Hedonics is the study of happiness (as opposed to hedonism, its pursuit). In Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile, author Daniel Nettle presents the latest psychological studies in this fascinating field of research.

Nettle distinguishes between three different senses of the term “happiness” and classifies them according to ascending levels. Each ascending level contains the preceding levels.

• Level one happiness consists of momentary feelings of joy and pleasure. These feelings are immediate, emotional, and measurable.
• Level two happiness involves judgments about these feelings. It is not simply “a summing up of all the positive moments and a subtraction of the negative ones” (19). It arises from complex cognitive processes that include evaluation, comparison, and adaptation. It is experienced as a state of well-being, satisfaction, or contentment.
• Level three happiness arises from one’s overall quality of life. It is experienced as a sense of flourishing or fulfilling one’s potential. Unlike the previous two levels, it is difficult to scientifically measure since it is clearly tied to an individual’s sense of meaning, purpose, and accomplishment.

Are People Happy?

Sigmund Freud wrote that “the best that could be hoped for in life was ‘the transformation of hysteric misery into common unhappiness’” (65). Is Freud correct? Are people generally happy or unhappy?

Contrary to the conclusions of “happiness pessimists” such as Freud, Nietzsche, and Sartre, the evidence proves that the general experience of the masses is happiness. “The vast majority of people say they are more happy than unhappy. This is true even in poor countries and amongst poorer social groups in rich ones, and true amongst the unemployed, bereaved, and disabled” (166). Additionally, most people also look forward to even greater measures of happiness in the future.

Though few people say they are completely or perfectly happy, most people say they are more happy than unhappy, and most people think they will be even happier in the future than they presently are. Since this is the case, happiness is not simply the product of wealth or good fortune. There is more to happiness than meets the eye.

From Whence Comes Happiness?

One’s measure of happiness is not solely based on positive experiences. Happiness is also grounded in one’s overall perspective on life – whether negative or positive, neurotic or enthusiastic. It is also a product of one’s comparison with others. In short, happiness is as much a product of inner factors as it is outer circumstances. Nettle writes, “great unhappiness in life is often a result of thinking about things in the wrong way rather than objective circumstances; failing to discount other reasons for moods, making the wrong comparisons, or dwelling on the past in the wrong way” (44).

Contrary to popular perception – and to the dismay of lottery players everywhere – greater wealth is no guarantee of greater happiness. Greater wealth does bring greater happiness – but only for a short duration. A person quickly adapts to possessing it and his or her degree of happiness returns to its previous level. Kettle writes, “People adapt quite quickly to positive changes in life circumstances, and then return to close to their previous level of happiness” (166). Ultimately, greater wealth does not bring long-term happiness. Nettle argues that any slight difference in degrees of happiness between wealthy and poor people stems from the greater amount of personal control that is possible when one is wealthy. “Personal control is a much better predictor of happiness than income is… Thus it seems that being at the top of the social heap only makes you happy in as much as it gives you the opportunity to control your life” (74).

One’s perspective on life is also an important factor in regard to one’s experience of happiness: “Common experience shows that some people are cheerful and buoyant almost whatever bad things happen to them, whilst some are full of worry and anguish even in the best of circumstances” (91). A cheerful person who encounters a seriously negative life event will eventually return to his or her cheerful state. We tend to adapt to new conditions – whether negative or positive – and retain our prior perspectives. In the same way, a worrier who comes upon a long streak of good fortune will almost certainly continue to worry and thus diminish his or her level of happiness. Clearly, happiness is not simply a product of circumstance; it is also a product of personality and perspective. (By the way, according to statistics, those who worry more will encounter more health problems and live shorter lives, so it behooves the worrier to quit worrying so much.)

Happiness is also impacted by comparison with others. “Happiness with domains like income and material goods is relative to what others around are getting” (166). We are generally happier when we compare ourselves to those who possess less than we do. We are more discontent when we compare ourselves to those who possess more. For example, in surveys men register more dissatisfaction with their wives after viewing photographs of voluptuous models.

Olympic bronze medallists report higher satisfaction than silver medallists. For them, the natural comparison is with not getting a medal at all, which they narrowly escaped. For the silver winners, the natural comparison is the gold, which they missed out on.

Where we think we are in the pile can be a powerful determinant of how we feel about life… A majority of people, when asked, would prefer to earn $50,000 in a world where others earned $25,000, than $100,000 in a world where others earned $250,000. Moreover, people’s assessment of the minimum amount that it would be possible to live on rises year on year in line with increases in wages, not rises in prices. (38)

Happiness is not the direct result of possessing what we want. Nettle reveals the disconnect between wanting and liking – a disconnect that advertisers constantly use to their advantage. In our bodies, the “mechanisms that control the wanting of things are not identical to those that control the liking of them once they arrive. The two are after all logically quite distinct. You could crave for something very much, but take little or no pleasure in it once you had it” (126).

Ultimately, we want happiness more than we actually seem to enjoy it. We strive for status, prominence, or possessions, and then, once we obtain the object of our desire, we spend precious little time actually enjoying what we have obtained. We quickly adapt to the new pleasure. It looses its potential to provide pleasure and we set off once again in our seemingly endless pursuit of happiness.

Though this may seem like a feverish and depressing cycle, Nettle argues that we are wired for this experience. It is the promise of happiness that is the reason that we are willing to expend so much effort pursuing it. The possibility of increased happiness makes the risks worth it. Part of the joy of happiness is the actual pursuit.

The basis of many gratifications is precisely the challenge required to obtain them, and short-cutting this removes their appeal. Thus, paradoxically, in order to have the possibility of deep gratification, we need to admit the possibility of failure and frustration into our lives. It is necessary to have the possibility of unhappiness for happiness to have any meaning. (172)

We love the excitement and risks involved in pursuing and obtaining happiness. This is why the utopia of Huxley’s Brave new world is actually a dystopia. “In Brave new world, bland consumerism, social engineering, entertainment, and drugs mean that all conceivable pleasures are available with essentially zero effort or possibility of failure” (171). This is not happiness; it is numbness.

A Good Life is a Happy Life

The best and fullest happiness is level three happiness. This happiness revolves around a well-lived life. And a well-lived life is not always a happy one. But it is a satisfying one.

When we realize that perfect happiness is a mirage (in spite of the constant seductions of self-help books and programs to the contrary), and that we do not need to continually compare ourselves with others, we can learn to be happy with our present lot in life. To be “reasonably happy” is as good as it gets.

We do not need to search for happiness. We should instead seek to live a good life. “Just as materialism breeds dissatisfaction with material conditions, constantly aspiring to find happiness in doing or having can make it more difficult to be happy” (160). For this reason, those who seek perfect happiness will probably never find it. However, those who pursue the good life may very well gain it – and happiness as well. Nathaniel Hawthorne put it well, “Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

© Richard J. Vincent, 2005