Happiness Essential Questions
Below you will see the essential
questions from our unit. Think about the articles you
read. What do the different writers and researchers have to
say? How would they answer the questions? What
details/studies/quotes in the articles relate to the questions?
Directions: Pick those questions that you think are
most relevant to the articles you read. For each
article you read, create a post in which you discuss a
relevant connection to the questions you picked. You can include any
of the following in your post, but DO NOT SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE
ALREADY SAID:
1. You
can paraphrase what you think the author would say in response to the question.
2. You can connect specific evidence from the article to the question.
3. You can connect a specific quote from the article to the question.
4. You can connect a specific example from the article to the question.
5.
You can take what someone else already posted and develop their idea with
another piece of evidence from the article.
6. You can respectfully disagree with what someone else already said and
use
evidence from the article to back up your idea.
Important: Be sure to identify titles, authors, and researchers
(if you are quoting any studies). Do not just list info.,
evidence, or quotes from the article. You must discuss the text
details you use and clearly connect them to an answer to the
question. Also, remember this is an academic blog, not a text or a tweet,
so use clear, respectful, and formal language, and proofread!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
The
text we create together will be useful to you
as
you start to come up with ideas for the up-coming paper!
EQ #1:
ReplyDeleteWhat is happiness?
What does true happiness look like or feel like?
How does true happiness compare to fleeting moments of pleasure or mild contentment?
How can we measure happiness?
According to the article “Buy Experiences Not Things,” people find more happiness in experiences. Happiness is not in products that you buy, it’s the memories that you store in your mind that brings you happiness.
Delete"Happiness is a Glass Half Empty" by Oliver Burkeman
DeleteWhen most people think of happiness, they think in order to gain happiness you have to always be positive, while looking on the bright side of everything instead of looking at failure. However, the article says differently, it says that you should become familiar with failure, instead of trying to avoid it. As well as, enjoying uncertainty and embracing your insecurities. What sums it up best is true happiness is when you "learn to be a loser." Overall, happiness is being able to embrace failure, the more you are embracing your failure the happier you will be.
In the article “There’s more to life than being happy” by Emily Esfahani Smith, Emily explains that living a meaningful life makes you happy.. Emily believes that to live meaningful means more than to live happy and that happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others. “Happy life is defined by a lack of stress or worry” (9) And that leading a happy life is found to be associated with being a “taker” and while leading a meaningful life corresponds with being a “giver.”
DeleteIn the article Buy Experiences, Not Things the author explains that in order to live your life so that it's worth living you have to live it moment to moment(1). I don’t completely agree with this because i know my own life and what make me happy and it's not consistently jumping in and out of moments, in my opinion life should be lived slower you do in fact only live once and although you do wanna live to the point where you are only doing one thing a day but you don’t need to do 10 things per minute. live your life in the pace you are comfortable with.
DeleteHappiness is an emotional representation of what someone loves to do and when someone feels as if there are in a flow state, or a positive affect to long term and meaningful goals. True happiness compares to when your sports team wins the game, or you are at the beach while away from the cold upstate New York weather. ‘In order for a flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable and it must require skill and be challenging with clear goals towards success. (Flow pg. 1). We measure happiness by the amount of emotion is either absent or present.
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DeleteIn the article buy experiences, not things James Hamblin claims material items makes you a lot less happy than real life experiences.”Experiential purchases like trips, concerts, movies, et cetera, tend to trump material purchases because the utility of buying anything really starts accruing before you buy it.”(pg 1)Buying material items like a phone or shoes will not give you as much happiness that an actual experience will bring you like going to a movie or a concert. Experiences make people happier because they will most likely not compare the value of the experience like you would with material items to others.
Delete"Buy Experiences, Not Things" - James Hamblin
DeleteIn the text the author has the concept that happiness is gained from moment-to-moment experiences. Happiness also is reached from being focused on something. I also agree with the authors point of view because a person feels happiness when they have a experience and will feel happiness when they look back on the memory.
