Happiness - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Happiness

Happiness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions

ranging from contentment to intense joy.[1] Happy mental states may also reflect judgements by a
person about their overall well-being.[2] A variety of biological, psychological, economic, religious
and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various
research groups, including positive psychology and happiness economics are employing the
scientific method to research questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained.

The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the
relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals.

Contents
1 Definition
2 Research results
3 Religion
3.1 Terror management
3.2 Religious views on happiness
3.2.1 Buddhism
3.2.2 Judaism
3.2.3 Catholicism
4 Spirituality
5 Philosophical views
6 Economic and political views
7 Measures
8 Physical mechanisms
9 Health
10 At work
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links

Definition
Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or

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flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the
Greek eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from
emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.[3] Since the turn of the millennium,
the human flourishing approach, advanced particularly by Amartya Sen has attracted increasing
interest in psychological, especially prominent in the work of Martin Seligman, Ed Diener and Ruut
Veenhoven, and international development and medical research in the work of Paul Anand.

A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of
1776, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the universal right to "the pursuit of happiness."[4] This
seems to suggest a subjective interpretation but one that nonetheless goes beyond emotions alone.
In fact, this discussion is often based on the naive assumption that the word happiness meant the
same thing in 1776 as it does today. In fact, happiness meant "prosperity, thriving, wellbeing" in the
18th century.[5]

Nowadays, happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part
of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where
applicable, split them into their components. Related concepts are well-being, quality of life and
flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment.[6] Some commentators focus on
the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant
experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.[7]

The 2012 World Happiness Report stated that in subjective well-being measures, the primary
distinction is between cognitive life evaluations and emotional reports.[8] Happiness is used in both
life evaluation, as in How happy are you with your life as a whole?, and in emotional reports, as
in How happy are you now?, and people seem able to use happiness as appropriate in these
verbal contexts. Using these measures, the World Happiness Report identifies the countries with the
highest levels of happiness.

Research results
Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a wide variety of scientific disciplines,
including gerontology, social psychology, clinical and medical research and happiness economics.
During the past two decades, the field of positive psychology has expanded drastically in terms of
scientific publications, and has produced many different views on causes of happiness, and on
factors that correlate with happiness.[9] Numerous short-term self-help interventions have been
developed and demonstrated to improve well-being.[10]

Happiness in its broad sense is the label for a family of pleasant emotional states, such as joy,
amusement, satisfaction, gratification, euphoria, and triumph.[11] For example, happiness comes
from "encountering unexpected positive events",[12] "seeing a significant other",[13] and "basking in
the acceptance and praise of others".[14] More narrowly, it refers to experiential and evaluative
well-being. Experiential well-being, or "objective happiness", is happiness measured in the moment
via questions such as "How good or bad is your experience now?". In contrast, evaluative

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well-being asks questions such as "How good was your

vacation?" and measures one's subjective thoughts and feelings
about happiness in the past. Experiential well-being is less
prone to errors in reconstructive memory, but the majority of
literature on happiness refers to evaluative well-being. The two
measures of happiness can be related by heuristics such as the
peak-end rule.[15]

Happiness is not solely derived from external, momentary

A smiling Rebecca L. Felton
pleasures.[16] Indeed, despite the popular conception that
happiness is fleeting, studies suggest that happiness is actually
rather stable over time.[17][18] Happiness is partly genetically
based.[19][20] Based on twin studies, 50 percent of a given
human's happiness level is genetically determined, 10 percent is
affected by life circumstances and situation, and a remaining 40
percent of happiness is subject to self-control.[21]

The acronym PERMA summarizes five factors correlated with well-being:[22]

1. Pleasure (tasty food, warm baths, etc.),

2. Engagement (or flow, the absorption of an enjoyed yet challenging activity),
3. Relationships (social ties have turned out to be extremely reliable indicator of happiness),
4. Meaning (a perceived quest or belonging to something bigger), and
5. Accomplishments (having realized tangible goals).

