5 ms·
This is such a terrible argument, even by its own data. For instance: "The good-looking are on average 7% happier than the bad-looking." ...from which it draw
by maldusiecle 11y ago
This is such a terrible argument, even by its own data.
For instance:
"The good-looking are on average 7% happier than the bad-looking."
...from which it draws the conclusion that being beautiful doesn't make much of a difference. But 7% doesn't seem like a small difference at all. Spending hundreds of hours for a 7% improvement doesn't seem like such a terrible deal to me. Of course it's a bad deal if that's time you're taking from other things that make you happy. But exercise, for instance, has the benefit of improving your health and creating happiness in its own right.
Likewise the fact that 30% of unemployed feel 10% less happy years after becoming employed again. A 10% reduction in happiness doesn't seem minor at all.
I guess if you have some absurd expectation, like some notion that a simple intervention will make you twice as happy, you'll be disappointed by the effects of all these various things. But a lot of these changes are pretty substantial, and they're not even taking into account things that I would expect to really affect happiness--professional accomplishment, one's love life, etc. People are complicated, happiness is complicated, and of course no single thing is going to instantly grant you contentment. That's no reason not to work for small improvements; the small improvements add up.
And I think this kind of fatalism is really pernicious, akin to writing arguments that suicide is a good idea or that heroin actually isn't very dangerous. Most people are sensible enough to dismiss them, but others develop this feeling of learned helplessness which really harms them. The authors arguing this are always hypocrites; they know that they'd be unhappy living on the street, that's why they keep going to work every day. But they're perfectly happy to confuse and harm others with their disingenuous rhetoric.
- hashkb 11y agoAren't you ignoring the alternatives which the author suggests have significantly better ROI?
- tgb 11y agoSorry I just skimmed the article and liked it but didn't really see any alternatives except for a gratitude journal. What else does the author suggest? Gratitude journals appear to be his shtick.
- maldusiecle 11y agoYes, I consider that section of pop-psychology fluff literally below contempt or discussion. But by all means, if it interests you, try it; on another page, he promises that keeping a gratitude journal will grant you "spiritual transcendence."
- forgetsusername 11y agoSo, you say: "That's no reason not to work for small improvements; the small improvements add up." But dismiss the idea of using some sort of heuristic to prioritize said small improvements? Because that's what I got out of this slightly verbose piece: prioritize what will actually make you happy, not what you assume will make you happy. Though, I agree, it's not particularly profound.
- themodelplumber 11y ago> But they're perfectly happy to confuse and harm others with their disingenuous rhetoric. Well, we don't want to moralize or anything. (Because somehow drawing shaky conclusions from perfectly good data is worlds better than moralizing...) Like one of those corny people who tells you to keep a gratitude journal. Let's not be that guy. But you should _really_ keep a gratitude journal.
- amelius 11y ago> Spending hundreds of hours for a 7% improvement doesn't seem like such a terrible deal to me. Or you could just choose uglier friends :)
- acangiano 11y agoNot to mention that new research shows a significant increase in happiness/satisfaction as income goes up.
- kidmenot 11y agoAnd, if I may: what does 7% happier, 20% increase in life satisfaction exactly mean anyway? My 5% might be or feel very different than someone else's. See, I have a hard time with all this self-help stuff. What's so difficult about it that needs hundreds of books and blogs to be expounded? You either want to do something or you don't. Be grateful for what you have and try to improve a little at a time. Remember that everyone is out to get money from you. Try really hard not to be an asshole. Seems like common sense to me, and everything else feels like a lot of unnecessary junk.
- ZenoArrow 11y agoYou're right, quantifying happiness is nonsense, but that doesn't stop people trying. I think it's a reflection of a common mindset that sees science as universally applicable.
- WalterSear 11y agoIt is. We just don't have the right science yet.
- ZenoArrow 11y agoIt's really not. Science, or rather the scientific method, applies only to that which can be quantified, as otherwise you'll have no way to accurately verify the success of a scientific experiment. You can try to quantify happiness, but only superficially, it doesn't accurately describe what happiness is. For example, if I said I was 72% happy today, what does mean objectively (i.e. outside from my personal context)?
- WalterSear 11y agoInsofar as we can never really know the internal state of anything, and yes, from chemistry, to particle physics to psychology. All we can know for sure is that a machine (we did create) spat out a bunch of numbers and a text book (written by people we don't know) said those numbers were 'correct'. (Moreover, we already know a lot more about the measurement of internal mental states than you appear to be aware: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23249520 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23249520 )
- npsimons 11y ago> But exercise, for instance, has the benefit of improving your health and creating happiness in its own right. That and losing weight. I honestly believe that many don't understand the effects of being obese (or even overweight) because they've been that way for so long, they've forgotten what healthy feels like. I for one didn't realize it until I lost the weight and no longer needed a CPAP to sleep through the night.