AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS Group 2 - Chapters 4 & 5 Quentin, Tyler, Rebekah, Alex, and Margaret By Martin Seligman

THE HAPPINESS FORMULA H = S + C + V

H “H” is a person’s enduring level of happiness. Enduring happiness is someones long-term, lasting happiness. This should not be confused with someones momentary happiness, which simply consists of bursts of positive feelings.

S “S” is the set range of happiness that an individual is genetically capable of achieving. According to Seligman, roughly half your score on happiness tests is accounted for by the score your biological parents would have gotten if they had taken the test. Basically, every person has different set ranges of happiness that they are naturally able to achieve.

C “C” stands for circumstances, which relates to how different external circumstances people are in can play a difference in a person’s overall happiness. The circumstances that Seligman researched include money, marriage, age, youth, education, sex, religion, and social life. He found that education, materialistic efforts beyond basic needs, location, race, and gender have virtually no effect on happiness.

THE HEDONIC TREADMILL The Hedonic Treadmill: ▪A barrier to raising happiness that causes you “rapidly and inevitably adapt to good things by taking them for granted” ▪The more you buy, the less it satisfies Proof: ▪Studies show that low socioeconomic people are not less happy than wealthy people ▪These events only impact happiness temporarily: being fired or promoted, wealth, income levels across the nation, average levels of pay, physical attractiveness, physical health Impact on individuals: ▪People are wasting time on trying to achieve happiness from material possessions and achievements ▪The things that Americans typically look to for happiness aren’t working ▪We need to re-focus and re-prioritize in order to achieve happiness

V “V” stands for is voluntary factors that each person controls, which is the second most important factor. Voluntary factors include positive view of the past, optimism about the future, satisfaction regarding the present, commitment to virtue and good character, and contributions to a higher power.

S Set range of happiness + C Life circumstances + V Voluntary thoughts and actions ____ H Overall happiness

SATISFACTION WITH THE PAST ▪Positive emotion can be about the past, present, or the future. Each period of time influence different types of emotions ▪Future: hope, optimism, faith ▪Present: joy, pleasure ▪Past: satisfaction, fulfillment, pride, serenity ▪Not necessarily tightly linked together (can be proud of past but be pessimistic about the future) ▪Relationship of thinking and emotion: oldest and controversial issues in psychology ▪Freudian view → content of thought is caused by emotion ▪Reality: thought and emotion drive each other at certain times ▪Memories or thoughts intervene and govern what emotion ensues

SATISFACTION WITH THE PAST ▪Does past determine future? ▪Dwelling in the past: To the extent that you believe that the past determines the future, you will tend to allow yourself to be a passive vessel that does not actively change its course ▪Ideology behind these beliefs explained by Darwin, Marx, and Freud ▪Darwin: we are a product of success/victories: survival and mating. belief that we will come to do in the future is a determined product of our ancestral past ▪Marx: class warfare (determination of the future by economic forces) ▪Freud: psychological events strictly determined by forces for the past-- determine our adult personality. ▪Seligman: events of childhood overrated, have little effect on adulthood ▪Gratitude & forgiveness work to increase life satisfaction ▪Different ways to feel more happiness about your past: intellectual (letting go of ideology that past determines future.), and emotional (voluntary changing memories). ▪Increase gratitude about the good in your life, and learning how to forgive past wrongs defuses the bitterness that makes satisfaction impossible

GRATITUDE ▪Gratitude is one way of getting more satisfaction from the past ▪ Gratitude enhances one’s appreciation of favorable past events gone by ▪This contrasts forgiveness, which has similar transformative effects on bad past events ▪By expressing gratitude one will not only remember a past event more fondly, but will also think more positive thoughts about the person they expressed that gratitude towards

The Gratitude Project ▪This project started in a class on positive psychology taught by the author of the book, Dr.Seligman ▪ Students prepared a written statement of gratitude towards someone they had never expressed said gratitude towards ▪The students then brought in the person in question, whom had no idea why they were there, and read them the statement ▪The project was a huge success and both parties described themselves as “on a high” from the satisfaction for a few days ▪This does not have to be done in a classroom, simply write out a one page expression of gratitude and invite over the person you will present it to without telling them the reason for the invite

The General Happiness Scale In general, I consider myself: Not a very happy person A very happy person Compared to most of my peers, I consider myself Less happy More happy Some people are generally very happy. They enjoy life regardless of what is going on, getting the most out of everything. To what extent does this characterization describe you? Not at all A great deal Some people are generally not very happy. Although they are not depressed, they never seem as happy as they might be. To what extent does this characterization describe you? A great deal Not at all Total your answers and divide by 4. The mean for adult Americans is 4.8

Quiz ●What is the happiness formula? What does each letter stand for? ●True or False: Having a social network increases happiness ●True of False: Getting a job promotion would significantly increase your happiness ●What was one philosopher’s view on how the past affects the future? (Darwin, Marx, or Freud) ●What are two benefits to expressing gratitude?