The capacity for loving attachments and relationships,

especially with parents, is the strongest predictor of well-being
later in life.[23]

Meditation has been found to lead to high activity in the brain's

left prefrontal cortex, which in turn has been found to correlate
with happiness.[24]

It has been argued that money cannot effectively "buy" much

A smiling 95-year-old man from
happiness unless it is used in certain ways. "Beyond the point at
Pichilemu, Chile.
which people have enough to comfortably feed, clothe, and
house themselves, having more money even a lot more money
makes them only a little bit happier."[25] "Spending money on others actually makes us happier
than spending it on ourselves".[26]

There have been some studies of how religion relates to happiness. Causal relationships remain
unclear, but more religion is seen in happier people. Consistent with PERMA, religion may provide
a sense of meaning and connection to something bigger, beyond the self. Religion may also provide
community membership and hence relationships. Another component may have to do with

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ritual.[27]

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a pyramid depicting the levels of human needs, psychological, and
physical. When a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid, he reaches self-actualization.
Beyond the routine of needs fulfillment, Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience,
known as peak experiences, profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture,
during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient, and yet a part of the world. This is
similar to the flow concept of Mihly Cskszentmihlyi.

Self-determination theory relates intrinsic motivation to three needs: competence, autonomy, and
relatedness.

Cross-sectional studies worldwide support a relationship between happiness and fruit and vegetable
intake. Those eating fruits and vegetables each day have a higher likelihood of being classified as
very happy, suggesting a strong and positive correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption
and happiness.[28] Whether it be in South Korea,[29] Iran,[30] Chile,[31] USA,[32] or UK,[33] greater
fruit and vegetable consumption had a positive association with greater happiness, independent of
factors such as smoking, exercise, body mass index, and socio-economic factors.

Layard and others show that the most important influence on happiness is mental health.[34]

A study using the Oxford happiness questionnaire on Brahma Kumaris Raja yoga meditators
showed them having higher happiness than the control group.[35] Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has
said that neuro scientists have found that with meditation, an individual's happiness baseline can
change.[36]

Religion
Religion and happiness have been studied by a number of researchers, and religion features many
elements addressing the components of happiness, as identified by positive psychology. Its
association with happiness is facilitated in part by the social connections of organized religion,[37]
and by the neuropsychological benefits of prayer[38] and belief.

There are a number of mechanisms through which religion may make a person happier, including
social contact and support that result from religious pursuits, the mental activity that comes with
optimism and volunteering, learned coping strategies that enhance one's ability to deal with stress,
and psychological factors such as "reason for being." It may also be that religious people engage in
behaviors related to good health, such as less substance abuse, since the use of psychotropic
substances is sometimes considered abuse.[39][40][41][42][43][44]

The Handbook of Religion and Health describes a survey by Feigelman (1992) that examined
happiness in Americans who have given up religion, in which it was found that there was little
relationship between religious disaffiliation and unhappiness.[45] A survey by Kosmin & Lachman

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(1993), also cited in this handbook, indicates that people with

no religious affiliation appear to be at greater risk for depressive
symptoms than those affiliated with a religion.[46] A review of
studies by 147 independent investigators found, "the correlation
between religiousness and depressive symptoms was -.096,
indicating that greater religiousness is mildly associated with
fewer symptoms."[47]

The Legatum Prosperity Index reflects the repeated finding of

research on the science of happiness that there is a positive link
between religious engagement and wellbeing: people who
report that God is very important in their lives are on average
more satisfied with their lives, after accounting for their Joy, Tacuinum Sanitatis
Casanatensis (14th century)
income, age and other individual characteristics.[48]

Surveys by Gallup, the National Opinion Research Centre and the Pew Organisation conclude that
spiritually committed people are twice as likely to report being "very happy" than the least
religiously committed people.[49] An analysis of over 200 social studies contends that "high
religiousness predicts a lower risk of depression and drug abuse and fewer suicide attempts, and
more reports of satisfaction with sex life and a sense of well-being. However, the links between
religion and happiness are always very broad in nature, highly reliant on scripture and small sample
number. To that extent there is a much larger connection between religion and suffering (Lincoln
1034)."[47] And a review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals concluded that a large
majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of
perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical
delinquency.[50] A meta-analysis of 34 recent studies published between 1990 and 2001 found that
religiosity has a salutary relationship with psychological adjustment, being related to less
psychological distress, more life satisfaction, and better self-actualization.[51] Finally, a recent
systematic review of 850 research papers on the topic concluded that "the majority of
well-conducted studies found that higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated
with indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and higher
morale) and with less depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviour, drug/alcohol use/abuse."[52]

However, there remains strong disagreement among scholars about whether the effects of religious
observance, particularly attending church or otherwise belonging to religious groups, is due to the
spiritual or the social aspectsi.e. those who attend church or belong to similar religious
organizations may well be receiving only the effects of the social connections involved. While
these benefits are real enough, they may thus be the same one would gain by joining other, secular
groups, clubs, or similar organizations.[53]

Terror management

Terror management theory maintains that people suffer cognitive dissonance (anxiety) when they

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are reminded of their inevitable death. Through terror management, individuals are motivated to
seek consonant elements symbols which make sense of mortality and death in satisfactory ways
(i.e. boosting self-esteem).

