Different Theories of Happiness

‘Happiness’ is a too worn and a weary term to be of much scientific use. The discipline of Positive Psychology divides it into three different realms, each of which is measurable and most importantly each of which is skill-based and can be taught.

The first is hedonic - The ‘Pleasant Life’, it is a life led around good stuffs and positive emotions.

The second - is the state of flow, which is much closer to what Thomas Jefferson and Aristotle sought, a life led around it is the ‘Engaged Life’, a major part of time stopping for everyone to being ‘one with the music’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). While there are shortcuts to positive emotion like watching television and shopping, there are no shortcuts to flow. Flow occurs only when we deploy our highest strengths and talents to meet the challenges that come our way, and it is clear that flow facilitates learning.

The third realm in the framework of Positive Psychology is the Meaningful Life. Flow and positive emotion can be found in solipsistic pursuits, but not the meaning or purpose. Meaning is increased only through our connections to others, future generations, or causes that transcend the self. From a Positive Psychology perspective, meaning consists in knowing of what our highest strengths are, and then using them to belong to and serve something we believe is larger than the self. Happiness, since the ancient Greek times has been the topic of discussion and debate.

In 1973, ‘Psychology Abstracts International’ began listing happiness as an index term because happiness is a term that is used widely and frequently as it has various meanings and connotations. The construct of happiness is still evolving, and although challenging to define, it is a construct that can be empirically evaluated through qualitative and quantitative assessment. Delle Fave and colleagues noted that happiness is also an ambiguous term which could have a number of meanings: · A transient emotion (synonymous with joy) · An experience of fulfillment and accomplishment (characterized by cognitive evaluation)·

A long-term process of identity development and meaning-making through achieving one’s potential and the pursuit of subjectively relevant goals. Since the days of Aristotle, historically happiness has been conceptualized as being composed of at least 2 aspects - Hedonia (or pleasure) and Eudaimonia (a sense that a life is well-lived). Research has shown that, whilst these two aspects are definitely distinct, that in ‘happy’ people, both hedonic and eudaimonic components of happiness correspond. A study by Kesebir and Diener (2008) report that in happiness surveys, more than 80% of interviewees rated their overall ‘eudaimonic’ life satisfaction as “pretty to very happy” and, at the same time, 80% of the people also rate their current, hedonic ‘mood’ as positive ranging between 6 - 7 on 10 point scale. Striding upwards into the modern era, there is some agreement about the aspects that make up theories of happiness.

According to Haybron, when looking at theories of happiness, there are 3 basic views:

1. Hedonic theory - On the whole, to be happy is to experience a majority of pleasure.

2. Eudaimonic theory - On the whole, to be happy is from life-satisfaction view of having a favorable attitude about one’s life entirely or just over a limited period of time.

3. Affective state theory - On the whole, happiness depends on an individual’s overall emotional state.

Figure 1: Three basic views on Theories of Happiness

Other theories of happiness, so-called ‘hybrid’ theories, combine the life satisfaction theory with other hedonistic or affective-state theories. The most widely accepted theory of happiness: subjective well-being, considered to be a more scientific term than happiness, is one of these hybrid theories.

Hedonic Theories (Pursuit of pleasure VS pain view of happiness)

Hedonism has a long history and Science has looked closely at happiness as ‘hedonically’ defined, in other words, the pursuit of pleasure over pain. Aristippus, 4th century BC Greek philosopher, claimed happiness was the sum of life’s ‘hedonic’ moments and the goal of life is to experience maximum pleasure. Hedonic enjoyment is a state, where an individual feel relaxed, has a sense of distance from their problems, and can be said to feel ‘happy’. Hobbes argued that happiness is found in the successful pursuit of our human appetites, and De-Sade said that the pursuit of sensation and pleasure is the ultimate goal of life. Including Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarian philosophers, put forth the argument that a good society is one that is developed out of individuals attempting to maximize pleasure and pursue self-interest.

Figure 2: Hedonic Theories of Happiness

There are three ways that psychologists study happiness: 1. Need and Goal Satisfaction Theories These theories suggest that happiness is a result of striving to achieve appropriate goals and meeting one’s fundamental human needs (Nelson, Kurtz & Lyubomirsky, 2015). For example, Deci and Ryan (2000), proposed Self-determination Theory, stipulating that well-being is achieved when one meets their basic human needs including autonomy, competence, and relatedness. 2. Genetic and Personality Predisposition Theories These propose that well-being is influenced by genes that are associated with the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism. In turn, this implies that well-being does not change much over time. 3. Process / Activity Theories These theories argue that well-being may be improved by participating in activities that are engaging and that require effort. Figure 6: Three ways Psychologists study Happiness, in respect to happiness, should be clarified that, physical hedonism comes not only from short-term pleasures but can also arise from achieving goals or other valued outcomes. Hedonic psychologists are of the belief that happiness can include the preferences and pleasures of the mind, as well as the body. Kahneman (1999) defined hedonic psychology as the study of “what makes experiences and life pleasant and unpleasant”. Under the framework of hedonic psychology, the terms well-being and hedonism are used interchangeably. Since hedonic psychology explains well-being in terms of pleasure versus pain, it has become the center of much research and also interventions that mainly aim to enhance human happiness. Hedonic psychology has been a focus of the theory of happiness due to the links between hedonia and other dominant theories. For example, hedonia ties up with behavioral theories of reward and punishment, as well as focuses on the theories of cognitive expectations of the outcomes of reward and punishment. Inspite of variety of ways to consider the human experience of pleasure/pain, majority of research in hedonic psychology looks into the assessment of subjective wellbeing. The term, subjective well-being (or ‘happiness’) consists of three components:

