Happiness is a state of mind or feeling such as contentment, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.^[1] A variety of philosophical Most academic subjects have a philosophy, for example the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of history. In addition, a range of academic subjects have emerged to deal with areas which would have historically been the subject of philosophy. These include, religious A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God or gods, or ultimate truth. It may be expressed through, psychological Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and often scientific, study of human/animal mental functions and behavior. Occasionally, in addition or opposition to employing the scientific method, it also relies on symbolic interpretation and critical analysis, although it often does so less prominently than other and biological Biology is the science that studies living organisms. Prior to the nineteenth century, biology came under the general study of all natural objects called natural history. The term biology was first coined by Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus.[citation needed] It is now a standard subject of instruction at schools and universities around the world, and approaches have been taken to defining happiness and identifying its sources.

Philosophers and religious thinkers have often defined happiness in terms of living a good life The good life is a term for the life that one would like to live, or for happiness, associated with the work of Aristotle and his teaching on ethics, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this older sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia Eudaimonia is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Although popular usage of the term happiness refers to, and is still used in virtue ethics Virtue theory is a branch of moral philosophy that emphasizes character, rather than rules or consequences, as the key element of ethical thinking. In the West virtue ethics was the prevailing approach to ethical thinking in the ancient and medieval periods. The tradition suffered an eclipse during the early modern period, as Aristotelianism fell. In everyday speech today, however, terms such as well-being or quality of life The term Quality of Life used by politicians and economists to measure broader social effects of policies, such as the effect that reducing graffiti or vandalism might have on the wellbeing of local residents are usually used to signify the classical meaning, and happiness usually refers^{[citation needed]} to the felt experience or experiences that philosophers historically called pleasure Pleasure, a "state of mind", is commonly conceptualized as a positive experience, happiness, entertainment, enjoyment, ecstasy, and euphoria. Experience of pleasure is subjective, varying among individuals and typically stimulated by eating, exercise, sexuality, music, usage of drugs. The term analogously connotes a positive mental state.

While direct measurement of happiness presents challenges, tools such as The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire have been developed by researchers. Positive psychology researchers use theoretical models that include describing happiness as consisting of positive emotions and positive activities, or that describe three kinds of happiness: pleasure, engagement, and meaning.

Research has identified a number of attributes that correlate with happiness. These include relationships and social interaction, parenthood, marital status, religious involvement, age, income (but mainly up to the point where survival needs are met), and proximity to other happy people. Happiness economics Happiness economics is the study of a country's quality of life by combining economists' and psychologists' techniques. It relies on more expansive notions of utility than does conventional economics. Although its usefulness is yet to be determined, it has become a subject of interest and often a measure of comparison with the traditional forms of suggests that measures of public happiness should be used to supplement more traditional economic measures when evaluating the success of public policy.

