WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

ONE of the criticisms often levelled at positive psychology is that it’s all about the “big H”: happiness. Some may argue that happiness is a frivolous topic and certainly not one worthy of serious scientific endeavour. Yet, when you start digging deeper, it becomes clear that happiness is not at all straightforward. In fact, it’s a pretty complex concept. This article explores some of the components of happiness (or well-being as it’s often called), how they’re measured and why they matter.

. Previously About ‘Positive Psychology’

Probably the simplest way to get a handle on happiness is to divide it initially into two basic components:

. Hedonic well-being

. Eudaimonic well-being

The distinction between these two aspects of happiness dates to the ancient Greek philosophers Aristippus (c. 435–356 BCE), who championed hedonism, and Aristotle (384–322 BCE), who advocated eudaimonism.

According to Aristippus, the goal of life is to maximise pleasure and minimise displeasure or pain. In positive psychology hedonic well-being is often used to refer to the happiness you get from feeling pleasure in the moment; it is the variety of happiness which usually springs to mind when you’re asked what happiness is. It is, though, typically short-lived. We must keep topping up our reserves in order to maintain its effects. One of the problems with defining happiness solely in terms of sensory pleasure is that, paradoxically, some human desires, even if they are pleasure-producing in the short term, are not good for you in the long term.

And what about eudaimonic well-being? If happiness can ever have a serious side, this is certainly it. As suggested, some people believe that pleasure on its own isn’t sufficient to describe the totality of human well-being. According to Aristotle, merely pursuing pleasure is vulgar; he advocated eudaimonism because he believed that true happiness is found in doing what is worth doing, not in just having a good time. Eudaimonic well-being is a broad term used by positive psychologists to refer to the happiness we gain from having meaning and purpose in our lives, fulfilling our potential and feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

But even eudaimonic well-being is not problem-free. Some psychologists dislike its moral overtones; they argue that it isn’t psychology’s job to prescribe what is good for people. And, as a matter of fact, eudaimonic well-being may not provide any pleasurable feelings at all: it may involve considerable personal hardship and effort over the longer term. Yet, it is suggested that eudaimonia leads to greater life satisfaction than pure pleasure alone (Huta, V., Park, N., Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. [2003]).

In practice, positive psychologists do not agree on the definition of eudaimonic well-being – terms which include “self-actualisation”, “personal expressiveness”, “meaning”, “personal growth”, and “engagement and flow”. Nor do they agree on how it should be measured, and often the term eudaimonic well-being is used as a catch-all for any type of happiness that isn’t hedonic. But even if we’re not yet sure how to define eudaimonic well-being, most people would acknowledge that there’s more to true happiness than a game or round of 9-hole golf at the weekend. Psychology research concurs with this: a recent study of over 13,000 people suggests that pursuing engagement or meaning is more strongly related to well-being than pursuing pleasure (Schueller, S. M., & Seligman, M. P. [2010]).

Another area of disagreement for positive psychologists is whether happiness is a subjective or an objective phenomenon. Some definitions of eudaimonic well-being suggest that there is an objective standard against which people’s lives can be judged. On the other hand, there are psychologists who insist that happiness is a subjective phenomenon. They argue that it can only be measured by asking people to rate their own happiness. This leads us to another definition of happiness often used in positive psychology – Subjective Well-Being (SWB) – which is expressed in the following formula:

Satisfaction with Life + Positive Emotion – Negative Emotion

In simple terms this means that subjective happiness consists of three elements, one cognitive (or evaluative) and two affective.

Using Subjective Well-Being as the measure suggests that to increase our level of happiness overall, we should focus on minimising our negative mood and maximising our life satisfaction and positive mood.

. A positive psychology model of well-being

In his most recent book, Flourish, Martin Seligman, one of the founding fathers of the positive psychology movement, describes his new theory of well-being. His model (PERMA), which consists of five separate elements, draws on aspects of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being:

P (Positive emotion) is exactly what it says – the experience of positive mood and feelings which are uplifting. Psychologists use various types of questionnaire which can be used to measure positive (and negative) emotional states.

E (Engagement) or ‘flow’ as it’s often called, refers to the well-being you get from being totally absorbed in the task in hand, so much so that you lose track of time and feel completely at one with what you’re doing. When sports people talk about “being in the zone”, they’re referring to their experience of flow. Flow is usually measured by asking people to reflect back on their day and record flow experiences or by having them carry an electronic beeper which randomly prompts them to think about and record what they’re doing at that moment in time.

R (Relationships) are included in Seligman’s model because research suggests that good, caring and supportive interpersonal connections are essential to your well-being at any age in life.

M (Meaning) is important because it provides both a stable foundation and a sense of direction in life. Pursuing meaningful activities has been found to be more strongly related to happiness than pursuing pleasurable ones. There are many different measures of meaning, although it’s still a relatively under-researched area. The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe) measures 26 different sources, including self-transcendence (such as spirituality), self-actualisation (such as challenge and knowledge), order (such as tradition and holding on to values), and well-being and caring for others (such as community and love).

A (Accomplishment) is the latest psychological component in Seligman’s well-being model. It’s another broad category which includes everything from achievement, success and mastery at the highest level possible to progress towards goals and competence.