Research has found that strong belief in religious or secular meaning systems affords psychological
security and hope. It is moderates (e.g. agnostics, slightly religious individuals) who likely suffer
the most anxiety from their meaning systems. Religious meaning systems are especially adapted to
manage death anxiety because they are unlikely to be disconfirmed (for various reasons), they are
all encompassing, and they promise literal immortality.[54][55]

Whether emotional effects are beneficial or adverse seems to vary with the nature of the belief.
Belief in a benevolent God is associated with lower incidence of general anxiety, social anxiety,
paranoia, obsession, and compulsion whereas belief in a punitive God is associated with greater
symptoms. (An alternative explanation is that people seek out beliefs that fit their psychological
and emotional states.)[56]

Citizens of the world's poorest countries are the most likely to be religious, and researchers suggest
this is because of religion's powerful coping abilities.[57][58] Luke Galen also supports terror
management theory as a partial explanation of the above findings. Galen describes evidence
(including his own research) that the benefits of religion are due to strong convictions and
membership in a social group.[59][60][61]

Religious views on happiness

Buddhism

Happiness forms a central theme of Buddhist teachings.[62] For

ultimate freedom from suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path leads
its practitioner to Nirvana, a state of everlasting peace. Ultimate
happiness is only achieved by overcoming craving in all forms.
More mundane forms of happiness, such as acquiring wealth
and maintaining good friendships, are also recognized as
worthy goals for lay people (see sukha). Buddhism also
encourages the generation of loving kindness and compassion,
the desire for the happiness and welfare of all beings.[63][64]

Judaism

Happiness or simcha (Hebrew: )in Judaism is considered

an important element in the service of God.[65] The biblical Tibetan Buddhist monk
verse "worship The Lord with gladness; come before him with
joyful songs," (Psalm 100:2 (http://www.biblica.com/en-us
/bible/online-bible/?osis=niv:Psalms.100:2100:2)) stresses joy in the service of God. A popular

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teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 19th-century Chassidic Rabbi, is "Mitzvah Gedolah

Le'hiyot Besimcha Tamid," it is a great mitzvah (commandment) to always be in a state of
happiness. When a person is happy they are much more capable of serving God and going about
their daily activities than when depressed or upset.[66]

Catholicism

The primary meaning of "happiness" in various European languages involves good fortune, chance
or happening. The meaning in Greek philosophy, however, refers primarily to ethics. In
Catholicism, the ultimate end of human existence consists in felicity, Latin equivalent to the Greek
eudaimonia, or "blessed happiness", described by the 13th-century philosopher-theologian Thomas
Aquinas as a Beatific Vision of God's essence in the next life.[67] Human complexities, like reason
and cognition, can produce well-being or happiness, but such form is limited and transitory. In
temporal life, the contemplation of God, the infinitely Beautiful, is the supreme delight of the will.
Beatitudo, or perfect happiness, as complete well-being, is to be attained not in this life, but the
next.[68]

Spirituality
While religion is often formalised and community-oriented, spirituality tends to be individually
based and not as formalised. In a 2014 study, 320 children, ages 812, in both public and private
schools, were given a Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire assessing the correlation between
spirituality and happiness. Spirituality and not religious practices (praying, attending church
services) correlated positively with the child's happiness; the more spiritual the child was, the
happier the child was. Spirituality accounted for about 326% of the variance in happiness.[69]

Philosophical views
The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius, who 2300 years ago sought to give advice to the ruthless
political leaders of the warring states period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role
between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self) and that
getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sage-hood. He argued that if we did not
feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", that force
would shrivel up (Mencius, 6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of
intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music. [70]

Al-Ghazali (10581111) the Muslim Sufi thinker wrote the Alchemy of Happiness, a manual of
spiritual instruction throughout the Muslim world and widely practiced today.

