VI. Happiness and Fear
Happiness Happiness is a basic human emotion, but people often make assumptions about happiness that empirical research does not support. For example, people often assume that most people feel unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives, but research shows this is not true. Most people describe themselves as fairly happy even if they are in less than ideal circumstances. Surprisingly, researchers have not found a consistent positive correlation between happiness and factors such as wealth, age, intelligence, physical attractiveness, or parenthood—factors that many people commonly associate with happiness. Although circumstances do not reliably predict happiness, some circumstances do correlate with increased happiness. These include having a good social network, being married, having a satisfying job, and having strong religious convictions. These circumstances, however, are only correlated with happiness. As you already know, correlation does not necessarily mean causation. Research also shows that happiness tends to depend on people’s expectations of life and on how people compare themselves to their peers. Subjective Well-being Rather than focusing only on negative reactions to unfavorable circumstances, researchers today have begun to study subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is the perception people have about their happiness and satisfaction with life. Subjective well-being depends more on attitudes to external circumstances than on the circumstances themselves. That is, factors such as wealth or employment don’t matter as much as how we feel about our wealth or employment. Adaptation-Level Phenomenon The adaptation-level phenomenon describes our tendency to judge various stimuli relative to those we have previously experienced. If our income or social prestige increases, we may feel initial pleasure. However, we then adapt to this new level of achievement, come to see it as normal, and require something better to give us another surge of happiness. Relative Deprivation Relative deprivation is the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself. As people climb the ladder of success, they mostly compare themselves with those who are at or above their current level. This explains why increases in income may do little to increase happiness. Fear Fear is an emotional response induced by a perceived threat, which causes a change in brain and organ function, as well as in behavior. Fear can lead us to hide, to run away, or to freeze in our shoes. Fear may arise from a confrontation or from avoiding a threat, or it may come in the form of a discovery. Biologically, fear is largely based in our amygdala, though many other parts of the brain affect our experience of fear, such as the hippocampus thalamus. |
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