Religious views

Happiness forms a central theme of Buddhist teachings Buddhists recognize him as an awakened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering by understanding the true nature of phenomena, thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth , that is, achieving Nirvana. Among the methods various schools of Buddhism apply towards this goal are: ethical conduct and altruistic. For ultimate freedom from suffering Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. In Buddhism, the cessation of dukkha is regularly identified as the teaching's ultimate aim, the Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal teachings of the Buddha, who described it as the way leading to the cessation of suffering and the achievement of self-awakening. It is used in Buddhist practice as a technique to develop insight into the true nature of phenomena (or reality) and to eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion. The Noble leads its practitioner to Nirvana In sramanic thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from both suffering and the cycle of rebirth. It is an important concept in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a state of everlasting peace. Ultimate happiness is only achieved by overcoming craving The most basic of these meanings is "thirst"; however, in Buddhism it has a technical meaning that is much broader. In part due to the variety of possible translations, taṇhā is sometimes used as an untranslated technical term by authors writing about Buddhism in all forms. More mundane forms of happiness, such as acquiring wealth and maintaining good friendships, are also recognized as worthy goals for lay people In English translations of Buddhist literature, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch. In contemporary Buddhist communities, householder is often used synonymously with laity (see sukha Sukha is a Sanskrit and Pāli word that is often translated as “happiness" or "ease" or "pleasure" or "bliss." In Buddhism's Pali literature, the term is used in the context of describing laic pursuits, meditative absorptions and intra-psychic phenomena). Buddhism also encourages the generation of loving kindness Mettā or maitrī (Sanskrit) has been translated as "loving-kindness," "friendliness," "benevolence," "amity," "friendship," "good will," "kindness," "love," "sympathy," and "active interest in others." It is one of the ten pāramitās of the Therav� and compassion, the desire for the happiness and welfare of all beings.^[2][3] According to the Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians date his lifetime from c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE; more recently,, "Mind is the forerunner of states of existence. Mind is chief, and (those states) are caused by the mind. If one speaks and acts with a pure mind, surely happiness will follow like one's own shadow!" In Buddhism, the third of the Four Noble Truths The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni;Wylie: 'phags pa'i bden pa bzhi; Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni) is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering (or dukkha), its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation. They are among the truths Gautama Buddha states "to eliminate suffering Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. In Buddhism, the cessation of dukkha is regularly identified as the teaching's ultimate aim, eliminate craving The most basic of these meanings is "thirst"; however, in Buddhism it has a technical meaning that is much broader. In part due to the variety of possible translations, taṇhā is sometimes used as an untranslated technical term by authors writing about Buddhism," thus establishing happiness as beyond material and emotional possession and attainable only through an attentive practice leading to extinguishing of craving and aversion.^[4]

In Catholicism In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to, the ultimate end of human existence consists in felicity (Latin equivalent to the Greek eudaimonia Eudaimonia is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Although popular usage of the term happiness refers to), or "blessed happiness", described by the thirteenth-century philosopher-theologian Thomas Aquinas Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis. He is frequently referred to as Thomas because "Aquinas" refers to his residence rather than his as a Beatific Vision In Christian theology, the beatific vision is the eternal and direct visual perception of God enjoyed by those who are in Heaven, imparting supreme happiness or blessedness of God's essence in the next life.^[5] According to Augustine Augustine of Hippo (Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis;) (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin , was a Berber philosopher and theologian's Confessions Confessions is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by St. Augustine of Hippo, written between AD 397 and AD 398. Modern English translations of it are sometimes published under the title The Confessions of St. Augustine in order to distinguish the book from other books with similar titles, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's, he lived much of his life without God. He sinned much and recognized his sinfulness. As a youth, he sinned for its own sake, and later, in the pursuit of a perceived good. When he lost a dear friend to death, it troubled him a lot, and he turned to God for answers. He turned to God to find true happiness and was converted to Christianity. He found that true happiness can only come from a relationship with God and appreciating God's creation for His sake, and not its own.

Philosophical views

The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius He was an itinerant Chinese philosopher and sage, and one of the principal interpreters of Confucianism. Supposedly, he was a pupil of Confucius' grandson, Zisi. Like Confucius, according to legend, he travelled China for forty years to offer advice to rulers for reform. He served as an official during the Warring States Period in the State of Qi (, who 2300 years ago sought to give advice to the ruthless political leaders of the warring states period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self) and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sagehood. He argued that if we did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", that force would shrivel up (Mencius,6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music.^[6]

About one hundred years later, the Hindu thinker Patanjali Patañjali (fl. 150 BCE or 2nd c. BCE) is the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice, and also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a major commentary on Panini's Ashtadhyayi. However, whether these two works are that of the same author or not remains in some doubt, author of the Yoga Sutras The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a foundational text of Yoga. It forms part of the corpus of Sutra literature dating to India's Mauryan period. In Indian philosophy, Yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox philosophical schools. Though brief, the Yoga Sutras are an enormously influential work on yoga philosophy and practice, held by principal, wrote quite exhaustively on the psychological and ontological roots of bliss.^[7]

In the Nicomachean Ethics Nicomachean Ethics, or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on virtue and moral character which plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. It consists of ten books based on notes said to be from his lectures at the Lyceum which were either edited by or dedicated to Aristotle's son, Nicomachus. In many ways this work parallels the similar, written in 350 B.C.E., Aristotle stated that happiness is the only emotion that humans desire for its own sake. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health, not for their own sake but in order to be happy. Note that eudaimonia Eudaimonia is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune). Although popular usage of the term happiness refers to, the term we translate as "happiness", is for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state.^[8] Happiness is characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. The happy person is virtuous, meaning he or she has outstanding abilities and emotional tendencies which allow him or her to fulfill our common human ends. For Aristotle, then, happiness is "the virtuous activity of the soul in accordance with reason": happiness is the practice of virtue.