The Hindu thinker Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, wrote quite exhaustively on the
psychological and ontological roots of bliss.[71]

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In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 BCE, Aristotle stated

The Love Letter by Federico
Andreotti
the life of moral virtue.
that happiness (also being well and doing well) is the only thing
that humans desire for its own sake, unlike riches, honor, health
or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or
health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy.
Note that eudaimonia, the term we translate as "happiness", is
for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state.[72]
Thus understood, the happy life is the good life, that is, a life in
which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way.
Specifically, Aristotle argues that the good life is the life of
excellent rational activity. He arrives at this claim with the
Function Argument. Basically, if it's right, every living thing
has a function, that which it uniquely does. For humans,
Aristotle contends, our function is to reason, since it is that
alone that we uniquely do. And performing one's function well,
or excellently, is one's good. Thus, the life of excellent rational
activity is the happy life. Aristotle does not leave it that,
however. For he argues that there is a second best life for those
incapable of excellent rational activity.This second best life is

Many ethicists make arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively,
based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy
Bentham, advocated the greatest happiness principle as a guide for ethical behavior.

Friedrich Nietzsche savagely critiqued the English Utilitarians' focus on attaining the greatest
happiness, stating "Man does not strive for happiness, only the Englishman does." Nietzsche meant
that the making happiness one's ultimate goal, the aim of one's existence, "makes one
contemptible;" Nietzsche instead yearned for a culture that would set higher, more difficult goals
than "mere happiness." Thus Nietzsche introduces the quasi-dystopic figure of the "last man" as a
kind of thought experiment against the utilitarians and happiness-seekers; these small, "last men"
who seek after only their own pleasure and health, avoiding all danger, exertion, difficulty,
challenge, struggle are meant to seem contemptible to Nietzsche's reader. Nietzsche instead wants
us to consider the value of what is difficult, what can only be earned through struggle, difficulty,
pain and thus to come to see the affirmative value suffering and unhappiness truly play in creating
everything of great worth in life, including all the highest achievements of human culture, not least
of all philosophy.[73][74]

According to St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, man's last end is happiness: "all men agree in
desiring the last end, which is happiness."[75] However, where utilitarians focused on reasoning
about consequences as the primary tool for reaching happiness, Aquinas agreed with Aristotle that
happiness cannot be reached solely through reasoning about consequences of acts, but also requires
a pursuit of good causes for acts, such as habits according to virtue.[76] In turn, which habits and
acts that normally lead to happiness is according to Aquinas caused by laws: natural law and divine

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law. These laws, in turn, were according to Aquinas caused by a first cause, or God.

According to Aquinas, happiness consists in an "operation of the speculative intellect":

"Consequently happiness consists principally in such an operation, viz. in the contemplation of
Divine things." And, "the last end cannot consist in the active life, which pertains to the practical
intellect." So: "Therefore the last and perfect happiness, which we await in the life to come,
consists entirely in contemplation. But imperfect happiness, such as can be had here, consists first
and principally in contemplation, but secondarily, in an operation of the practical intellect directing
human actions and passions."[77]

Economic and political views

Common market health measures such as GDP and GNP have
been used as a measure of successful policy. On average richer
nations tend to be happier than poorer nations, but this effect
seems to diminish with wealth.[78][79] This has been explained
by the fact that the dependency is not linear but logarithmic,
i.e., the same percentual increase in the GNP produces the same
increase in happiness for wealthy countries as for poor
countries.[80][81][82][83] Increasingly, academic economists and
international economic organisations are arguing for and Newly commissioned officers
developing multi-dimensional dashboards which combine celebrate their new positions by
subjective and objective indicators to provide a more direct and throwing their midshipmen
explicit assessment of human wellbeing. Work by Paul Anand covers into the air as part of the
and colleagues helps to highlight the fact that there many U.S. Naval Academy class of
different contributors to adult wellbeing, that happiness 2011 graduation and
judgement reflect, in part, the presence of salient constraints, commissioning ceremony.
and that fairness, autonomy, community and engagement are
key aspects of happiness and wellbeing throughout the life
course.