"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness"
Delete"...we overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions..." (2). When we predict our own happiness we tend to overshoot it, so when you buy a new phone we assume that it will make life so much better and we will be so happy for a long time, but it is always less exciting that we expected. So, the materialistic items that we buy are only fleeting moments of happiness that are short lived. We as humans are unreliable sources when it comes to measuring our own happiness.
QS:1 (There's more to life than being happy)True happiness is the feeling that you get when you help others and it doesn't come from helping them in the present it comes from the memories you create by helping them. When you help others through a hardship you are sacrificing your time and your happiness to help them, this also gives your life meaning. the difference between happiness and and those fleeting moments of contentment is that real happiness is not from the present it is from memoirs of good things in the past & it is from the anticipation of events in your future. The fleeting moments of happiness come from helping yourself and putting yourself before others. -Dane Feiden
DeleteI agree dane i like how you explained that happiness also gives you meaning
DeleteIn "Buy Experiences, Not Things," they talk about how experience is more important than possessions. An experience will stay with you forever, while a possession is something you may have only for a short period of time. The author says with an experience, "the most interesting hypothesis is that you can imagine all sorts of possibilities for what an experience is going to be....with a material possession, you kind of know what you're going to get." Over time, the possession isn't that valuable because you lose interest in it.
DeleteEQ #2:
ReplyDeleteWhat are the things that contribute to happiness?
What are the things that take away from our ability to be happy?
How is our environment connected to our happiness?
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteApparently, money has less to do with our happiness once we reach a certain income level ($50,000 according to a TIME magazine poll). In fact, for the middle class, a comfortable living standard led to more "reference anxiety" where people judge their own lives by comparing themselves to others, usually the very wealthy (2). As a result, they are less happy with what they have. So that environment created by our materialistic culture has caused more anxiety and less happiness.
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DeleteThe Pursuit of Happiness/Flow: The author explains the idea of high flow and low flow, and what they look like. "The loss of self-consciousness that happens when you are completely absorbed in activity - intellectual, professional, or physical - is described in contemporary psychology as a state of flow." (Flow). The activities we take part in affect our long term happiness as well as the environment we spend the most time in affects the longevity of our happiness. People who experience flow regularly can develop positive traits, which will later contribute to happiness.
Delete"Happiness is a Glass Half Empty" by Oliver Burkman
DeleteThe author claims that embracing failure is the true key to sucess and happiness rather than running away from it. Running away from failure causes more problems than you'd think, as the author states the suicide rates of perfectionists.
According to the author, our obsession of optimism, also known as "Postitive visuaization", also affects our happinness.
According to the article “Happy People: Joyful Things They Do,” is that happy people have many traits to describe themselves. Happiness describes people in many ways by expressing their feelings inside and out plus, having good incomes on the thoughts people have on things.
DeleteThe Futile Pursuit of Happiness- Jon Gertner
DeleteA factor that takes away from our ability to be happy is that we tend to overestimate how happy we will be by an action or item. By estimating how we will happy we will feel before the event takes place only builds us up when in reality we will adjust to the event or item sooner than we think we will making our length of happiness shorter. The article states that “the obstacle between them and happiness is actually getting the futures that they desire”(Page 2, Paragraph 4), this meaning that it is harder to get the future that we want when we are picturing it going a certain way.
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DeleteHigh flow is when you have a high concentration on the present as opposed to low flow which is when you have a high concentration on the past or future. Studies show that having a high flow makes people more happy than those that have a low flow. So whether you concentrate on the present or the past or the future, will decide how happy you are. Low flow will take away your happiness, so be focused on the present.
DeleteIn the article “Flow” by The Pursuit Of Happiness, the author says that to be happy, you must be absorbed completely in an activity, with goals towards success and the activities must be enjoyable, and that not being happy contributes to lack of emotion or self-consciousness.
