Happy Mind: The Philosophy and Science of Happiness

Image © Eldan.

 

 

Until recently psychology used to have much to say on mental illness, but little about what makes us happy. For the last half century the darker aspects of our mental lives – depression, neurosis, obsessions and paranoia – have been extensively studied, while the positive emotions were largely ignored by science. But thanks to people like American psychologist and writer Martin Seligman, positive emotions are now hot topics in academic circles. Even politicians are taking notice. “Happy politics has arrived,” argues BBC home editor Mark Easton, who believes that politicians are increasingly trying to make us happier, not just richer.

 

The idea that the point of politics should be to make us happier isn't new – 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham thought so all along – but for a long time happiness, unlike wealth, seemed impossible to measure, which meant we could not assess how well a government did in this respect. That was until we hit on an amazing technique: asking people how happy they are. “It may sound silly but we ask people 'How happy are you 1-7, 1-10?',” says Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois. “And the interesting thing is that produces real answers that are valid, they're not perfect but they're valid and they predict all sorts of real things in their lives.”

One of the findings of the developing science of happiness, or positive psychology, is that each of us seems to have a happiness set point, a level of happiness to which we tend to return, no matter what our circumstances. A salary rise may temporarily lift our mood, but we soon get used to it. The good news is that this applies to unfortunate events too. A study found that people who lose the use of a limb are initially intensely angry and anxious, but that after eight weeks they adapt to the new situation, and happiness is their strongest emotion. We don't always adapt: it can take years to recover from the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a job – and, curiously, it seems that the psychological effects of having cosmetic breast surgery are also long-lasting. So, in the long run, winning the lottery will not make us happy, but big boobs may just do the trick!

Despite the tendency to return to the norm, psychologist Martin Seligman believes we can cultivate happiness by developing habits such as keeping a daily record of what went well. He argues that counting our blessings, being generous and forgiving, and using our strengths can all have a marked positive effect on life satisfaction. And, even though life circumstances don't have as big an effect as we might expect (accounting for only about 8-15% of the variability), they still make some difference and positive psychology has interesting things to tell us about where to focus our efforts. It might even tell us how happy Brighton is!

Money doesn't buy (much) happiness. Friends do. Provided our basic needs are met, wealth doesn't have a strong impact on happiness. Studies have compared how happy people are in richer and poorer countries. It was found that, up to a point, life satisfaction and national spending power go in the same direction. But once a certain level of wealth is attained, corresponding to an average income of £10,000, more money doesn't make a difference. In very poor nations, being richer brings more life satisfaction, but in wealthier nations, even the ridiculously rich are only slightly happier than average.

In the last fifty years Britain has become three times richer, but levels of happiness have declined, with just 36% of people saying they are “very happy” compared with 52% in the 50s. It's possible this is because we have grown lonelier. Whereas money isn't a strong predictor of happiness, strong ties to friends and family make a big difference. Commuting, in particular, has been found to be detrimental to happiness – the experience itself is pretty unpleasant, but it's also been calculated that every 10 minutes of commuting cuts all forms of social involvement by 10%. Those who work part-time, on the other hand, tend to be happier.

So how does Brighton fare? We make more money than the national average, but less than the South East's – and it may all be irrelevant to happiness, since the national average income is above £10,000. What makes a difference is that approximately 39% of the employees in Brighton & Hove work part-time (according to the Office for National Statistics), and in this respect we beat both the UK as a whole and the South East. Plus, as Mark from Hove points out, “there's that friendly community to rely on, which I think does exist, full of creative intelligent people, although it may have been somewhat over-hyped. There are plenty of lazy thick-wits also.”

On the negative side, Brighton sees a lot of commuting. “There is a remarkable difference in the cost of living and the average wage in Brighton,” says Emily, who lives in Seven Dials, but spends two hours a day commuting to work. “It is almost as expensive as London to live here and yet the average job, even in high paying industries such as IT, pays far below the equivalent wage in London. This makes it very hard to live and work here and why so many people work out of the town. It is a great place to be an employer though, for the reason that there are tons of graduates who really want to work in Brighton and are willing to work for a pittance. This is probably why the wages are so low, because it is so easy to find some poor 21 year-old who will work for less.”

Brighton Happiness Rating: :) :) :)

Have faith. Religious people are happier than those without a faith. It might be because being religious tends to go hand in hand with being part of a social network. Religion also brings a sense of meaning, as well as increased hope for the future, as found by Sheena Sethi Iyengar, who visited congregation after congregation in the United States measuring the relationship between optimism and religious faith.