Many ethicists Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined (normative ethics), how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations (applied ethics), how moral capacity or moral make arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively, based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. Utility, the good to be maximized,, such as John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill , British philosopher, political theorist, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. He was an exponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although his conception of it was very different from Bentham's and Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (15 February 1748–6 June 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He was the brother of Samuel Bentham. He was a political radical, and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He is best known for his advocacy of utilitarianism, for the concept of animal rights, and his opposition to, advocated the greatest happiness principle The felicific calculus is an algorithm formulated by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to cause. Bentham, an ethical hedonist, believed the moral rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. The as a guide for ethical behavior.

Scientific and psychological views

Positive psychology

In his book Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman Martin E. P. Seligman is an American psychologist who also writes self-help books. A world-renowned authority on depression and abnormal psychology, he is known for his work on the theory of "learned helplessness", and according to The Daily Pennsylvanian is considered the father of positive psychology. He is the director of the Positive, one of the founders of positive psychology Several humanistic psychologists—such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm—developed successful theories and practices that involved human happiness. Recently the theories of human flourishing developed by these humanistic psychologists have found empirical support from studies by humanistic and positive psychologists, such as in, describes happiness as consisting of "positive emotions" and "positive activities". He further categorizes emotions related to the past, present and future. Positive emotions relating to the past include satisfaction, contentment, pride and serenity. Positive emotions relating to the future include optimism Optimism is "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome". It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism. Optimists generally believe that people and events are inherently good, so that most situations work out in the end for the best, hope and trust. Positive emotions about the present are divided into two categories: pleasure and gratifications. The bodily and higher pleasures are "pleasures of the moment" and usually involve some external stimulus.^[9]

Gratifications involve full engagement, flow Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields, elimination of self-consciousness, and blocking of felt emotions. But when a gratification Gratitude, thankfulness, or appreciation is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions, and has been considered extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith. The systematic study of gratitude within comes to an end then positive emotions will be felt. Gratifications can be obtained or increased by developing signature strengths and virtues Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good. Authenticity Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very different from, and other than, itself. Authenticity is is the derivation of gratification and positive emotions from exercising signature strengths. The good life comes from using signature strengths to obtain abundant gratification in, for example, enjoying work and creative activities. The most profound sense of happiness is experienced through the meaningful life, achieved if one exercises one's unique strengths and virtues in a purpose greater than one's own immediate goals.

Biological approach

The evolutionary perspective offers an alternative approach to understand what happiness or quality of life is about. Briefly, the questions to be answered are: What features are included in the brain that allows humans to distinguish between positive and negative states of mind, and how do these features improve the survivability of humans? Answering these questions points towards an understanding of what happiness is about and how to best exploit the capacities of the brain with which humans are endowed. The perspective is presented in detail by the evolutionary biologist Bjørn Grinde in his book Darwinian Happiness Darwinian Happiness: Evolution As a Guide for Living and Understanding Human Behavior, ISBN 0-87850-159-2, is a 2002 book by the Norwegian biologist Bjørn Grinde from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He argues that human emotions find their cause in evolution and offers ways by which we can use this for our advantage, as well as in a more formal way.^[10]

Research findings

Researchers have found that about 50% of one's happiness depends on one's genes, based on studying identical twins, whose happiness is 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses.^[12] About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of unknown factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in for the purpose of becoming happier. These actions may vary between persons; extroverts, for example, may benefit from placing themselves in situations involving large amounts of human interaction. Also, exercise has been shown to increase one's level of momentary subjective well-being significantly.^[11]

