Happiness economics

SYNTHESIZING HAPPINESS Defining happiness may seem as elusive as achieving it. We all want to be happy, and we can say whether we are happy or not, but can we honestly define it, study it or measure it? Some people say happiness is leading good life, freedom from suffering, flourishing, well-being, joy, prosperity, and pleasure; but it can’t be well defined without looking at three major constituents of happiness. Seligman and his co-authors say that happiness consists of “pleasure (or positive…

I pointed out in a couple of my forum posts that most people in our world today see the good life as happiness, which allows them to be controlled by perceived social pressures into having “standard wants”, which in turn leads to unhappiness since they don’t have the resources to meet all of their wants. I proposed another possible view of what the good life is in another one of my forum posts. And that is by making it so obvious of how hard it is to argue for a view of the good life, since the…

To quote Aristotle, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle was one of the greatest gifted thinkers the world had to offer. He wrote a book called The Nicomachean Ethics, based on the theory about what eudaimonia (Greek for happiness) is. A book which is still significant for many references centuries later. Aristotle suggests that the core distinction of human-beings from any other living or no-living…

The essay entitled “Enjoyment as an Alternative to Materialism” asserts materialism as being a destructive force to our overall well-being, more specifically, as being mentally and environmentally harmful. The essay discusses how happiness, or the key term of “flow”, is intrinsically valuable and can be derived internally, without any monetary cost, by choosing activities and experiences over purchasing more superfluous items. Additionally, the author Csikszentmihalyi discusses how leisure time…

continually searching for happiness. It is what individuals would like in life, right? Individuals search for this feeling their whole lives. They search for the feeling of joy to put a smile on not only their face but other’s faces as well. All individuals find this happiness through different activities, pastimes, and people. The definition of happiness is different for all, therefore scientists have determined it to be, in concept, a feeling of contentment. True happiness starts with an…

In addition, they describe research needs for assessing well-being and provide guidance on how to incorporate the such term into new policies in the workplace. In other words, these authors are providing guidance on how to apply the research on happiness and subjective wellbeing to increase the level of satisfaction of employees in the companies through the incorporation of wellbeing in public policy for workplaces and for the workers. These changes in the workplace should result in flourishing…

recognizes the problem of human motivation and happiness. Just because we are eating three times a day does not mean that can become happy. A lot of people can have a lot of possessions and yet remain unfulfilled. Some people can feel a sense of inadequacy and weakness which can possibly lead to depression or even suicide. Positive psychology, for others, is a way of resolving these kinds of…

Since its inception in the early 2000’s, social media sites Facebook and Pinterest have had a profound and often negative affect on our lives by converting people into addictive and obsessive users. Without realizing it, these sites are changing users into people they do not even recognize Facebook and Pinterest users are logging on to their accounts as frequent as possible in the hopes it will make them happier by seeing other users’ positive, beautiful and exciting postings, but this fixation…

He has two worthless sons and an enabler wife. In the playbook Willy is facing some tough times at his age; losing his mind, job, and control with reality. However his obsession with material wealth and popularity prevent him from achieving true happiness in his life. In Death of a Salesman, the setting is based on a family household, surrounded by apartment buildings. Willy Loman is a salesman who has lost his way throughout his life. He has always wanted to be rich and successful but he finds…

considered to be the ultimate American Dream and a source of excitement and pleasure. However, a close evaluation of the themes of the The Great Gatsby reveals the meretriciousness of wealth and how it brings more displeasure in life than it brings happiness. The first symbol expressing this theme is the color green, specifically the green light and how it shows desires beyond wealth. Another symbol supporting this theme is Jay Gatsby’s mansion which contains the collection of Gatsby’s…