Libertarian think tank Cato Institute claims that economic freedom correlates strongly with
happiness[84] preferably within the context of a western mixed economy, with free press and a
democracy. According to certain standards, East European countries (ruled by Communist parties)
were less happy than Western ones, even less happy than other equally poor countries.[85]

However, much empirical research in the field of happiness economics, such as that by Benjamin
Radcliff, professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, supports the contention
that (at least in democratic countries) life satisfaction is strongly and positively related to the social
democratic model of a generous social safety net, pro-worker labor market regulations, and strong
labor unions.[86] Similarly, there is evidence that public policies that reduce poverty and support a
strong middle class, such as a higher minimum wage, strongly affects average levels of
well-being.[87]

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It has been argued that happiness measures could be used not as a replacement for more traditional
measures, but as a supplement.[88] According to professor Edward Glaeser, people constantly make
choices that decrease their happiness, because they have also more important aims. Therefore, the
government should not decrease the alternatives available for the citizen by patronizing them but let
the citizen keep a maximal freedom of choice.[89]

Good mental health and good relationships contribute more than income to happiness and
governments should take these into account.[90]

It has been argued that happiness at work is one of the driving forces behind positive outcomes at
work, rather than just being a resultant product.[91]

Measures
Several scales have been used to measure happiness:

The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) is a four-item scale, measuring global subjective
happiness. The scale requires participants to use absolute ratings to characterize themselves as
happy or unhappy individuals, as well as it asks to what extent they identify themselves with
descriptions of happy and unhappy individuals.[92][93]
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is used to detect the relation between
personality traits and positive or negative affects at this moment, today, the past few days, the
past week, the past few weeks, the past year, and generally (on average). PANAS is a 20-item
questionnaire, which uses a five-point Likert scale (1 = very slightly or not at all, 5 =
extremely).[94][95] A longer version with additional affect scales is available in a manual.[96]
The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a global cognitive assessment of life satisfaction
developed by Ed Diener. The SWLS requires a person to use a seven-item scale to state their
agreement or disagreement (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = neither agree nor disagree, 7 = strongly
agree) with five statements about their life.[97][98]

The UK began to measure national well being in 2012,[99] following Bhutan, which already
measured gross national happiness.

Physical mechanisms
It is generally accepted that happiness is at least in part mediated through dopaminergic, adrenergic
and serotonergic metabolism.[100] A correlation has been found between hormone levels and
happiness. SSRIs, such as Prozac, are used to adjust the levels of serotonin in the clinically
unhappy. Researchers, such as Alexander, have indicated that many peoples usage of narcotics may
be the unwitting result of attempts to readjust hormone levels to cope with situations that make
them unhappy.[101]

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A positive relationship has been found between the volume of gray matter in the right precuneus
area of the brain and the subject's subjective happiness score.[102] Meditation based interventions,
including mindfulness, have been found to correlate with a significant gray matter increase within
the precuneus.[103][104][105][106][107]

Health
In 2005 a study conducted by Andrew Steptow and Michael
Marmot at University College London, found that happiness is
related to biological markers that play an important role in
health.[108] The researchers aimed to analyze whether there was
any association between well-being and three biological
markers: heart rate, cortisol levels, and plasma fibrinogen
levels. The participants who rated themselves the least happy
had cortisol levels that were 48% higher than those who rated
themselves as the most happy. The least happy subjects also had
a large plasma fibrinogen response to two stress-inducing tasks:
the Stroop test, and tracing a star seen in a mirror image.
Repeating their studies three years later Steptow and Marmot
found that participants who scored high in positive emotion
continued to have lower levels of cortisol and fibrinogen, as
well as a lower heart rate.

In Happy People Live Longer (2011),[109] Bruno Frey reported Happy St. Patrick's Day from
that happy people live 14% longer, increasing longevity 7.5 to Boston
10 years and Richard Davidson's bestseller (2012) The
Emotional Life of Your Brain argues that positive emotion and
happiness benefit long-term health.

