It seems so frivolous a topic, and yet there it is: happiness. If you think of the mysteries of the mind, especially the "twisted" mind, as psychology's primary area of interest, you need to think again. William James, author of the first psychology text book (at least in America) and brother to Henry James (in case you need that information for Jeopardy) said, "how to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do." Aristotle would agree. So would the Dalai Lama.
What do you think? Is the desire for happiness behind all of our strivings and yearnings? What are some characteristics of happy people? Are they healthy and wealthy? Are they all in relationships with soul mates? Are they religious? Is happiness something everyone can actively pursue and gain?
Shrink Rappers
Sigmund Freud
Founder of Psychoanalysis-"Anatomy is destiny."
John B. Watson
Behaviorist-"Give me a dozen healthy infants...."
B.F. Skinner
Founder of Operant Conditioning-"Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless."
Abraham Maslow
Humanistic Psychologist-"What a man can be, he must be."
Jean Piaget
Cognitive Psychologist-"Scientific knowledge is in perpetual evolution."
4 comments:
Some characteristics of happy people are that they have a high self esteem, are outgoing and optimistic, they have satisfying personal relationships, they have faith, sleep well, and exercise. I think the desire for happiness is behind all of our strivings and yearnings. Most human beings base there happiness on the things that they have, not on true happiness. Being wealthy or having a lot of money does not always make happy people. It could sometimes make the most miserable person. I think that a strong faith in whatever people might believe in, would have something to do with there happiness. I think that people do not have to be involved with there sole mate to be happy. I believe that people need to have strong personal relationships with everyone that matters in there life, this could be a friend, family, child, husband, wife or a girlfriend or boyfriend. I think that happy people are in jobs that they like or love. I think that happy people know what is important to them in life and they are putting forth the effort to achieve there goals.
Lisa, I'm not sure how I missed this post before, but I was so "happy" to come across it just now. What I'm thinking right now is "Wow!" because you've quite effectively confirmed most of the findings that psychologists have unearthed about happiness. Just curious, do you think gender, age, or race have a bearing on happiness?
Mrs. Bowers, I do not think that age or race has anything to do with happiness. Gender usually does not have anything to do with happiness either. Gender may play a role in someone’s happiness if they feel they are cross-gendered or born with the wrong sex organs. I think that this would be the only reason that gender would play a role in happiness. I think that with the way the plastic surgery industry is growing you would think to look younger, thinner or have a bigger bust would make us happy but that is not true. People may feel happy for the moment but something else will make them just as unhappy as not looking younger did. In other words we are a more, more, society. An example of what I am trying to say is a person’s needs to look younger then they have the surgery, well all of a sudden they are too fat or need bigger breast or something like that. The cycle continues on and on. Race I don’t think would play a role at all in a person’s happiness. Anyone can achieve happiness no matter what race. Happiness means different things for different people. Finding inner-peace would be a great place to start.
Wouldn't you know it? I don't have the books with the most up-to-date information about the gender, race, and age factors related to happiness. Even if I did, they might vary somewhat from text to text and study to study. What I remember, however, is that YOU'RE right on all three counts:
1)Age doesn't seem to be a factor, and yet there's an increase of both depression and anxiety in young adulthood, possibly because of the the bewildering choices they must make. Some older people report depression, but then so do children.
2)Gender isn't a factor, and yet there are more reported cases of depression among females than males...could be because we're more open abour discussing it.
3)Race...hmmm. Am I remembering correctly that while it isn't necessarily a factor, African Americans report lower rates of depression,perhaps because of family support and religion. I'll have to look this one up.
About the plastic surgery, etc., it makes me think of what we talked in class about concerning the adaptation level hypothesis. We think we'll be happy when we get the new house, the boat, the great job, children, new clothes, breast implants, etc., and we (as you said) are happy BUT ONLY FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
That inner peace idea sounds good!
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