Week One - Post Two

Happiness is an concept that can be studied scientifically. It can be studied through observation, experience sampling of people, cross-sectional surveys of happy people, longitudinal studies of what makes people happy, and experimental studies where variables are compared to constants. When scientists are studying happiness, they are looking at a combination of four factors: well-being, traits, emotions, and sensations. Studies show that the best way to achieve the highest level of happiness is to focus less on personal happiness, and more on the happiness of friends and loved ones. It is not something to be conquered, or to have; that is the wrong mindset. It should come from pleasure, goal fulfillment, and meaningful pursuits. These ideas are best illustrated by the terms hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. Hedonic happiness comes from pleasure and goal fulfillment, while eudaimonic happiness comes from meaningful pursuits. Scientists use common terminology such as the following in the field. Happiness is referred to as subjective well-being, the way people evaluate their lives, in terms of both global life satisfaction and emotional states. Life satisfaction is a general assessment that, as a whole, one's life is good and worth living. Positive affect, another common term, is used to describe the experience of feeling a positive emotion, such as joy, love, or amusement.

Overall, when looking at the science of happiness, it is necessary to look at the differences between a happy life and a meaningful life. Although they frequently go hand in hand, seeking happiness without meaning would be a stressful, aggravating, and annoying proposition. While, happiness is focused on the present, meaningfulness involves thinking about the past, present, future, and the connection between the three. In addition, meaningfulness is derived from giving to to other people, happiness is what they give to you. Meaningful lives involve stress and challenges, but also the importance of self-expression. Unlike meaningfulness, happiness involves satisfaction of wants and needs. In order to have a good, balanced life, people should aim to be both happy and live in a meaningful way.