However, in 2015 a study building on earlier research found that happiness has no effect on
mortality.[110] "This "basic belief that if you're happier you're going to live longer. That's just not
true."[111] Consistent results are that "apart from good health, happy people were more likely to be
older, not smoke, have fewer educational qualifications, do strenuous exercise, live with a partner,
do religious or group activities and sleep for eight hours a night."[111]

Happiness does however seem to have a protective impact on immunity. The tendency to
experience positive emotions was associated with greater resistance to colds and flu in
interventional studies irrespective of other factors such as smoking, drinking, exercise, and sleep.
[112][113]

At work

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Despite a large body of positive psychological research into the relationship between happiness and
productivity,[114][115][116] happiness at work has traditionally been seen as a potential by-product of
positive outcomes at work, rather than a pathway to success in business. However a growing
number of scholars, including Boehm and Lyubomirsky, argue that it should be viewed as one of
the major sources of positive outcomes in the workplace.[91][117]

See also
Aversion to happiness Paradox of hedonism Wikimedia Commons
Biopsychosocial model Philosophy of happiness has media related to
Extraversion, Pleasure Happiness.
introversion and Psychological well-being
happiness Serotonin
Hedonic treadmill Subjective well-being
Mania

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dispositional influences on well-being: Longitudinal follow-up of an American national sample". British
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19. Okbay, Aysu; et al. (18 April 2016). "Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive
symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses". Nature Genetics. 48 (6):
624633. doi:10.1038/ng.3552.
20. Bartels, Meike (1 January 2015). "Genetics of Wellbeing and Its Components Satisfaction with Life,
Happiness, and Quality of Life: A Review and Meta-analysis of Heritability Studies". Behavior
Genetics. 45 (2): 137156. doi:10.1007/s10519-015-9713-y. ISSN 0001-8244. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
21. Lyubomirsky, Sonja (2008). The How of Happiness: a new approach to getting the life you want. New
York: Penguin Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0143114956. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
22. Seligman, Martin E. P. Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. Simon
and Schuster. p. 16. ISBN 9781439190760. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
23. Vaillant, George E. Triumphs of Experience. Harvard University Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780674067424.
Retrieved 1 April 2017.
24. Claire Bates (2012-10-31). "Is this the world's happiest man? Brain scans reveal French monk found to
have 'abnormally large capacity' for joy, and it could be down to meditation". Mail Online. Retrieved
2013-04-26.
25. Bennett, Drake (23 August 2009). "Happiness: A buyer's guide". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 1 April
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26. Dunn, E. W.; Aknin, L. B.; Norton, M. I. (2008). "Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness".
Science. 319 (5870): 168788. Bibcode:2008Sci...319.1687D. doi:10.1126/science.1150952.
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27. 2009 article in Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience
28. Rooney, Ciara; McKinley, Michelle C.; Woodside, Jayne V. (2013). "The potential role of fruit and
vegetables in aspects of psychological well-being: a review of the literature and future directions".
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29. Kye, Su Yeon; Park, Keeho (2014). "Health-related determinants of happiness in Korean adults".
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30. Fararouei, M.; Brown, I.J.; Akbartabar Toori, M.; Estakhrian Haghighi, R.; Jafari, J. (2013). "Happiness
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31. Piqueras, Jos A; Kuhne, Walter; Vera-Villarroel, Pablo; van Straten, Annemieke; Cuijpers, Pim (2011).
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Health. 11: 443. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-443. PMC 3125376 . PMID 21649907.
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35. m.g., R; b., S; e., S; s. Rai, K (2013). "Efficacy of Rajayoga Meditation on Positive Thinking: An Index
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quality-of-life-buddhist-master/articleshow/58200304.cms
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reward system in practicing individuals"
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mental health". Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 54 (5): 292301. PMID 19497161.
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45. Koenig. Harold G., Larson, David B., and Mcculloug, Michael E. Handbook of Religion and Health
(see article), p. 122, Oxford University Press (2001), ISBN 0-8133-6719-0
Feigelman et al. (1992) examined happiness in Americans who have given up religion. Using pooled
data from the General Social Surveys conducted between 1972 and 1990, investigators identified more
than 20,000 adults for their study. Subjects of particular interest were disaffiliatesthose who were
affiliated with a religion at age 16 but who were not affiliated at the time of the survey (disaffiliates
comprised from 4.4% to 6.0% of respondents per year during the 18 years of surveys). Actives were
defined as persons who reported a religious affiliation at age 16 and a religious affiliation at the time of
the survey (these ranged from 84.7% to 79.5% of respondents per year between 1972 and 1990).
Happiness was measured by a single question that assessed general happiness (very happy, pretty happy,
not too happy). When disaffiliates (n = 1,420) were compared with actives (n = 21,052), 23.9% of
disaffiliates indicated they were very happy, as did 34.2% of actives. When the analysis was stratified
by marital status, the likelihood of being very happy was about 25% lower (i.e., 10% difference) for
married religious disaffiliates compared with married actives. Multiple regression analysis revealed that
religious disaffiliation explained only 2% of the variance in overall happiness, after marital status and
other covariates were controlled. Investigators concluded that there was little relationship between
religious disaffiliation and unhappiness (quality rating 7)
46. Koenig. Harold G., Larson, David B., and Mcculloug, Michael E. Handbook of Religion and
Health(see article), p. 111, Oxford University Press (2001)
Currently, approximately 8% of the U.S. population claim no religious affiliation (Kosmin & Lachman,
1993). People with no affiliation appear to be at greater risk for depressive symptoms than those
affiliated with a religion. In a sample of 850 medically ill men, Koenig, Cohen, Blazer, Pieper, et al.
(1992) examined whether religious affiliation predicted depression after demographics, medical status,
and a measure of religious coping were controlled. They found that, when relevant covariates were
controlled, men who indicated that they had no religious affiliation had higher scores on the Hamilton
Depression Rating Scale (an observer-administered rating scale) than did men who identified themselves
as moderate Protestants, Catholics, or nontraditional Christians.
47. Smith, Timothy B.; McCullough, Michael E.; Poll, Justin (2003). "Religiousness and depression:
Evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events". Psychological Bulletin.
129 (4): 61436. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.614. PMID 12848223.
48. The 2008 Legatum Prosperity Index, Summary p. 40.
Research suggests that religious people's happiness is less vulnerable to fluctuations in economic and
political uncertainty, personal unemployment and income changes. The Prosperity Index identifies
similar effects at the country level, with a number of highly religious countries reporting higher levels of
happiness than might be expected based on the standard of living alone: this effect is most pronounced
in Mexico, El Salvador, the Dominican republic, Indonesia, Venezuela and Nigeria.
49. Is Religion Dangerous?p156, citing David Myers The Science of Subjective Well-Being Guilford Press
2007
50. Is Religion Dangerous? cites similar results from theHandbook of Religion and Mental Health Harold
Koenig (ed.) ISBN 978-0-12-417645-4
51. Hackney, Charles H.; Sanders, Glenn S. (2003). "Religiosity and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis of
Recent Studies". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 42 (1): 4355.
doi:10.1111/1468-5906.t01-1-00160.
52. Moreira-Almeida, Alexander; Lotufo Neto, Francisco; Koenig, Harold G (2006). "Religiousness and
mental health: a review". Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria. 28 (3): 24250.
doi:10.1590/S1516-44462006005000006. PMID 16924349.
53. Robert D. Putnam makes this argument in his book (with David Campell) American Grace (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 2012).