1. life satisfaction,

2. the presence of a positive mood

3. the absence of a negative mood

Eudaimonic Theories (The life satisfaction view of happiness)

Aristotle argued that, because animals are driven to seek pleasure, and man has greater capacity than animals and unique capacity to reason, pleasure alone cannot achieve happiness. In the path of seeking happiness, the most important factor for a person is to have ‘complete virtue’ - in other words, to have good moral character. According to Aristotle, Eudaimonia is, “activity expressing virtue” that leads to a happy life. Hence, Aristotle proposed that happiness was neither virtue nor pleasure, but rather the exercise of virtue. Aristotelian view takes up the argument that happiness is not the principal criterion of well-being and proponents of this view see well-being as achieved by people living in accordance with the daimon or true self. Eudaimonic theories of happiness argue that happiness is the result of the development of individual strengths and virtues rather than the pursuit of pleasure.

Figure 3: Eudaimonic Theories of Happiness

The theory of eudaimonic happiness has its base in the concept of Maslow’s “Self-actualising individual” and Carl Roger’s concept of the ‘Fully functioning person”. Waterman introduced the term ‘Personal expressiveness’ that describes the state of authenticity that occurs when peoples’ activities reflect their values. Waterman also suggested that happiness is enhanced by people who acts in accordance with their most deeply held values. The eudaimonic theory of happiness adopts Edward Deci and Richard Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory to conceptualize happiness. This theory puts forth the argument that fulfillment in the areas of autonomy and competence will enhance happiness. This view, in other words, suggests that subjective well-being (i.e. happiness). can be achieved through engaging in eudaimonic pursuits. The theory of eudaimonic happiness is conducive with many modern scientific explanations of happiness.

Affective State Theory

Affective state theory of happiness proposes that happiness is the result of one’s overall emotional state. Bradburn (1969) argued that happiness is made up of two separate components that are quite independent and uncorrelated: Positive and Negative Affect and happiness is a global judgment people make by comparing their negative affect and positive affect (Diener, 1984). This leads to the development of the Affect Balance Scale, a self-report measure of the quality of life indicating happiness as derived by the sum of the ‘negative’ items taken away from the sum of the ‘positive’ items. Affect state theory also takes up the view that the absence of negative affect is not the same thing as the presence of positive affect.

Figure 4: Affective State Theories of Happiness

Theories Developed by Positive Psychologists The discipline of positive psychology has developed some unique theories of happiness.

Figure 5: Theories developed by Positive Psychologists

1. Flow Theory Csikszentmihalyi introduced the Flow theory, in which ‘flow’ may be defined as “the state of engagement, optimal happiness, and peak experience that occurs when an individual is absorbed in a demanding and intrinsically motivating challenge”. This state of engagement has been proposed to be a pathway to happiness.

2. Authentic Happiness Theory Seligman introduced the Authentic Happiness theory based on the notion that authentic happiness results from a person living according to their ‘signature strengths’ that develop as people become aware of their own personal strengths and take ownership of them.

3. Well-being Theory Following criticism of his “Authentic Happiness theory”, Seligman came up with the “Well-being Theory” emphasizing the goal of reaching well-being as opposed to the goal of achieving happiness. It describes five factors of well-being (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Purpose and Accomplishment - PERMA model of flourishing) each containing measurable elements, contributing to the well-being but none defining well-being. As opposed to the previous theory, where character strengths were relevant only for engagement, here, it is relevant in order to maximize well-being felt from each factor. Well-being leads to flourishing - a state of thriving, of being full of vitality and prospering as individuals and as a group discovering happiness.

The Psychology of Happiness

The psychological inquiry into happiness is important because happiness is associated not only with improved physical health, even longevity. It is also a priority for people across the world as happiness has been rated as more important than other desirable outcomes such as living a meaningful life or making a lot of money.

There are three ways that psychologists study happiness:

1. Need and Goal Satisfaction Theories These theories suggest that happiness is a result of striving to achieve appropriate goals and meeting one’s fundamental human needs. For example, Deci and Ryan, proposed Self-determination Theory, stipulating that well-being is achieved when one meets their basic human needs including autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

2. Genetic and Personality Predisposition Theories These propose that well-being is influenced by genes that are associated with the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism. In turn, this implies that well-being does not change much over time.

3. Process / Activity Theories These theories argue that well-being may be improved by participating in activities that are engaging and that require effort.

Figure 6: Three ways Psychologists study Happiness