The Pursuit of Happiness or How to improve yourself without making New Year’s resolutions

1)How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? ____ 1=extremely unsatisfied, 7=extremely satisfied 2) List 2 things you’d like to change about yourself

I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving; having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O GOD, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions. --from Samuel Johnson’s Diary

I) The Divided Self (great truth #1) Medea’s lament: I am dragged along by a strange new force. Desire and reason are pulling in different directions. I see the right way and approve it, but follow the wrong. St Paul’s lament: The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, so that ye cannot do the things ye would.

Models of the Mind Q: Is consciousness the driver of a car? Or a rider on an elephant?

Two kinds of thinking Automatic (elephant) Intuition Fast, easy… indefatigable “hot” – connected to motivations, reward centers 99% of all cognition

Two kinds of thinking Automatic (elephant)Controlled (rider) IntuitionReasoning, language, logic Fast, easy… indefatigableSlow, effortful… tires out “hot” – connected to motivations, reward centers “cool” – not connected to motivational centers 99% of all cognition1% of all cognition

Automatic vs. controlled perception

Automatic vs. controlled motivation

Take home lesson: Self-change is elephant training. 1) Change the elephant, gradually --Develop new habits, take 12 weeks to stick --Use small but immediate rewards --Try cognitive therapy, or meditation 2) Change the elephant’s surroundings --Animals are “stimulus bound”; people too 3) Get relations right BETWEEN elephant and rider --know your elephant, and its strengths and weaknesses

YR: II) Life itself is but what you deem it (Great Truth #2) “How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” 1=extremely unsatisfied, 7=extremely satisfied

YR: What we imagine will happen: Permanent effects Baseline Win Lottery Paralyzed for life

YR: What actually happens : We adapt very quickly (Brickman, Coates, & Janoff-Bulman, 1978) Win Lottery Paralyzed for lifeAdaptation!

Who is happy? (Demographics) 1) Age? No differences in overall SWB 2) Sex? No difference in overall SWB 3) Race? Small or no differences 4) Wealth? --In very poor countries, and for poor people: YES --But, once above subsistence level, correlation becomes small --In the U.S., correlation is.12 --Tripling national wealth since WWII had NO effect on happiness --We’re on a “hedonic treadmill”: the more we get, the more we want

Life itself is but what you deem it (Marcus Aurelius) --There’s nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. --We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts --Life is a banquet, and some poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death

Why? Because Everyone has a biological set point --Avg happiness level is fairly stable from year to year --Avg happiness level is highly heritable: 50-75% of variance due to genes: almost none due to shared family environmnt Won the cortical lottery Lost the cortical lottery

What did they win? Happy people… --Have more friends --Have happier marriages and fewer divorces --Live longer --Recover from adversity faster, and grow from it --Become more successful: --clients like them, buy from them --bosses like them, promote them --throw themselves into projects more fully; live in the “realm of possibility” --Exception: lawyers. Pessimism is adaptive.

But: Live above your set-point! There IS a biological set point, but experienced happiness forms a distribution around that point, a “set range”. H = S + C + V S(et-point) C(onditions) V(oluntary activities)

But: Live above your set-point! There IS a biological set point, but experienced happiness forms a distribution around that point, a “set range”. H = S + C + V Raise S(et-point): Prozac Raise C(onditions): --Increase control in daily life --Increase relatedness Raise V(oluntary activities): ….

Voluntary Activity #1: Diagnose Yourself --are you on the negative half of the happiness distribution? (Find out at --What are your strengths? How can you use them to get around your weaknesses? (take the “Signature Strengths Test” at

Voluntary Activity #2: Improve Mental Hygiene --If you ARE low, or you ruminate, then buy “Feeling Good”, by David Burns. Or see a cognitive-behavioral therapist --Every evening, write down three things that went well that day, and their causes. (Especially the role you played, the strengths you used, the friends and supporters you have.) --These practices are as effective as Prozac at raising happiness levels

Voluntary Activity #3: Diet less, Exercise more --Dieting makes people irritable, and rarely works --Pleasure is an important part of the good life --A slight increase in exercise improves mood throughout the day

Voluntary Activity #4: Improve relatedness --The unexpected theme of most chapters in the Happiness Hypothesis: Relationships are the key to happiness! --Work on existing relationships! --Write a gratitude letter --And cultivate new relationships, especially in groups

Conclusion: Happiness Hypoth #1: Happiness comes from outside (from getting what you want: wealth, health, love)

Conclusion: Happiness Hypoth #1: Happiness comes from outside (from getting what you want: wealth, health, love) Happiness Hypoth #2: Happiness comes from within (Buddha, Epictetus, most pop psych)

Conclusion: Happiness Hypoth #1: Happiness comes from outside (from getting what you want: wealth, health, love) Happiness Hypoth #2: Happiness comes from within (Buddha, Epictetus, most pop psych) Happiness Hypoth #3: Happiness comes from between