don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Daniel Gilbert is a psychology professor and director of a research operation called the "Hedonic Psychology Lab" at Harvard. He thinks the word "hedonist" has been maligned -- and deserves better. His work on happiness suggests we would be wise to view our actions from the perspective of their "hedonic consequences" -- and strive for more hedonism. Sounds good to me. His book on the topic is entitled, Stumbling On Happiness: Think You Know What Makes You Happy?

Gilbert writes that hedonism is what it's all about, that is, the essence of the meaning of life! Happiness, as many others have noted, ensues from other quests, but all other quests are motivated by our desire to find happiness. Thus, fighting for truth, justice, and the American way are all at bottom about seeking happiness. Plato knew this, and wrote about it: "Are these things good for any other reason except that they end in pleasure, and get rid of and avert pain? Are you looking to any other standard but pleasure and pain when you call them good?"

Things are considered good because they make us happy. Levels of happiness vary, but happiness is happiness (in other words, the sensation is of the same kind). Unfortunately, humans are not so good at predicting the sources of future satisfaction or happiness. When we try to do that, we make "systematic errors." We don't know and can't imagine very well what will make us happy in the future. Why? Because of confusion caused by disinformation provided by our genes and cultures. When we act so as to do the bidding of these two forces, we are trying to make THEM happy, but neither is likely to make US happy. Genes and culture, for example, tell us to find happiness by having children, consuming goods and services, following dogmas and rules, etc. But, these do not make us as happy as hedonistic pleasures of a self-indulgent nature.

We humans are new at sorting out what makes us happy. We're only been at it about three million years. That part of our brain that is needed to simulate desirable futures is not so well developed. Most of the time, we greatly "overestimate the hedonic consequences of any event." (This might explain why many folks seem cranky and out of sorts.) Our memories of what made us happy or unhappy are not so great, which adds to the problem of trying to predict what will cheer us in the future.

Ideas about things that will make us unhappy are influential, claims Gilbert. Imagining dire consequences if one does something (continues to smoke, for example) or does not do something (exercise daily on a vigorous basis) will lead to action. Negativity serves in basic ways. We know, for example, not to touch hot stoves, teeter over heights and so on. What all this means, according to Gilbert and fellow hedonists at the Harvard Hedonic Lab, is we need better, "more principled ways to calculate and then compare the costs and benefits" of our happiness-seeking efforts. We also need better understanding of methods for avoiding unhappiness. Presumably, that's what they're working on.

Bottom line?

1. Knowing what will make us happy increases our ability to attain it. (I could have guessed that.)
2. Variety is overrated. Stick with or at least stay closer to what works, that is, makes you happy. 

Finally, Gilbert suggests we forget about the good old days, romantic notions of some lost "primal innocence." That's a myth. Things were NOT easier or better in a simpler past. In terms of our happiness potentials, these are the best of times.

I'll conclude with a quote from Stumbling on Happiness:

Our primal innocence is what keeps us whacking each other over the head with sticks, and it is not what allows us to paint a Mona Lisa or design a space shuttle. It gives rise to obesity and global warming, not Miles Davis or the Magna Carta. If human kind flourishes rather than flounders over the next thousand years, it will be because we embraced learning and reason, and not because we surrendered to some fantasy about returning to an ancient Eden that never really was.

Is the meaning of life to be happy? Probably not, but consider a bit of hedonism -- it seems a good bet to help you be well and to look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of emotional intelligence. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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