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54. Vail, K. E.; Rothschild, Z. K.; Weise, D. R.; Solomon, S.; Pyszczynski, T.; Greenberg, J. (2010). "A
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Further reading
Books

Van der Merwe, Paul, Lucky Go Happy : Make Happiness Happen!, Reach Publishers, 2016.
ISBN 9781496941640
Anand Paul "Happiness Explained: What Human Flourishing Is and What We Can Do to
Promote It", Oxford, Oxford University Press 2016. ISBN 0198735456
Michael Argyle "The psychology of happiness", 1987
Boehm, J K. & S. Lyubomirsky, Journal of Career Assessment. Vol 16(1), Feb 2008, 10116.
Norman M. Bradburn "The structure of psychological well-being", 1969
C. Robert Cloninger, Feeling Good: The Science of Well-Being, Oxford, 2004.
Gregg Easterbrook "The progress paradox how life gets better while people feel worse",
2003
Michael W. Eysenck "Happiness facts and myths", 1990
Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness, Knopf, 2006.
Carol Graham "Happiness Around the World: The Paradox of Happy Peasants and Miserable
Millionaires", OUP Oxford, 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-954905-4
W. Doyle Gentry "Happiness for dummies", 2008
James Hadley, Happiness: A New Perspective, 2013, ISBN 978-1493545261
Joop Hartog & Hessel Oosterbeek "Health, wealth and happiness", 1997
Hills P., Argyle M. (2002). "The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the
measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences".
Psychological Wellbeing. 33 (7): 107382. doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00213-6.
Robert Holden "Happiness now!", 1998
Barbara Ann Kipfer, 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, Workman, 1990/2007, ISBN
978-0-7611-4721-3.
Neil Kaufman "Happiness is a choice", 1991
Stefan Klein, The Science of Happiness, Marlowe, 2006, ISBN 1-56924-328-X.
Koenig HG, McCullough M, & Larson DB. Handbook of religion and health: a century of
research reviewed (see article). New York: Oxford University Press; 2001.
McMahon, Darrin M., Happiness: A History, Atlantic Monthly Press, November 28, 2005.
ISBN 0-87113-886-7
McMahon, Darrin M., The History of Happiness: 400 B.C. A.D. 1780, Daedalus journal,
Spring 2004.