Michael Argyle Michael Argyle was one of the best known English social psychologists of the twentieth century. He spent most of his career at the University of Oxford, and worked on numerous topics. Throughout his career, he showed strong preferences for experimental methods in social psychology, having little time for alternative approaches such as discourse developed the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire^[13] as a broad measure of psychological well-being. This has been criticized as an aggregate of self-esteem Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions (for example, triumph/despair, pride/shame). Behavior may reflect self-esteem (for example, assertiveness/shyness, confidence/caution), sense of purpose, social interest and kindness Kindness is the act or the state of being kind and marked by charitable behaviour, marked by mild disposition, pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others. Kindness is considered to be one of the Knightly Virtues, and is a recognized value in many cultures and religions . It is considered to be one of the seven virtues, specifically the one of, sense of humor and aesthetic appreciation.^[14]

Though it may be impossible to achieve any comprehensive measure of happiness objectively, some physiological correlates to happiness can be measured through a variety of techniques. Stefan Klein, in his book The Science of Happiness, links the dynamics of neurobiological systems (i.e., dopaminergic, opiate) to the concepts and findings of positive psychology and social psychology.^[15]

Happiness in social networks

Human relationships are consistently found to be the most important correlation with human happiness.

A widely-publicized study from 2008 in the British Medical Journal reported that happiness in social networks may spread from person to person.^[16] Researchers followed nearly 5000 individuals for 20 years in the long-standing Framingham Heart Study and found clusters of happiness and unhappiness that spread up to 3 degrees of separation on average. Happiness tended to spread through close relationships like friends, siblings, spouses, and next-door neighbors, and the researchers reported that happiness spread more consistently than unhappiness through the network. Moreover, the structure of the social network appeared to have an impact on happiness, as people who were very central (with many friends and friends of friends) were significantly more likely to be happy than those on the periphery of the network. Overall, the results suggest that happiness might spread through a population like a virus.^[17][18]

Correlation with religious involvement

There is now extensive research suggesting that religious people are happier and less stressed.^[19][20] Surveys by Gallup, the National Opinion Research Center and the Pew Organization conclude that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to report being "very happy" than the least religiously committed people.^[21] An analysis of over 200 social studies contends that "high religiousness predicts a lower risk of depression and drug abuse and fewer suicide attempts, and more reports of satisfaction with sex life and a sense of well-being,"^[22] and a review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals concluded that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.^[23][24] A meta-analysis of 34 recent studies published between 1990 and 2001 found that religiosity has a salutary relationship with psychological adjustment, being related to less psychological distress, more life satisfaction, and better self-actualization.^[25] Finally, a recent systematic review of 850 research papers on the topic concluded that "the majority of well-conducted studies found that higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and higher morale) and with less depression, suicidal thoughts and behavior, drug/alcohol use/abuse." ^[26]

The individual level of happiness and religiosity correlations show up when measuring within the United States, a predominantly religious country. According to a 2007 paper by Liesbeth Snoep in the Journal of Happiness Studies, there is no significant correlation between religiosity and individual happiness in Netherlands and Denmark, countries that have lower rates of religion than the United States.^[27] When measuring between countries, the least religious industrialized countries such as in northern Europe have a much higher happiness than the most religious industrialized country, the US, so cross country comparisons on religiosity and happiness seem to show a societal level correlation of increased secularization and decreased religiosity to increased happiness. It may be simply that non-religious people are less happy in a religious country, but everyone is happier in more secular, less religious countries.^[28]

Correlation with political affiliation

Research in the United States shows that happiness may correlate with partisan identity. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to state that they are "very happy." The gap has been unbroken for almost four decades, and has been unaffected by political fortunes. "There is a growing body of scholarly research, not just in this country but around the world, which supports the basic finding of these Pew surveys: that Republicans (or conservatives) are happier than Democrats (or liberals), and that these gaps persist even after basic demographic factors have been controlled."^[29][30] Republicans placed higher value than Democrats on marriage, children, and religion, and were more likely than Democrats to be married and attend religious services regularly. They were slightly more likely to have children, but the difference was not statistically significant.^[29]

Aging and happiness

Research in the US has found that older Americans are generally happier than younger adults. The effect does not appear to be generational, because longitudinal research found that happiness increased over time for the older people who were studied. While older individuals reported more health problems, they reported fewer problems overall. Young adults reported more anger, anxiety, depression, financial problems, troubled relationships and career stress.^[31]

