This link has been bookmarked by 29 people . It was first bookmarked on 31 Aug 2006, by Mario A Núñez.
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06 Apr 14
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Social scientists measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are.
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science suggests it leads to long life, health, resilience and good performance.
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"There is a lot of evidence that being richer... isn't making us happier"
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First, it is thought we adapt to pleasure. We go for things which give us short bursts of pleasure whether it is a chocolate bar or buying a new car.
But it quickly wears off.
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Secondly, it is thought that we tend to see our life as judged against other people.
We compare our lot against others. Richer people do get happier when they compare themselves against poorer people, but poorer people are less happy if they compare up.
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The good news is that we can choose how much and who we compare ourselves with and about what, and researchers suggest we adapt less quickly to more meaningful things such as friendship and life goals.
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family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.
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ward off germs. Our brains control many of the mechanisms in our bodies which are responsible for disease.
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The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life, a belief in something bigger than yourself - from religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life.
The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable.
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loss of a spouse
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loss of a job
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According to the positive psychologist Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania it is possible to lift our biological set range of happiness, at least to some extent if we work at it.
"The best you can do with positive emotion is you can get people to live at the top of their set range.
"So I think you've got about 10 to 15% leverage but you can't take a grouch and make him giggle all the time."
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22 Oct 12
Tracy TutenA new six-part BBC series, starting this week, looks at the newest research from around the world to find out what could it be that makes us happy.
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18 Sep 11
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First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.
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It is even suggested that friendship can ward off germs. Our brains control many of the mechanisms in our bodies which are responsible for disease.
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One economist, Professor Oswald at Warwick University, has a formula to work out how much extra cash we would need to make up for not having friends.
The answer is £50,000.
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According to research the effect of marriage adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman.
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The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life, a belief in something bigger than yourself - from religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life.
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The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable.
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Psychologists argue that we need to find fulfilment through having goals that are interesting to work on and which use our strengths and abilities
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"The best you can do with positive emotion is you can get people to live at the top of their set range.
"So I think you've got about 10 to 15% leverage but you can't take a grouch and make him giggle all the time."
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10 Jul 11
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27 Apr 11
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19 Jul 10
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06 Dec 09
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08 Aug 09
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28 Jun 08
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10 Jan 08
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26 Oct 07
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The Happiness Formula
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11 Oct 07
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"So I think you've got about 10 to 15% leverage but you can't take a grouch and make him giggle all the time."
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Yet despite all the massive increase in our wealth in the last 50 years our levels of happiness have not increased.
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"There is a lot of evidence that being richer... isn't making us happier"
-
The research suggests that richer countries do tend to be happier than poor ones, but once you have a home, food and clothes, then extra money does not seem to make people much happier.
-
First, it is thought we adapt to pleasure.
-
But it quickly wears off.
-
Second, its thought that we tend to see our life as judged against other people.
-
We compare our lot against others. Richer people do get happier when they compare themselves against poorer people, but poorer people are less happy if they compare up.
-
First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.
-
What makes us happy?
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at least to some extent if we work at it.
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The loss of a job can affect a person for years even they are back to work.
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Marriage also seems to be very important.
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The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life
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According to happiness research, friendship has a much bigger effect on average on happiness than a typical person's income itself.
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An adviser to the Prime Minister, David Halpern, told us that within the next 10 years the government would be measured against how happy it made everybody.
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After the loss of a spouse it can take several years to regain the previous level of well-being.
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The question of whether we can actually use our knowledge of what makes us happy to lift our levels of happiness permanently is hotly debated by psychologists.
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The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable.
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However, there are also many things we experience in life that can produce lasting unhappiness.
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the problem has always been that you can't measure happiness.
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In survey after survey involving huge groups of people, significant correlations between happiness and some other factors are repeated.
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We have not got proof, but the science suggests it leads to long life, health, resilience and good performance.
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"It may sound silly but we ask people 'How happy are you 1-7, 1-10?
"And the interesting thing is that produces real answers that are valid, they're not perfect but they're valid and they predict all sorts of real things in their lives."
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"Cigarette smoking can knock a few years off your life, three years, if you really smoke a lot, six years.
"So nine years for happiness is a huge effect."
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Most people say they are fairly happy.
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At the moment scientists cannot prove causation, whether for example people are healthy because they are happy, or whether people are happy because they are healthy.
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Social scientists measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are.
-
One economist, Professor Oswald at Warwick University, has a formula to work out how much extra cash we would need to make up for not having friends.
The answer is £50,000.
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25 Aug 07
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According to Professor Diener the evidence suggests that happy people live longer than depressed people.
"In one study, the difference was nine years between the happiest group and the unhappiest group, so that's a huge effect.
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Yet despite all the massive increase in our wealth in the last 50 years our levels of happiness have not increased
-
The research suggests that richer countries do tend to be happier than poor ones, but once you have a home, food and clothes, then extra money does not seem to make people much happier.
-
First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.
-
According to happiness research, friendship has a much bigger effect on average on happiness than a typical person's income itself.
-
Marriage also seems to be very important. According to research the effect of marriage adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman.
-
The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life, a belief in something bigger than yourself - from religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life.
-
The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable.
-
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16 May 06
diigodeli dunbarA new six-part BBC series, starting this week, looks at the newest research from around the world to find out what could it be that makes us happy.
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01 May 06
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Daniel RourkeA new six-part BBC series, starting this week, looks at the newest research from around the world to find out what could it be that makes us happy. We all want to be happy but the problem has always been that you can't measure happiness.
mind sociology bbc tv video consciousness culture science society human psychology philosophy article neuroscience research religion history future progress huge-entity.com news
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