Delete"Money: The Real Truth"
DeleteMany people think that money is the key to happiness, however we really dont know how were gonna react to the situation until it actaully happens. Therefore money cannot buy us happiness it can only contribute to it. We decide if it makes us happy or not
"Money; The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteIn this article discusses the question many have asked, but few have answered, does money really make people happier or not. The conclusion which it comes to is that money can't buy happiness it can only contribute to an individuals happiness. (you can still be unhappy even with money) When it comes to an individual's environment people believe that a middle class person with money will be happier than an individual who is in poverty, however that is not always the case due to the idea of reference anxiety, people compare what they have to the people around them.
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DeleteI agree with Kierstyn's response to this question because of personal experience. Before a concert a person will think of how it will go and will expect it to go 'perfect' but in most cases there will be a different outcome.
DeleteIn the article Happy People: Joyful Things They Do Gabrielle LeBlanc claims that people have control over their own happiness “They didn't realize their happiness was something they could design and have control over”. The author claims that we have control over our happiness by the things we do through our day. He says social interactions have a big impact in contributing to happiness, while being antisocial and using technology frequently can make you less happy.
DeleteIn the article Happy People: Joyful Things They Do Gabrielle LeBlanc claims that people have control over their own happiness “They didn't realize their happiness was something they could design and have control over”. The author claims that we have control over our happiness by the things we do through our day. He says social interactions have a big impact in contributing to happiness, while being antisocial and using technology frequently can make you less happy.
DeleteIn the article Happy People: Joyful Things They Do Gabrielle LeBlanc claims that people have control over their own happiness “They didn't realize their happiness was something they could design and have control over”. The author claims that we have control over our happiness by the things we do through our day. He says social interactions have a big impact in contributing to happiness, while being antisocial and using technology frequently can make you less happy.
DeleteEQ #3:
ReplyDeleteHow much control do we have over our own happiness?
What kinds of life choices will lead to happiness?
Is happiness possible even in circumstances in which we have no control?
In the article, Happiness is a Glass Half Empty by Oliver Burkeman, he states that “learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure” might actually help make people live a happy life. People can control their happiness if they learn to embrace, learn and become familiar with things that make them upset or uncomfortable. People happiness is basically all in their control. No one or nothing can stop someone from being happy if they are determined to be that way.
DeleteGood but it would be helpful if you put some specific evidence from the article as well
DeleteI agree with Maddy, if we never learn to fail, when we actually fail at something its gonna hit us hard and we dont know how were gona react to it
DeleteEveryone has their own definition of happiness. However according to the article “There's more to life than being happy” happiness is what makes you feel good. It also states that if you are a giver you will live a meaningful life but if you are a taker you will live a happy life. Whether you are a taker or a giver will decide your lifestyle.
DeleteI agree with Maddy when she talks about how if we embrace our own happiness we can be happy because we are the ones who control our own happiness and for the most part if we want to be happy we can make ourselves happy. Others actions can effect our happiness but its how we react to it that is what really matters,because if we can react in a positive matter then we are still controlling our happiness.
DeleteI agree with Maddy that it would be better to become more familiar with failure. Within becoming familiar with failure we are able to deal with failure when it actually comes upon us. Yet if we were to just focus on the positives then we will be more disappointed if failure does come to us. So it is best to prepare for what could go wrong because it will make us more successful by allowing us to know how to deal with failure.
DeleteQS:3 (Flow) How much control do we have over your happines? That depends on what your opinion of happines is because everyone has their own unique and different way of explaining happiness. But according to the article flow it is when you are completely absorbed in activity that is challenging requires skill and is voluntary. It also means that you should be focused on on the present rather than the past or the future. -Dane Feiden
DeleteQ3- The article "Happy People: Joyful Things they Do" relates to this quote. The quote asks about how people can control their happiness. The article lists out the traits happy people have. They suggest things like, "find your most golden self, design your life to bring joy, put friends first, avoid "if only' scenarios and allow themselves to be happy." These seem like good ideas, especially the one about designing your life to bring joy. They said, "if you transfer even an hour of your day from an activity you hate to one you like, you should see a significant improvement in your overall happiness." I know I am happier when I'm doing things I like.