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Happiness - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness

Richard Layard, Happiness: Lessons From A New Science, Penguin, 2005, ISBN
978-0-14-101690-0.
Luskin, Frederic, Kenneth R. Pelletier, Dr. Andrew Weil (Foreword). "Stress Free for Good:
10 Scientifically Proven Life Skills for Health and Happiness." 2005
James Mackaye "Economy of happiness", 1906
Desmond Morris "The nature of happiness", 2004
David G. Myers, Ph. D., The Pursuit of Happiness: Who is Happy and Why, William
Morrow and Co., 1992, ISBN 0-688-10550-5.
Niek Persoon "Happiness doesn't just happen", 2006
Benjamin Radcliff The Political Economy of Human Happiness (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2013).
Ben Renshaw "The secrets of happiness", 2003
Fiona Robards, "What makes you happy?" Exisle Publishing, 2014, ISBN 978-1-921966-31-6
Bertrand Russell "The conquest of happiness", orig. 1930 (many reprints)
Martin E.P. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, Free Press, 2002, ISBN 0-7432-2298-9.
Alexandra Stoddard "Choosing happiness keys to a joyful life", 2002
Wadysaw Tatarkiewicz, Analysis of Happiness, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers,
1976
Elizabeth Telfer "Happiness : an examination of a hedonistic and a eudaemonistic concept of
happiness and of the relations between them...", 1980
Ruut Veenhoven "Bibliography of happiness world database of happiness : 2472 studies on
subjective appreciation of life", 1993
Ruut Veenhoven "Conditions of happiness", 1984
Joachim Weimann, Andreas Knabe, and Ronnie Schob, eds. Measuring Happiness: The
Economics of Well-Being (MIT Press; 2015) 206 pages
Eric G. Wilson "Against Happiness", 2008

Articles and videos

Journal of happiness studies: an interdisciplinary forum on subjective well-being,

International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), quarterly since 2000, also online
A Point of View: The pursuit of happiness (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30655616)
(January 2015), BBC News Magazine
Srikumar Rao: Plug into your hard-wired happiness (http://www.ted.com/talks
/srikumar_rao_plug_into_your_hard_wired_happiness.html) Video of a short lecture on
how to be happy
Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? (http://www.ted.com/talks
/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html) Video of a short lecture on how our
"psychological immune system" lets us feel happy even when things dont go as planned.
TED Radio Hour: Simply Happy (http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/267185371
/simply-happy) various guest speakers, with some research results

External links

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Happiness - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness

History of Happiness (http://pursuit-of-happiness.org/pursuit-of-happiness/history-

of-happiness) concise survey of influential theories
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry "Pleasure" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries
/pleasure/) ancient and modern philosophers' and neuroscientists' approaches to happiness
The World Happiness Forum (http://www.worldhappinessforum.org/) promotes dialogue on
tools and techniques for human happiness and wellbeing.
Action For Happiness (http://www.actionforhappiness.org/) is a UK movement committed to
building a happier society
Improving happiness through humanistic leadership (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=S7HVfxq4l-8)- University of Bath, U.K.
The World Database of Happiness (http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/) a register of
scientific research on the subjective appreciation of life.
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (http://www.meaningandhappiness.com/oxford-happiness-
questionnaire/214/) Online psychological test to measure your happiness.
Track Your Happiness (http://www.trackyourhappiness.org/) research project with
downloadable app that surveys users periodically and determines personal factors
Pharrell Williams Happy (Official Music Video) (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM) added to YouTube by P. Williams: i Am Other Retrieved
2015-11-21

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Categories: Happiness Personal life Positive mental attitude Concepts in ethics

Philosophy of love Emotions Pleasure

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