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Money as a source of happiness
Money as a source of happiness
Does money guarantee happiness essay
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Broderick and Blewitt explain that young adults feel as though they are still waiting for life to happen, but once individuals reach middle adulthood, they see themselves as “grown up.” When individuals reach middle adulthood, they may begin to reflect on their life satisfaction and determine what changes they need to make to live their happiest life. Life satisfaction is often measured by subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is an individual’s overall satisfaction with life and general happiness, and it is usually measured by questionnaires or interviews. Subjective well-being questionnaires and interviews are typically comprised of questions in which individuals rate their feelings about their lives on a continuum ranging from “very happy” to “very unhappy.” Many people believe that the more money you have, the happier you are; however, it has been found that wealth is only weakly correlated with subjective well-being scores. People who are living in poverty do report a lower subjective well-being score, but once individuals reach a …show more content…
One system is called the behavioral inhibition system, which is related to “withdrawal and avoidance behaviors shaped through evolution to help people keep out of harm’s way” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010). An aspect of the behavioral inhibition system is negative affectivity, or “the extent to which a person experiences nervousness, fear, anger, sadness, contempt, and guilt” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010). The other system that Broderick and Blewitt discuss is the behavioral facilitation system. The behavioral facilitation system allows “people to respond to reinforcement and to approach and engage with the environment” (Broderick & Blewitt, 2010). A prominent fact in the behavioral facilitation system is positive affectivity, which is “the extent to which a person experiences enthusiasm, alertness, joy, confidence, and determination” (Broderick & Blewitt,
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One reason described to be a cause of happiness is income. Don Peck and Ross Douthat indicate how, “National income appears to be one of the best single predictors of overall well-being, explaining perhaps 40 percent of the difference in contentment among nations” (352). With this statement, comes the explanation of how income can influence happiness in adults who strive to earn a living. Research illustrates how, “For individual countries, with few exceptions, self-reported happiness has increased as incomes have risen” (Douthat 352). While these two statements provide sufficient evidence for the reason of income bringing happiness, income itself is not relevant.
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Throughout childhood and our adolescent years, we learn to control our emotions, eventually gaining an understanding of how and when it is appropriate to express or suppress those emotions. This technique is referred to as emotional regulation or effortful control and is considered a lifelong endeavor, with early childhood being a crucial time for development (Berger. 2014, p.210) According to Berger, by age 6 signs of emotional regulation are evident with most children being able to become upset or angry without emotional outburst or proud without being narcissistic (Gross,2014; Lewis,2013). Emotional control and delayed gratification are developed using motivation either intrinsic (the joy felt within after achieving something) or extrinsic (the gratification felt after receiving praise or acknowledgment from outside sources) (Berger. 2014, p.214). Unlike intrinsic motivation, because extrinsic motivation requires outside reinforcements to be achieved, once the extrinsic reward stops, so does the behavior; unless it becomes habitual due to intrinsic gratification (Berger,2014, p.214).
By using Gross Domestic Product as the main indicator of well-being, many important factors are neglected. As defined in the New Merriam-Webster Dictionary, well-being is the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous (1989, p.831). Economically, perhaps the only relevant state under the definition is prosperity, but in reality happiness and health have a great impact on well-being, significant enough to be recognized even when focusing mainly on wealth in numbers. If society hopes to have a more accurate and complete indication of well-being, globally or nationally, a new system of measurement must be developed, leaving GDP to its original function of totaling the dollar value of all domestically-produced goods and services sold over a period of time.
The studies given as examples and discussion focuses on teenagers and young adults, but includes anyone is struggling to find happiness. Evidence to Support Thesis: Point 1: The level of well-being is emphasized as more people continue to lose track of what makes them happy. Shawn Anchor is reminding people to capture the essence of simple contentment and asking his audience to think about what they value. Anchor’s book provides seven principles that involve having an open mind to becoming happier. Anchor includes other research studies as evidence to his claims throughout the book.
According to Freud’s conclusion, based on decades of experimentation and theoretical work in the field of psychotherapy, humans cannot be happy because a satisfaction of needs creates only a momentary phase of happiness which expires after some time. Therefore, the focus of life should not be on obtaining happiness, and people should focus on avoiding suffering instead (Bullock, n.d.). However, several paradigms of well-being exist, and individual cognitive patterns and paradigms define the emotional responses to social influences. From an objective viewpoint, well-being is a state of consciousness that arises from a combination of internal and external factors, and money is an unstable external influence in defining subjective well-being. Money as a determinant of subjective well-being is influenced by several cultural influences.
An individual 's happiness is vital to their overall wellbeing and is affected by numerous factors, all to varying extents.
What is happiness and how do we get it? In “The Happiness Factor,” David Brooks gives evidence that what people think will make them happy are not really the things that actually do. There is a belief that people with money are happier than the less privileged, and it is true to a point. People living in poverty or paycheck-to-paycheck have reported lower levels of personal satisfaction. However, when they reach middle-income status, their happiness is determined more by personal relationships than by their economic situation. Studies done by Carol Graham of the Brookings Institute have shown that countries with a fast-growing economy prove to be slightly less happy that countries with slower growth. However, first-world countries such as the
Happiness is a feeling that everyone aims to accomplish, yet some people seem to only catch a sight of it. Gratifying atonement, a state of well-being, and serenity are the more eminent elements of happiness. David G. Myers and Ed Diener propose the article “Who Is Happy?” which present aspects of happiness, a theory that recognizes adaptation, cultural world view, and personal goals. I believe through word of mouth and through those whom we look up to, we are told many myths about happiness, especially the biggest myth that money can buy happiness. In Daniel Gilbert’s “Reporting Live from Tomorrow”, he argues that the definition of happiness is not defined by wealth and that we rely on super-replicators and surrogates to make decisions that we feel will enhance our happiness. Our economic history has proven the idea of declining marginal utility. If we pursue life and liberty without happiness, our lives, quality, and value will slowly vanish, but the absence of wealth has nothing to do with one’s happiness.
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