Deletethe article Flow states that people are more happy when they are doing something rather than sittin there being a bum as said in the quote “people are generally happier when practicing a hobby or eating a meal rather than people who are sitting at work or watching tv” this is is true because most people engage in activities that they enjoy rather than activities that they don’t
DeleteStarman 4521 I agree, people are generally more happy experiencing real life activities than sitting at home doing nothing.Sitting at home watching tv or using the internet wont bring you happiness or at least a good story like a real life experience would.
DeleteEQ #4:
ReplyDeleteWhy is happiness important?
What benefits (physical, psychological, social) do happy people enjoy?
DeleteThe article Flow, talks about high and low states of flow. High states and high activities making people happy while low states and low activities don't make people truly happy. The articles tells the reader that low flow could cause depression and little success rates. It is important to be happy because without happiness, you are at risk of negative things.
"Flow- The Pursuit of Happiness"
DeleteThis artical talks about "low flow and high flow," it is very important to have high flow in your life so you can live a happy life. When you have high flow you have a better physical, psychological, and social life. It shows that without happiness you wont be able to succeed when you need it most.
Happiness is a Glass Half Empty: We spend way too much time trying to focus on the positive that we don't think about the possibility of failure. We as humans tend to avoid the idea of failing, because we believe if we don't think about it, that it won't occur. So when we do fail we are utterly disappointed. If we focus on what might go wrong, and how we can deal with it when we do fail, we will be happier. By focusing on the negatives we reduce our anxiety. By always looking on the "bright side" we fool ourselves into thinking that the failure will never happen, so when the idea of failure starts to creep back into our minds we go to someone or something for reassurance. "...when you reassure your friend that the worst case scenario he fears probably won't occur, you inadvertently reinforce his belief that it would be catastrophic if it did." (Burkeman). So in retrospect if we alleviate the idea that failure can't be dealt with it can reduce someones anxiety.
Delete"Flow the pursuit of happiness"
DeleteIn this article the author talks about how happiness is important because it can prevent our minds to wander as often and happiness can increase your concentration,self esteem and overall performance
In the article “Flow” by The Pursuit Of Happiness, the author explains that happiness is brought when a person has flow, which also leads to positive traits, such as increased concentration, self esteem and good performance.
Delete"Flow" - The Pursuit of Happiness
DeleteHappiness is brought upon when a person has flow. Flow also leads to positive traits, such as increased concentration, increased self-esteem, and increased performance. "...the flow activity may be described as enjoyable and even exhilarating!" This quote contain adjectives of how flow will make a person feel, these adjectives are also used to describe happiness, which supports that flow brings happiness and indirectly brings upon other positive traits that improves a person's well-being.
The article “ Happiness is a glass half empty” by Oliver Burkeman talks about the true importance of happiness and how it relates to the “negative emotions and experiences: not shunning them, but examining them closely instead,” which is looking at the negative aspects of enjoyable experiences.This gives important social benefits towards the positive aspects of an ‘enjoyable experience’ or true happiness by reaching positive thinking over negative aspects.
DeleteQS:4(Flow) Happiness is important because when you are happy others around you tend to be happier and people around them tend to be happier and it spreads out like a spider web so to speak from there. without happiness you will feel much more stressed out and worried about things that you might not have control over. People who are happier tend to do better in life and at work because they make the environment around them happier. When people are happy they are more productive and active, they are also more attentive if they are in school and they are happy. -Dane Feiden
DeleteI disagree with Nick because not everyone can take a negative situation and make it positive. Some people may actually experience something bad and their mood will get worse, not better.
DeleteEQ #5:
ReplyDeleteWhat role does technology play in terms of our pursuit of happiness?
