http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100222/sc_livescience/5thingsthatwillmakeyouhappier
I'm not sure if anyone else has seen this article, but it is about 5 things that will supposedly make a person happier. In short, they are...
1. Be grateful
2. Be optimistic
3. Count your blessings
4. Use your strengths
5. Commit acts of kindness
Although this first one is rather obvious, there is some merit to mentioning it. I believe that trying to get into the habit of putting a positive spin can make life more enjoyable, but as we have read, each person has homeostasis level that will be resistant to change. (The researcher here seem to admit that people generally have certain dispositions and stable personalities throughout their life, but they argue that a significant amount of happiness can also be attributed to pro-active approaches to increasing one's happiness.) In any case, I suppose making an active effort to appreciate what you have may cause at least a minor increase in feelings of happiness.
Being Grateful - One rather interesting note is that this finding of the study is largely based on an activity where people wrote letters expressing gratitude. In case you are thinking there might be a confound, such as relatedness or affiliation playing a role, I thought of that as well, but it was found that there was an increase in happiness even if people did not actually send the letters out.
Be optimistic - In the study, researchers actually had participants visualize "an ideal future" which included imagining having a loving, supportive partner and a great job. I am not sure if this strategy would necessarily lead to long term happiness though - the researchers did not mention whether or not this was exclusively short term happiness in their summarized report. The reason I say this is because I think over time significant cognitive dissonance would arise (people could become delusional) if there is a strong focus on a "perfect" life. If interpreted this way, this finding would actually seem to be in contrast to the first. If you are being appreciative of what you have, you will not be constantly focusing on the perfect, ideal life. I have heard that some studies have found striving for excellence can be much better than striving for perfection. I know the "being optimistic" strategy could probably be taken on a more moderate and healthy level, but I think the activity the researchers used does not necessarily seem healthy over the long term.
Count your blessings - I do not believe this one merits any further discussion because this "additional" finding seems to be very similar to "being grateful." In fact, there is no separate research mentioned for this in the article.
Use your strengths - The participants in the study (that contributed to this finding) focused on strengths such as using humor to increase others' happiness. I think this is perhaps related to competence, achievement, and relatedness - all concepts that we have recently mentioned in class. Being able to successfully use's one's abilities to accomplish a goal would lead to feelings of competence and achievement. Having someone identify with your achievement (in this case humor)
Commit acts of kindness - although we have not yet talked about pro-social very much in this class, this finding makes sense, and I think it also has something to do with relatedness.
I always think that it is refreshing to see when people put out studies such as these and none of them have to do with money and material things, since that is what people usually think equals happiness. Those ideas don't get out into the public as much as the ideas of materials that we hear about.
I guess people just assume that material things are rewards and reinforcements for their work and acheivement. People seem to think that those ideas lead to happiness, but like another article that was posted, a guy who was poor growing up, and then made millions of dollars, and wasn't happy, so then he gave all this money away.
I think that optimsm is huge when it comes to being truly happy, just seeing the good in bad situations, and trying to turn it around is important, since that idea can relieve stress and increases dopamine and lessens cortisol. Along with doing things for others, when it gives you that "fuzzy" feeling.
The fact that all of these are somewhat easy to accomplish if you have the right frame of mind, and i think that it is important for both people's physical and mental health to incorporate these ideas in their lives.
I agree with Lindsay - it is nice that my happiness hinges less on material things, especially since I am a poor college student. We discussed in class that when things become extrinsically motivating - like by being paid - it takes the intrinsic motivation out of it. It is when we are intrinsically motivated to do something that we really reap the emotional reward. For example, if you complete an act of kindness you are most likely motivated to do that by an intrinsic motivation. Since you choose to do the act of kindness, it can help fulfill your need for achievement (in a small way) or competence or relatedness. This may contribute to why money cannot by happiness, but being optimistic and kind can.
I had also seen this article before and found it interesting. I tend to be an optimistic person, in general, but I don't think I verge on delusional. I think that optimism is more about seeing the silver lining in events and being hopeful for the future. I am not sure that this makes me inherently happier, but it is a nice thought.
Being reminded of how much we have that is good may help satisfy social and psychological needs retroactively. If I think about how blessed I am to have a wonderful and close-knit family, I may be able to fulfill my need for relatedness just by remembering them.
The "Use your strengths," may play into fulfilling an individual's need for competence. If you use what you are good you are more likely to accomplish the task and are therefore able to see yourself as competent. Fulfilling the need for competence would improve anyones' mood.
I enjoy reading things that suggest ways to improve you life, especially if those suggestions are as easy as these. You could be happier in minutes by doing some of these suggestions.