Advertisement

Blogs

Understanding Happiness

By Bethany Withycombe posted 05-04-2020 06:41

  

Many people, including myself before discovering positive psychology, live life waiting for something to happen or strive to accomplish one goal after the next, in search of true happiness. If I get straight A’s, I will be happy. If I am successful with this project, I will be happy. If I match with this residency program, I will be happy. Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar explains in his book “Happier,” that as we achieve these goals, we mistake the feeling of relief for happiness. Eventually overtime, the “happiness” you feel by achieving these goals fades away, maybe even faster than you were expecting. This is known as the hedonic treadmill, a theory that suggests people will repeatedly return to their personal baseline levels of happiness throughout the ups and downs of life.1 To further demonstrate this, Brickman and Campbell’s research (1971) compared a group of large lottery prize winners with another group of people who had been in a serious accident resulting in paralysis. While their initial feelings were of happiness and sadness respectively, over a short period of time, both groups were found to be equally happy as their happiness levels returned to baseline.2

CLfbvl70SxKfWu7dYRSc_temp.png

Figure A: The hedonic treadmill1


Although it may sound like an impossible feat to break the hedonic treadmill cycle. There are ways to increase your baseline levels of happiness. To do this, it is important to first understand the fundamentals of happiness. Happiness involves two simple building blocks: pleasure or present benefit as well as meaning or future benefit. Therefore, your feelings of happiness can be enhanced by incorporating daily activities that are in line with feelings of enjoyment in the present and mirror your personal goals as you work toward the future.3

 

Why does increasing baseline levels of happiness even matter? Evidence suggests a positive correlation between people who have a positive outlook or sense of happiness with improvements in basic life functioning (ex. more successful at work, in relationships, and health).4 Therefore, in the question of which came first, research suggests that the answer is happiness! Happiness can fuel success, and in return success, which is often accompanied by enhanced life satisfaction, fuels further happiness.3, 5 This idea is also consistent with Barbara Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden-and-build theory which indicates that exposure to positive emotions causes an upward spiral. The upward spiral motivates people to seek out new opportunities, be more open to challenges, may allow for more flexible or creative thinking, and in turn increases happiness.6, 7

 

Stay tuned for tomorrows post to discover a variety of tools to help you improve baseline levels of happiness.

 

The upcoming posts this week (as well as additional posts which will be posted throughout Mental Health Awareness Month (May) by Maggie Kronz, Daniel Pons, and Cavan O’Kane) were created by ASHP New Practitioner’s Forum CDAG to provide you with helpful resources to improve your mental health and well-being. Upcoming topics include: Positive psychology and how this can be applied to your personal and professional life to increase your levels of happiness and well-being, managing anxiety and depression, identifying your personal values and how to incorporate these values into your career to avoid burnout, imposter syndrome and how it may be affecting your mental wellness, how to handle a negative work environment, and how to be a wellness leader at your workplace. We hope you find these posts beneficial and give you a good starting point to help you be well!

 

If you missed the last post on May 1st, check it out here:

https://connect.ashp.org/blogs/bethany-withycombe1/2020/05/01/what-is-positive-psychology-and-why-does-it-matter

 

References:

  1. Pennock SG. The hedonic treadmill – are we forever chasing rainbows. PositivePsychology.com. 2019. Accessed from: https://positivepsychology.com/hedonic-treadmill/
  2. Brickman, P., Campbell, D. T. Hedonic relativism and planning the good society. New York: Academic Press; 1971.
  3. Ben-Shahar T. Happier. McGraw-Hill; 2007.
  4. Lyubomirsky, S et al. Psychological bulletin, APA. 2005;131(6):803-855
  5. Achor, S. The happiness advantage. New York: Crown Business; 2010.
  6. Suldo SM. Promoting student happiness. New York: Guilford Publications; 2016.
  7. Lino C. Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (+PDF). PositivePsychology.com. 2019. Accessed from: https://positivepsychology.com/broaden-build-theory/

 

0 comments
18 views

Permalink