Does it help us find more time or ways to be happy, or does it distract us from true happiness?
"Flow- The Pursuit of Happiness"
DeleteTechnology doesnt make us humans truely happy, it can help make us happy. I believe that technology takes away from the real happiness and leads you to having a "low flow" life. Low flow is not having true happiness and the technology that can lead to that is tv and videogames.
I agree. Having a low flow life, which has a lot to do with technology, can contribute to depression and low self esteem issues.
DeleteI totally agree. Technology doesn‘t make us really happy, but it can help. I also agree that people can’t live really happy lives with technology because, it can make us isolated and lazy.
Delete"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner
DeleteThe Author of this article claims that tech does not help us in our pursuit of happiness. The author says that Tech is a lie and that it is not correct to think that a new car will make you happy or that it will help your happiness at all. "You are wrong to believe that a new car will make you as happy as you imagine." We feel as if we get a new phone, that phone will keep us happy for at least a few months but this is not the case at all. We tend to lose our love for the product after a month or less.
"There’s more to Life Than Being Happy" - Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteIn the text the author states that technology may play a role in the pursuit in happiness, but it is associated with selfish behavior. If technology causes a person to feel less anxiety and stress, it will help a person be happy. “But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to ‘be happy.’ ” This quote can be used as evidence that happiness cannot be pursued and if technology give a person a reason to ‘be happy’ the person can pursue happiness, so technology may allow a person to pursue happiness.
The Futile Pursuit of Happiness- Jon Gertner
DeleteTechnology is largely used as means of advertisement, making things look more appealing so we will want to buy them, thus making us believe that we will be happier if we buy them. So technology is a huge factor in terms of our happiness because it will affect what we will be “choosing what we think will give us pleasure”(Page 2, Paragraph 3), then we will be overestimating the amount of pleasure that we will have. If we overestimate the amount of pleasure and happiness that we will receive from something then the amount of happiness we gain from it will be significantly less. We will have only predicted how we will feel about it when that will only help us adapt to how we will feel about it, making us gain a lesser amount of happiness from it.
A lot of people in the modern day are all about getting the new iPhone or Android every fall of every year, rather than making their own memories. Will these new devices, make you happy for a longer time than experiences? According to the article “Buy experiences not things” experiences make you more happier than possessions. So rather than buy new phones or tablets go out and make your own memories because they will make you more happy down the road.
Delete"Buy experiences not things"
DeleteTechnology can play a big role in our happiness like when we buy something we had really wanted it will make us happy, but the author of this article talks about how we should experience things rather than just buying material items such as some sort of technology. We may be happy with the item but with experiences we will have the anticipation,the experience itself and the memories after its over rather than sitting home on something like a phone.
Caroline,
DeleteI agree with what you said. In the given article, the author does state that technology does play a role in the pursuit of happiness, and the quote you used was good evidence that an object could possibly allow a person to be happy.
I agree with Ryan and Maddy, the article discusses throughout that by doing more high flow activities you will be happier, but if you do alot of low flow activities you will have lower self-esteem.
DeleteIn the article “Money: the Real Truth about Happiness” explains the positive effects that technology has on our happiness. As we increase our levels of technology, the reference anxiety appears to more people. Reference anxiety refers to as the stress of comparison of your life towards others. A person driving a 1999 Honda accord is intimidated by a new 2015 BMW, which may give the person in the Honda, reference anxiety towards someone who is driving a new BMW. This distracts us by making others stress more than following the pursuit of happiness.
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DeleteI agree with Wills post, it is very true people in our day and age are more concerned with material goods than actual experiences.
Deletei disagree cause lets face it i guarantee that by the time i'm writing this and posting this about 85% of you are on your phone checking something right now and that's probably what your doing for fun at the time being
DeleteEQ #6:
ReplyDeleteIn what ways is a democratic government responsible for the happiness of its citizens?
Does our government have an obligation to the ability of its citizens to pursue happiness?