Other correlates

Parents are more likely to report being happy than non-parents.^[32][33] Happiness is also correlated with the ability to "rationalize or explain" social and economic inequalities. ^[34]

In economic thought

Common market health measures such as GDP and GNP have been used as a measure of successful policy. Some economists argue that although on average richer nations tend to be happier than poorer nations, beyond an average GDP/capita of about $15,000 a year, studies indicate the average income in a nation makes little difference to the average happiness of the people in the nation.^[35][36] It has been argued that happiness measures could be used not as a replacement for more traditional measures, but as a supplement.^[37]

Indeed it has been argued that happiness is the one of the driving forces behind positive outcomes at work, rather than just being a resultant product.^[38]

See also

• Cheeriness
• Ecstasy
• Eudaimonia
• Euphoria
• Gemütlichkeit
• happiness at work
• Hedonism
• Meaning of life
• Nirvana
• Subjective life satisfaction

Notes

1. ^ Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (accessed 2008-Dec-23)
2. ^ (see brahmavihara)
3. ^ Bhikkhu, Thanissaro (1999). "A Guided Meditation". http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/guided.html.
4. ^ Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1995). in Bhikkhu Bodhi: "The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya"
5. ^ Aquinas, Thomas. "Question 3. What is happiness". Summa Theologiae. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/200308.htm.
6. ^ Chan, Wing-tsit (1963). A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, NJ, US: Princeton University Press.
7. ^ Levine, Marvin (2000). The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga : Paths to a Mature Happiness. Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 0805838333.
8. ^ Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) is a classical Greek word commonly translated as 'happiness'. Etymologically, it consists of the word "eu" ("good" or "well being") and "daimōn" ("spirit" or "minor deity", used by extension to mean one's lot or fortune).
9. ^ Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Can Happiness be Taught?. Daedalus journal, Spring 2004.
10. ^ Grinde, Bjørn (2002). "Happiness in the perspective of evolutionary psychology". Journal of Happiness Studies 3: 331–354. doi:10.1023/A:1021894227295.
11. ^ ^{a b} Best Benefit of Exercise? Happiness, Robin Loyd, Fox News, May 30, 2006.
12. ^ Sonja Lyubomirsky, David Schkade and Kennon M. Sheldon, "Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change," Review of General Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 111–131, 2005
13. ^ Oxford Happiness Questionnaire by Michael Argyle and Peter Hills, a survey of current level of happiness. See also discussion in Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1073–1082.
14. ^ The approach has been criticized as overlapping too much with related concepts, and for lacking a theoretical model of happiness. Kashdan, Todd B. (2004). "The assessment of subjective well-being (issues raised by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire)". Personality and Individual Differences 36: 1225–1232. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00213-7. http://mason.gmu.edu/~tkashdan/publications/happy.PDF.
15. ^ Klein, Stefan (2006). The Science of Happiness. Marlowe & Company. ISBN 1-56924-328-X.
16. ^ James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis (3 January 2009). "Dynamic Spread of Happiness in a Large Social Network: Longitudinal Analysis Over 20 Years in the Framingham Heart Study" (PDF). British Medical Journal 338 (768): a2338. doi:10.1136/bmj.a2338. http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu/dynamic_spread_of_happiness.pdf.
17. ^ "Strangers May Cheer You Up, Study Says". New York Times. December 5, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/health/05happy-web.html.
18. ^ Rob Stein, "Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates," The Washington Post, December 5, 2008, Page A08
19. ^ Rudin, Mike (2006-04-30). "The science of happiness". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4783836.stm.
20. ^ "The New Science of Happiness". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015870,00.html.
21. ^ Is Religion Dangerous? p156, citing David Myers The Science of Subjective Well-Being Guilford Press 2007
22. ^ Smith, Timothy; Michael McCullough, and Justin Poll (2003). "Religiousness and Depression: Evidence for a Main Effect and Moderating Influence of Stressful Life Events". Psychological Bulletin 129 (4): 614–36. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.614.
23. ^ Bryan Johnson & colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania (2002)
24. ^ Is Religion Dangerous? cites similar results from the Handbook of Religion and Mental Health Harold Koenig (ed.) ISBN 978-0124176454
25. ^ Hackney, Charles H; Glenn S. Sanders (2003). "Religiosity and Mental Health: A Meta–Analysis of Recent Studies". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 42 (1): 43–55. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.t01-1-00160.
26. ^ Moreira-Almeida, Alexander; Francisco Lotufo Neto, and Harold G. Koenig (September 2006). "Religiousness and mental health: a review". Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr. [serial on the Internet] 28 (3): 242–250. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462006000300018&lng=en&nrm=iso.
27. ^ Liesbeth Snoep, "Religiousness and happiness in three nations: a research note," Journal of Happiness Studies, February 6, 2007.
28. ^ Will Wilkinson / The Fly Bottle Arthur Brooks on Religion and Happiness (Blogs are usually an inappropriate source to cite; however, this blog cites several academic studies. If someone has journal access, please look at those studies and cite them directly.)
29. ^ ^{a b} Paul Taylor, "Republicans: Still Happy Campers," Pew Research Center, October 23, 2008 (pdf of full report)
30. ^ David Montgomery, "A Happiness Gap: Doomacrats And Republigrins," The Washington Post, October 24, 2008
31. ^ Vedantam, Shankar (2008-07-14). "Older Americans May Be Happier Than Younger Ones". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/13/AR2008071301641.html?hpid=sec-health.
32. ^ "The joys of parenthood". The Economist. 2008-03-27. http://www.economist.com/world/na/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=10924082.
33. ^ Brooks, Arthur C. (2008). Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America -- and How We Can Get More of It. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465002788.
34. ^ Bryner, Jeanna. "Conservatives Happier Than Liberals". LiveScience.com. http://www.livescience.com/health/080507-liberal-conservative.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-18.
35. ^ Frey, Bruno S.; Alois Stutzer (December 2001). Happiness and Economics. Princeton University Press.
36. ^ "In Pursuit of Happiness Research. Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?". The Cato institute. 2007-04-11. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8179.
37. ^ Weiner, Eric J. (2007-11-13). "Four months of boom, bust, and fleeing foreign credit". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-weiner13nov13,0,5698259.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail.
38. ^ Boehm, J K.; S Lyubomirsky (February 2008). Journal of Career Assessment. Sage.

