Happiness. Can one measure it? ...
~~The science of being happy
It's in your genes, your relationships, and how you choose to think and act, Gary Hayden finds out
It's in your genes, your relationships, and how you choose to think and act, Gary Hayden finds out
Traditionally, psychologists have studied the negative aspects of the mind, such as depression, anxiety and neurosis. Their mission has been to cure us of misery and gloom.
But recently there's been a surge of interest in the positive aspects of human behaviour and emotion. More and more psychologists are now turning their attention to happiness and well-being.
But recently there's been a surge of interest in the positive aspects of human behaviour and emotion. More and more psychologists are now turning their attention to happiness and well-being.
Dr Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania is one of them. He says that rather than being content to take us 'from a minus five to a zero', psychologists are now asking, 'How do we get from zero to plus five?'
This new area of research is called positive psychology.
Of course, philosophers have been discussing happiness for thousands of years, and bookstore shelves are already groaning under the weight of self-help books on the subject. But positive psychology claims to offer something new - a scientific approach to happiness.
This new area of research is called positive psychology.
Of course, philosophers have been discussing happiness for thousands of years, and bookstore shelves are already groaning under the weight of self-help books on the subject. But positive psychology claims to offer something new - a scientific approach to happiness.
Measuring happiness
Before something can be studied scientifically, it has to be measured. Science involves experiments, tests, measurements and statistics. So the thing that marks out the positive psychologists from the philosophers and self-help gurus is their commitment to hard data. They don't just debate happiness - they measure it.
But is it really possible to place a numerical value on happiness? The positive psychologists say 'yes' - and have come up with some ingenious ways of doing it.
One method simply involves asking people how happy they are. This is the basis of the Satisfaction with Life Scale, a happiness test devised by Professor Edward Diener of the University of Illinois.
The test consists of five simple questions whose answers are used to assess life-satisfaction on a numerical scale (go to www.bbc.co.uk/happinessformula to test yourself). This may sound very subjective. But an individual's results tally well with the perceptions of family, friends and even strangers.
The Satisfaction with Life Scale gives a good indication of how generally contented we are. It identifies background levels of happiness. But there are also methods of tracking moment-by-moment levels of joy.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi from the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont uses a method known as experience-sampling. He provides people with palm-top computers, and then contacts them at various intervals, asking them to report back on what they're doing, who they're with and how they feel.
Another happiness-measuring tool, the day-reconstruction method, requires people to fill in a detailed questionnaire about the previous day's activities and how they felt about them. (A day-reconstruction study of 900 Texan women identified sex as the high point of their days, and commuting as the low point).
The data built up from tests like these allow psychologists to draw conclusions about the kinds of things that affect happiness and well-being.
What's been learned
It turns out that how happy we are has a lot to do with our natural temperament. To a large degree, happiness is in the genes.
A 1999 study showed that identical twins have surprisingly similar levels of happiness, even if they are adopted by different families and raised apart. Strong proof that there's a genetic component to happiness.
This isn't to say that being blessed with joyful genes guarantees a happy life, or that gloomy genes condemn us to despair. But genetic make-up does seem to define the broad range within which happiness levels fluctuate.
Unsurprisingly, circumstances also affect happiness, but not always in the ways that we would expect. For example, wealth doesn't seem to matter very much. Once you have sufficient income to feed, clothe and house yourself, extra cash does little to bolster well-being. A 1970s study of lottery winners showed that after an initial boost, their happiness levels soon returned to normal.
Education doesn't make much difference either. Highly educated people and those with high IQs are barely happier than the rest of us. Youth and good looks also contribute little to happiness.
So what does matter? Which circumstances do make a difference?
Marriage, for one thing. Research shows that married people tend to be significantly happier than those who are not, whereas divorced people tend to be more miserable. (Surprisingly, having children doesn't do much to boost happiness levels - at least, not while they're living at home. There's an injection of joy when a child is born, but this wears off within a couple of years.)
Friendship has a very significant effect on happiness. Two American psychologists studied the happiness levels of hundreds of students, and found that the happiest ones spend the least time alone and the most time socialising. The wider and deeper your relationships, the happier you're likely to be.
Some circumstances produce lasting unhappiness. It can take years to recover from the negative effect of losing a spouse. Losing a job can also cause long-term damage.
Boosting happiness
Psychologists have pieced together the data and produced a pie-chart of the factors determining happiness. Genetic disposition makes up a whopping 50 per cent while circumstances account for just 10 per cent.
It comes as a surprise to many people that circumstantial factors like health, wealth and good looks have so little impact. This is largely due to a psychological process known as adaptation. Imagine that you have received a hefty pay rise. For a while you feel elated. But you soon get used to the extra income, and your happiness reverts to its original level. You adapt to your new circumstances, and require another pay rise to make you feel good.
Adaptation works the other way too, allowing us to bounce back from setbacks. Accident victims who lose the use of limbs become very depressed for a short time, but soon start to feel better and eventually regain something very close to their original level of happiness.
Once genes and circumstances have been taken into account, there's still quite a large slice (40 per cent) of the happiness pie left over. What does this represent?
Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist from Stanford University, believes that this remaining slice represents 'intentional activities' - a term that refers to thoughts and behaviours that require effort, and that we can control. Examples might include spending a few minutes each day meditating or performing weekly acts of kindness.
Positive psychologists believe that adopting appropriate intentional activities can make us happier. One happiness-boosting strategy is to perform acts of altruism or kindness. In one study, Dr Lyubomirsky found that performing five acts of kindness each week makes people measurably happier.
Cultivating and expressing gratitude also lifts happiness levels. Dr Seligman has pioneered two techniques for accomplishing this: 'three blessings' and 'gratitude visits'. Three blessings involves writing down each day three things that have gone well. Gratitude visit involves writing a letter to someone you're grateful to but have never thanked properly, and then going and reading it to him. Both techniques have been shown to increase happiness.
Living a productive and meaningful life is another essential ingredient of well-being. Dr Seligman says that you can achieve this by identifying your personal strengths (curiosity, ingenuity, social intelligence, courage, etc.), and then using them to achieve worthwhile goals. His website (www.reflectivehappiness.com) has tools to help you do this.
It is interesting to note that the most effective happiness-boosting techniques involve interacting with and helping others. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre famously once wrote: 'Hell is other people.' Nothing, it seems, could be further from the truth.
