Rohrer et al., 2018).
  • Happiness makes us better citizens – it is a good predictor of civic engagement in the transition to adulthood (Fang et al., 2018).
  • Happiness leads to career success, and it doesn’t have to be “natural” happiness – researchers found that “experimentally enhancing” positive emotions also contributed to improved outcomes at work (Walsh et al., 2018).
  • There is a linear relationship between religious involvement and happiness. Higher worship service attendance is correlated with more commitment to faith, and commitment to faith is related to greater compassion. Compassionate individuals are more likely to provide emotional support to others, and those who provide emotional support to others are more likely to be happy (Krause et al., 2018).

Hence, they’ve proven it to me. Happiness may not be able to be bought, but it is able to be built. Build your openness to the world’s most innovative social psychologists. Stop getting bogged down by the negatives of life. Don’t settle for mediocre. Learn how to grow your happiness! If you’re like me and feel the term happiness has been misconstrued as a flying pig or some other impossibility, read my blog on flow and flourishing to see why the Father of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman, prefers those terms to happiness.

In the meantime, do me a favor and consider what it is that truly makes you happy!

Is it a warm blanket (like it is for Charlie Brown)?

A hug from a favorite person?

Winning a game?

Eating your favorite food?

Sunny weather?

Why do these things help you feel good?

What can you do today to make yourself a little happier?

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