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteWhile the middle class is worrying about keeping up with the wealthy lifestyles they see on tv and in the media, the very poor are struggling. According to the article, "being poor causes unhappiness" because of the "relentless frustration and stress of poverty (2)." Clearly, if we believe in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we could be considered hypocrites if a large number of people are caught in the web of poverty. I would need to find actual statistics on the number of people living at and below the poverty line to pursue this claim.
EQ #7:
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to live a meaningful, fulfilling life?
What role does happiness play in that type of life?
According to the article “Buy Experiences Not Things,” “To have a meaningful life is to experience things.” Although buying things might help, experiences are much better to have and to hold for a lifetime.
Delete"Flow- the Pursuit of Happiness"
DeleteIn the article it talks about how high flow leads you to have a happier life while low flow leads you to have a less happy life. When you do alot of high flow activities, you are doing things which are more meaningful than any of the low flow activities. Instead of just playing video games, going on your phone, and watching TV which are all low flow activities, when you do high flow activities you are doing things that require focus, things that are meaningful. Therefore, by doing more high flow activities you are not only be happier, but you are also living a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
“Theres more to life than being happy”
DeleteThe author of this article talks about how having meaning in life is each person having their own uniqueness in their personality and finding the purpose of their life.
In the article Flow, it talks about high states of flow and low states of flow. It states that activities like “hobbies, sports and homework” are higher flow activities while activities like “video games and watching tv” are lower flow activities. The higher flow activities are definitely more fulfilling and meaningful than the lower ones so living a high flow life is meaningful and fulfilling.
DeleteI agree with Ben , if you are contributing more of your time to high flow activities than you will be happier. The more experiences you have the more happy and fulfilled you will be.
Delete"Flow" by Someone
DeleteThe article flow speaks about the state of "Flow" and achieving it. If you ever achive the state of flow, which is being acticvly invloved attempting to complete a goal that is challenging but suited to your skills. If you are ever in this trance, it means that you are doing what you love and that is the meaning of having a meaningful life. Having a job that sends you into the state of flow is a job that you are happy and contempt with.
“The Atlantic Theres more to life than being happy” By Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteThe author claims that you have to have something in your life to make you happy. The Author quote frankl “the difference between those who had lived and those who had died came down to one thing: Meaning”. The Author states “research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chance of depression”. The author is saying that more you stay happy and have meaning in life you'll increases well-being and life satisfaction, and mental and physical health and decreases chances of depression.
Happiness is a Glass Half Empty- Oliver Burkeman
DeleteTo live a meaningful life is something you can achieve by being happy, and to gain full happiness then you should face you fears and insecurities so you won’t have to deal with them as much. If you look to the negative side then you are more susceptible to understand it and gain the ability to embrace it and to not be afraid of it. The article states that we need to “embrace the experience of failure, not merely overcome it”(Page 7, Paragraph 1). If we embrace it rather than overcome it then we are more likely to be less upset when we do fail and be able to deal and respond with the failure, making us know what we need to do to be more successful in the future.
the article There's More To Life Than Being Happy states in order to be happy you need to have meaning in your life as said in this quote “it was a question of getting them to realize that life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them”. (3) he talked to people in the concentration camps who wanted to make it out alive because they had hope for the future. and that hope led them to be happier than people in the camps who had no hope.
DeleteEQ #8:
ReplyDeleteIs there a question related to happiness that you don't see here, but would relate to an article you read for this project? Write your own question and respond to it.
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ReplyDelete7th Question. In the Article Buy Experiences, Not Things the author talks about how you need more experiences than possessions to have a meaningful life he states “over the past decade, and abundances of psychology research has shown that experiences bring people more happy than do possessions”. This quote says that you remember experiences and it brings more happiness that when you buy a possession and experiences are more meaningful that possessions.
ReplyDeleteSparks, I agree with your argument because you can have more happiness from memories. In the article, the author does state that memories bring more happiness
DeleteI agree with you Sparks
Delete