The pursuit of happiness: a psychological puzzle

‘Mental health should be more than the absence of mental illness. It should be a vibrant and muscular fitness of the human mind and spirit.” So said American psychologist Martin Seligman when he launched positive psychology at the end of the last century.

Soon afterwards, psychologists around the world, particularly in the United States, began to examine what does and doesn’t make people feel satisfied with life, whether optimism was associated with good physical health, less depression, longer life and greater happiness, and whether you can induce happiness states or at least promote a feeling of wellbeing.

The meaning of happiness and how to achieve it will be put under a microscope during Trinity Week, which runs from April 7th to 11th. Talks and events organised by the the faculty of health sciences in Trinity College Dublin will investigate the science of happiness.

Positive psychology has been embraced by academics and clinicians around the world. The word “happiness” – once the preserve of philosophers – has become a scientific concept to dissect and analyse. There has been a corresponding growth in studies into positive emotions, healthy character traits and behaviours.

American researcher Dr Edward Diener found that once you have enough money to meet basic needs, more money doesn’t make you happier. Neither does education, a high IQ or youth. Older people were found to be more consistently satisfied with their lives than the young.

Religious faith was found to lift the spirits but it has been hard to tell whether it’s the God part or the community involvement that is key. And married people generally were happier than singles.

Research tools such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale, developed by Diener and colleagues, or the OECD guidelines on measuring subjective wellbeing, spawned international studies into happiness. And in Trinity College Dublin, the school of psychology ran the National Happiness Experiment in 2012, a survey whose findings are published in

Happy Nation?

by Malcolm MacLachlan and Karen Hand. Again and again, results have shown higher levels of happiness in those with the strongest ties to friends and family, and a commitment to spending time with them.


Finding a coin


Some researchers have distinguished between the experiencing self and the remembering self when looking at happiness. Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman says social scientists studying happiness need to pay attention to people’s experiences rather than their reflections.

Kahneman carried out experiments testing how subjects rated their happiness after finding a coin in a telephone booth compared with a group who didn’t find anything. “The former group gave a higher rating of happiness, which shows how we can be tricked or deceived by our perceptions,” says Prof Ian Robertson, the head of the school of psychology at TCD.

In his book

Authentic Happiness

, Seligman defines three components of happiness: pleasure; engagement (depth of involvement with one’s family, work, romance, hobbies); and meaning (using personal strengths to serve some larger end). Many researchers went on to study so-called happiness boosters, such as keeping a gratitude journal (in which you write down things you are thankful for), performing random acts of kindness and counting your blessings.

University of California psychologist Robert Emmons found that gratitude exercises improved people’s physical health, raised their energy levels and, for patients with neuromuscular disease, relieved pain and fatigue. Seligman’s biggest recommendation for lasting happiness is to figure out your strengths and find new ways to use them.

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