References

• Arthur C. Brooks, Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It, Basic Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-465-00278-8.
• Boehm, J K. & S. Lyubomirsky, Journal of Career Assessment. Vol 16(1), Feb 2008, 101-116.
• C. Robert Cloninger, Feeling Good: The Science of Well-Being, Oxford, 2004.
• McMahon, Darrin M., Happiness: A History, Atlantic Monthly Press, November 28, 2005. ISBN 0871138867
• McMahon, Darrin M., The History of Happiness: 400 B.C. - A.D. 1780, Daedalus journal, Spring 2004.
• Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness, Knopf, 2006.
• Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). "Psychological Wellbeing", The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1073–1082.
• Koenig HG, McCullough M, & Larson DB. Handbook of religion and health: a century of research reviewed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2001.
• Barbara Ann Kipfer, 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, Workman, 1990/2007, ISBN 978-0761147213.
• Stefan Klein, The Science of Happiness, Marlowe, 2006, ISBN 1-56924-328-X.
• Richard Layard, Happiness: Lessons From A New Science, Penguin, 2005, ISBN 978-0-141-01690-0.
• David G. Myers, Ph. D., The Pursuit of Happiness: Who is Happy—and Why, William Morrow and Co., 1992, ISBN 0-688-10550-5.
• Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph. D., Authentic Happiness, Free Press, 2002, ISBN 0-7432-2298-9.
• Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Analysis of Happiness, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1976

External links

Textbooks from Wikibooks Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Images and media from Commons News stories from Wikinews

• History of Happiness - concise survey of influential theories
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry "Pleasure" - ancient and modern philosophers' and neuroscientists' approaches to happiness
• The World Database of Happiness - a register of scientific research on the subjective appreciation of life.
• Measure your Happiness at work

Categories: Happiness | Core issues in ethics | Personal life | Positive mental attitude | Positive psychology

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