Controversial Topics: Is Happiness Relative?

1031 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Definition of happiness paper

The Happiness Debate:
“If you want to be happy, be.”
-Leo Tolstoy

The definition for happiness is and always will be, quite fickle, because it means something different to everyone. To many, being happy is arriving at a feeling that one’s needs are being met. Susan Krause Whitbourne takes a stab at this in her definition of the emotion of happiness within the larger context of psychological well-being. Whitbourne articulates that studies should also take into account feelings of unhappiness, along with life satisfaction and fulfillment. She notes that psychologists differentiate between “life satisfaction” and “subjective well-being,” measuring both people’s assessments of their attitudes and feelings about their lives at a certain point of time and their actual feelings of happiness at particular moment. In the field …show more content…

“Lottery Winners and Accident
Victims: Is Happiness Relative?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36.8
(1978): 917-927.
Fletcher, Ben C. “Happiness Is Not a Feeling—It Is Doing.’ Psychology Today. Sussex
Publishers, 15 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New
York: Basic Books, 2006.
Lyubomirsky, Sonja. The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want.
New York: Viking/Penguin, 2008.
"Posts Tagged ‘Martin Seligman’." Why We Reason. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Seligman, Martin E. P., Tracy A. Steen, Nansook Park, and Christopher Peterson. “Positive
Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.” American Psychology 60.5 (July-Aug. 2005): 410-421.
Taylor, Paul, Rich Morin, Kim Parker, D’Vera Cohn, and Wendy Wang. “Growing Old in
America: Expectations Versus Reality.” Pew Social Trends. Pew Research Center, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
Whitbourne, Susan. “How Should Psychology Define Happiness?” Psychology Today. Sussex
Publishers, 3 May 2014. Web. 25 Nov.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Mueller's Happy And Unhappy Families

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    What makes one person happy may not be enough to make someone else happy; everyone has different standards. For example a few extra dollars may mean rent for one person whereas a few extra dollars may not even make a difference to another person. There is no true definition on happiness. Mueller wrote “ happy ones who never raised their voice” which

    Read More

  • Darrin Mcmahon's Argument Analysis

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone wants to be “happy.” Everyone endeavors to fulfill their desires for their own pleasure. What makes this ironic is, the fact that most don‘t know what the actual definition of happiness is. “In Pursuit of Unhappiness” presents an argument, which states that not everyone will be happy. Darrin McMahon, the article’s author, explores the ways our “relentless pursuit of personal pleasure”(McMahon P.11;S.3) can lead to empty aspirations and impractical expectations, making us sad, and not happy. Rather than working to find the happiness of others, we should all focus on finding what makes ourselves happy. It is easier to find happiness in the little things

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Why Happiness, Why Now By Sara Ahmed

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay Why Happiness, Why Now? Sara Ahmed talks about how one’s goal in life is to find happiness. Ahmed begins her essay with skepticism and her disbeliefs in happiness. She shows her interest in how happiness is linked to a person’s life choices. Ahmed also tries to dig deeper, and instead of asking an unanswerable question, “what is Happiness?” she asks questions about the role of happiness in one’s life.

    Read More

  • Happiness Thesis Statement

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Of Happiness In Martin Seligman's A Balanced Psychology And A Full Life?

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Martin Seligman and other’s article “A Balanced Psychology and a Full Life,” he states that the definition of happiness, “Is a condition over and above the absence of unhappiness” (Seligman et al 1379).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Stumbling On Happiness

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology and social psychology. In “How Happy Are You and Why?”, Lyubomirsky argues that happiness mainly comes from genetics and intentional activity, and is only slightly affected by circumstances (184). Lubomirsky also introduces her “Subjective Happiness Scale,” which asks a person to self-report their own happiness in four simple, closely-related questions (183). She says that genetics creates the happiness set point, while intentional activity can be changed in order to affect happiness level (Lyubomirsky 186-195). In contrast, Gilbert’s idea that happiness stems from interpretations of events matches the circumstances component of happiness that Lyubomirsky describes. Lyubomirsky also provides strong evidence for saying that happiness has a genetic component, when she presents the data from studies of twins. These studies revealed that “identical twins were extremely similar to each other in their happiness levels” (Lyubomirsky 187-190). This challenges Gilbert’s view that happiness comes solely from our interpretations of the situations we are in, because the evidence from twin studies shows that a significant part of a person’s happiness level is genetic. This means that there is a component of happiness that cannot be changed, which contrasts with Gilbert’s view that simply seeing the more positive side brings about happiness. Both views are from the psychological

    Read More

  • The How of Happiness

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • How Does Henry David Thoreau Use Repetition In Walden

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dale Carnegie once expressed, “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” Analyzing this quote, it is crucial to note the underlining theme that happiness, true and genuine happiness, requires a shifting away from conformity and the status quo in order to discover the treasure found in one’s own self. Therefore, finding out who one’s self is mandates a state of solitude which acts like the green pastures by the still waters that restores the soul. However, with its roaring and hungry fire that sends up flutters of red and yellow and orange and white fireflies soaring into the carnivorous night, conflict is the key ingredient in shifting away from acquiescence and society’s present state of affairs.

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Happiness in Fahrenheit 451

    2866 Words  | 6 Pages

    Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).

    Read More

  • Junk Science by Lee Ann Fisher Baron

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Pew Research Center for the People & the Press Political Survey” (Q.44CF1). Pew Research Center. The Pew Charitable Trusts, Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Success and Happiness: A Personal Reflection

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Happiness, what is it, and why do we strive to achieve it so persistently? Happiness in some points of view is portrayed as the state that is derived from self-awareness of a benefiting action or moment taking place. What of the moments that are not beneficial? Can a person still find moments of happiness and success in discord, a little glimmer of light shining from the deep recesses of our own consciousness? Plucking it from a mere moment, achieved from money, or is it so much more, happiness is the precipice that all strive to gain to better perceive their success. As a person lives, they are in a constant struggle to be happy. For instance, even the United States Constitution makes reference to the idea that every person has the inalienable right to pursue happiness. This was the resulting outcome of the enlightenment from France, spilling out into the rest of the world from 1650 through 1800. This revolutionized the idea that every single person has the inalienable right to happiness or in different views the right to succeed. As to how one peruses or conjures their happiness that is an entirely different concept and completely up to their preferred preference, but it is something that a person needs to find on their own for true success.

    Read More

  • Speech on Happiness

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    But in this debate, one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life, but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant, but having it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties, but to attend a party with honor.

    Read More

  • The Art Of Happiness Analysis

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living” is a collaboration by His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., who identify many possible components that could lead to a happy and satisfying life. Their approach combines and integrates the thoughts of East and West; Buddhist principles and practices on one hand and Western science and psychology on the other. Many everyday difficulties are highlighted in this book, and Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler attempts to help the readers find appropriate solutions in order to find a balanced and lasting happiness. Dalai Lama’s understanding of the factors that ultimately lead to happiness is based on a lifetime of methodically observing his own mind, exploring the nature of the human condition, and investigating these things within a framework first established by The

    Read More

  • The Definition of Happiness

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    According to the Webster dictionary, the word happiness is defined as enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. When people think of happiness, they think about having a good feeling inside. There are many types of happiness, which are expressed in many ways. Happiness is something that you can't just get; it comes from your soul. Happiness can be changed through many things that happen in our everyday lives.

    Read More

  • The Pursuit of Happiness

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.

    Read More

More about Controversial Topics: Is Happiness Relative?

Open Document