UConn– April 6-8, 2010- J. Hughes. Are all goals reducible to the desire for happiness / pleasure / less pain ? Are there different kinds of happiness.

UConn– April 6-8, 2010- J. Hughes

Are all goals reducible to the desire for happiness / pleasure / less pain ?

Are there different kinds of happiness or pleasure?

Can we ever really measure or compare happiness?

Intersubjective utility How do we know we mean the

same thing?

Caroline West1. A momentary sensation, such as pleasure

or enjoyment.2. An enduring mood, like tranquility or

contentment.3. Believing that you're achieving your

desires, that you're getting what you want (even if you aren’t).

4. Actually achieving your desires, and not simply (perhaps falsely) believing that you are.

5. Believing that your life as a whole is going well by your own standards or priorities.

6. Leading a life that's considered by some objective standpoint to be worthwhile, or

worth living, or a flourishing human life.

• Eudaimoniac theories; “True happiness” through virtue

• Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

• Epicurus on happiness (24min)

Can people be wrong about whether they are happy or not? False consciousness

Is there a difference between thinking you are happy and being happy?

• Pain• Chronic Pain

• Depression• What is depression?

• Fear, Stress, Anxiety• Anxiety Disorders

• Boredom

The rise of hedonic philosophy over eudaimonic

Life Liberty and pursuit of happiness Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill Consequentalism & Utilitarianism

(9:41min) Freud: civilization and repression Rational actors and utility maximization

Happiness set-point

Resilience Personality

Openness - appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience.

Conscientiousness - a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.

Extraversion - energy, positive emotions, urgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others.

Agreeableness - a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.

Neuroticism - a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called emotional instability.

OCEAN

Individual predictors may not be the same as social level predictors

Wealth effects mostly between people not societies

Religiosity positive at individual level, negative at social level

Wealth – being wealthier than your neighbors makes you happy

Age – younger people more positive moods, older people more content

Politics – conservatives are happier than liberals

Religion – the religious and church-going are happier

Friends and marriage – social connections make us happier

Children – reduce happiness

Problem of cause and effect:happier people tend to make more money, be healthier, live longer, have more friends, get married, and see fewer problems with the status quo

Encourage wealth accumulation or redistribute wealth?

Discourage divorce and atheism?

Provide social and health security with high taxes, or lower taxes and social security?

Aristotlean/Stoic: societies with the most virtue

Hedonist: wealthiest societies Mill: societies with tolerance for individuality Marx: least alienation, most equal Durkheim: least anomie (strongest

normative cohesion) Freud: least repression, most sexually open Maslow: wealthy but post-materialist

Gini index Equality

Trust and The Spirit Level

“Quality of life” vs. happiness

Human Development Index = 1/3 (life expectancy) + 1/3 (education index) + 1/3 (GDP) 2007 HDI Rank

Iceland 0.968 (▲)Norway 0.968 (▼)Australia 0.962 (▬)Canada 0.961 (▲ 2)Ireland 0.959 (▼ 1)Sweden 0.956 (▼ 1)Switzerland 0.955 (▲ 2)Japan 0.953 (▼ 1)Netherlands 0.953 (▲ 1)France 0.952 (▲ 6)Finland 0.952 (▬)United States 0.951 (▼ 9)Spain 0.949 (▲ 6)Denmark 0.949 (▲ 1)

What does it mean if happiness is not correlated with objective measures of quality of life?

Ruut Veenhoven Director of the World Database of

Happiness Editor of the Journal of Happiness

Studies Key idea: happy life expectancy

or happy life years = Life-expectancy at birth x 0-1 mean happiness

Values between 0 and 1 assigned by:

Time-trade-off (TTO) – Rs choose between remaining in a state of ill health for a period of time,or being restored to perfect health but having a shorter life expectancy.

Visual analogue scale (VAS) – Rs rate a state of ill health on a scale from 0 to 100, with 0 representing death and 100 representing perfect health.