If you've been paying attention, and read April's issue from cover to cover, you will know that Brighton is the most secular town in the UK, with 27 per cent of residents stating they have “no religion” in the last census, compared with a 15 per cent national average (we also have the highest Jedi count). A secular town it might be, but it is also a famously spiritual one, with shop, classes and alternative therapies catering for every New Age need.

Brighton Happiness Rating: :) :)

Get hitched, but don't have children. Married people seem to be happier than singles. They even live longer, with marriage estimated to add seven years to the life of a man and four to the life of a woman. Cohabitation seems to go hand in hand with happiness too, although a little less so, and a study found that people in the top 10 per cent of happiness were all (save one) involved in a romantic relationship of some kind. What's not clear is what causes what. Is marriage good for happiness or happiness good for marriage? It might just be that happy people are more likely to get married.

As for children, a mixed picture emerges. Even though people often cite their children as the biggest source of happiness in their lives, a study found that 'taking care of the children' was only slightly more enjoyable than doing the housework. Other studies measured the life satisfaction of couples with children. It seems that most couples start off fairly happy, but get less satisfied as the children grow, with happiness levels plummeting when the kids reach their teenage years and then gradually returning to what they were as the children start to leave the home. According to psychologist Daniel Gilbert, “while we believe we are raising children and earning paycheques to increase our share of happiness, we are actually doing these things for reasons beyond our ken. We are notes in a social network that arises and falls by a logic of its own, which is why we continue to toil, continue to mate and continue to be surprised  when we do not experience all the joy which we so gullibly anticipated.”

The 63031 married people recorded by the last census in Brighton & Hove may have reason to feel smug – and the 10263 married couple households with no children especially so – but according to Felicity from central Brighton, people from our town are less likely to commit. “Maybe it has something to do with having such a high concentration of young people,” she says. “If there's a bigger pool of potential partners, that can make you choosy. There's so many pubs and clubs to go to that life becomes quite hedonistic and sad to say, betrayal is easy.” It might explain why Brighton & Hove ranks 359th out of the 376 local authorities in England and Wales in terms of the proportion of people who are married or re-married (only 36.5 per cent). Still, when the proportion of cohabiting couple households is considered, we come top of the list!

Brighton Happiness Rating: :) :)

Volunteer! The five-a-day recommendation doesn't just apply to fruit and vegetables – an American study found that five acts of altruism a day give people a happiness boost, while a British study, carried out by Professor Paul Whiteley from the University of Essex and his colleagues, found that areas with the best quality of life had high levels of informal voluntary activity.

Thomas Farsides from the University of Sussex says psychologists specialising in volunteering have identified a number of reasons why people volunteer, including to advance their careers and improve their social network. “The other key point is that volunteering is, well, voluntary,” he says. “If it makes one unhappy, one can usually stop! Thus, it is not that surprising that people who volunteer are reasonably happy. They are doing something that they want to do and it is bringing them the rewards they seek (or replacement ones that they come to like about as much).”

Cath Barry, manager of the Volunteer Centre in Brighton & Hove, says the centre helps around 3,000 people a year to find the right volunteering opportunity.

Brighton Happiness Rating: :):) :) :)

Don't bother moving to sunnier climates, but pick a quiet road. Brighton beach might be an ideal place to soak up the sunshine, but, despite the tendency to think that sunny climates lead to sunny moods, psychologists have found that living somewhere sunny doesn't seem to make much difference to happiness (even though it helps with the appropriately named SAD, seasonal affective disorder). On the other hand, we get used to a lot of things, but noise remains annoying.

“I find Brighton to be very noisy, but to me it's less a constant irritant, more a sign that I'm in a busy, thriving place,” says Mark from Hove. “And if the traffic and music and buses get too much, there's the soothing noise of the waves down on the beach.”

Brighton Happiness Rating: :) :)

Happiness Tips:

1. Figure out what your strengths are and employ them in as many contexts as possible. To find out what your 'signature strengths' are, as Martin Seligman puts it, you can take  an online test: www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu.
2. Be grateful. Paying a visit to a mentor to personally deliver a heartfelt thank-you was found to make people happier and less depressed a month later, although after three months the effect was gone. Keeping a daily gratitude journal had a less dramatic short-term impact, but brought a lasting improvement in life satisfaction.
3. Forgive an old enemy – holding on to grudges leads to rumination, whereas forgiveness cuts down on negative emotions like anger and stress.
4. Be kind. Five acts of altruism a day might just keep the blues away. The Volunteer Centre on Western Road will help you identify a volunteering opportunity suited to you (01273 737888).
5. Make time for your friends and family – strong personal relationships are one of the keys to happiness.

 

© Katherine Power 2007. Published in Rocks Magazine, July 2007.

 

Katherine E. Power's website can be found at: www.katherinepower.com.