Though it has a history stretching back thousands of years, the discussion on what causes happiness has not subsided, but increased. Throughout the next few paragraphs, this essay will discuss to what extent the factors: social class, money, social relationships, and attitude, affect happiness. This essay will begin by discussing how a person’s financial status contributes to their happiness. Next, it will discuss the affect that an individual’s social class has on their happiness through inequality with others. It will then turn to consider whether the individual’s social relationships have a greater affect than that of social class. Finally, this essay will discuss the factor of a person’s attitude, and whether it could be the focal determining
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This is because that even if a person has money, good relationships, and so forth, they may still be unhappy if they have a negative outlook on life (Mohanty, 2014 p.82). Ehrenreich, however, is critical of this stance and states that it is cruel to compel people to think positively about everything (2010). Yet Ehrenreich’s argument deals more with compelled positive thinking, rather than an individual viewing life in a generally positive way. Moreover, Achor argues that we can change the ‘lens’ by which we view situations to a more positive outlook to overcome negative feelings (2011). He clearly demonstrated this in his example of which his young sister overcame the pain of a fall by looking at it in a positive way as part of their game. Furthermore, Diener and Seligman found that the college students who were the happiest had a positive outlook on life (cited in O’Rourke, Cooper, & Gray 2012, p.140). Additionally, research has shown that the relationship between a positive attitude and one’s happiness is stronger than with any other known factor in current literature (Mohanty, 2014). Therefore, research appears to indicate that people value a positive attitude above other factors and that people with a positive attitude tend to be happier than those without
This is because that even if a person has money, good relationships, and so forth, they may still be unhappy if they have a negative outlook on life (Mohanty, 2014 p.82). Ehrenreich, however, is critical of this stance and states that it is cruel to compel people to think positively about everything (2010). Yet Ehrenreich’s argument deals more with compelled positive thinking, rather than an individual viewing life in a generally positive way. Moreover, Achor argues that we can change the ‘lens’ by which we view situations to a more positive outlook to overcome negative feelings (2011). He clearly demonstrated this in his example of which his young sister overcame the pain of a fall by looking at it in a positive way as part of their game. Furthermore, Diener and Seligman found that the college students who were the happiest had a positive outlook on life (cited in O’Rourke, Cooper, & Gray 2012, p.140). Additionally, research has shown that the relationship between a positive attitude and one’s happiness is stronger than with any other known factor in current literature (Mohanty, 2014). Therefore, research appears to indicate that people value a positive attitude above other factors and that people with a positive attitude tend to be happier than those without