Danes are happiest because of low expectations, high quality of life

Richard Easterlin’s 1974 paper "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence. Within a given country, people with higher incomes are more likely

to be happy. Between countries average happiness does not vary much with

national income per person, above basic needs. Although income per person rose steadily in the United States

between 1946 and 1970, average reported happiness showed no long-term trend, and declined between 1960 and 1970.

Hedonic treadmill

Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How life gets better while people feel worse (2003).

2003 Ruut Veenhoven and Michael Hagerty’s “Wealth and Happiness Revisited”: GDP does matter

2008. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers “Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox”

Wealth is related to national mood

During the last few weeks did you feel…

Proud Excited or interested On top of the world Upset Restless Lonely

Yesterday did you feel… Depressed Angry In love

Improvements in life expectancy improve mood, economic growth depresses it

People in Africa and Eastern Europe especially unhappy

Corruption in government depressing, effective govt good for mood

Over 26 years, >350,000 people asked: "Taking all things together, would you

say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?”

Interview (5:22min) Post-meterialism?

Ron Inglehart

• Humanistic Psychology

• Abraham Maslow• Transpersonal

Psychology

Hierarchy of Needs Effect?: Affluent countries begin to prioritize individual improvement, personal freedom, democratic participation, the environment.

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll Jan. 10-14, 2010. N=1,002 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1 "If you had to choose, which of the following should be the top priority?”

38% Job creation and economic growth 17% National security and terrorism 13% The deficit and government spending 13% Health care 12% The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 10% Energy and the cost of gas 4% Social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage

GDP CIVIL LIBERTIES

People getting happier (2min)

Aristotlean/Stoic: government honesty, but not domestic virtue

Hedonist: wealth Mill: freedom Marx: equality Durkheim: ? Freud: Sexual freedom

works for N. Europe at least Maslow: ?

• Martin Seligman• director of the Positive

Psychology Center of the University of Pennsylvania

• Authentic Happiness• Pleasant Life or the "life of enjoyment”• Good Life or the "life of engagement”• Meaningful Life or "life of affiliation"

• TED Talk (23min)

Positive psychology’s DSM IV 1. Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity,

open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective2. Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality3. Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence4. Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership5. Temperance: forgiveness and mercy, humility,

prudence, self control6. Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and

excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

• Jonathan Haidt The Happiness Hypothesis• http://www.happinesshypothesis.com

• Peak Experiences • Entheogens• Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow• Csíkszentmihályi’s TED Talk (19min)

• Flourishing Personality• Virtue Exercises• Over-emphasis on capacity

to improve?

Daniel Kahneman, Ed Diener, Ed, Norbert Schwarz, (2003). Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology

Prospect theory (5min)

Kahneman on Well-Being (60min)

Ed DienerDaniel Kahneman

Dan Gilbert Stumbling on Happiness (20 min)

The limits of the rational actor: Hedonic treadmill Rationalization Paradox of choice: more

choices reduce satisfaction

Status quo bias Loss Aversion: we work harder to

avoid losses than to get wins Depressive realism

Policy upshots Forcing people to take vacations Reducing people’s choices, and making the best ones the

default

Dan Ariely

We mean at least two different things by happiness: mood and a life well lived

Wealth, age, conservatism, religiousity, marriage, friends and children all effect happiness (and our friends may cause it)

Wealthier, more democratic and equal, societies happier

We are terrible at predicting what will make us happy

Eudaemonia– Aristotle’s term for a flourishing good life Hedonism – valuing happiness and pleasure Utilitarianism – Greatest happiness for the greatest number Quality-adjusted life years – one year of quality life Happiness set-point – genetically determined Five factor personality model – OCEAN Hedonic treadmill – always wanting more Easterlin paradox – countries don’t get happier as they get

wealthier (except he was wrong) Positive psychology – focusing on happiness and the virtues Behavioral economics – studying how people actually make

decisions (irrationally) Network analysis – happiness (and sadness) are contagious

Download these slides at: http://ieet.org/archive/

20100406sochapp.ppt

Contact me at: james.hughes@trincoll.edu