How can the image of a runner on a treadmill help us understand the nature of happiness?
Subject: Affective Forecasting - The Lottery
Event: Birthday of psychologist Daniel Gilbert, 1957
In every permanent situation, where there is no expectation of change, the mind of every man, in a longer or shorter time, returns to its natural and usual state of tranquility. In prosperity, after a certain time, it falls back to that state; in adversity, after a certain time, it rises up to it. -Adam Smith
On this day in 1957, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert was born. In 2006, Gilbert published the international bestseller Stumbling On Happiness, presenting the latest psychological research on happiness. The ancient Greek philosophers called it eudaimonia, a word that means well-being, fulfillment, or realizing your potential. It’s hard to define the word, but as Gilbert explains it’s even harder for us to recognize it in our own lives. For example, you might presume that winning the lottery would make you ecstatically happy while suffering a catastrophic and debilitating accident would make you terribly depressed. A 1978 study, however, revealed surprising results. Recent lottery winners rated their everyday happiness as 3.33 out of 5, while recent accident victims averaged 3.48 (1). The conclusion that Gilbert draws is that we are just not very good at predicting our own emotions, a psychological phenomenon he calls affect forecasting.
The prescription for us is to realize that we live on a “hedonic treadmill,” the tendency that humans have to return to a relatively stable level of happiness whether encountering positive or negative life events. Picture a person running on a treadmill: whether the treadmill is set at a high speed or a low speed, the person on it stays in the same place.
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Knowing this might bring some solace; however, it’s no guarantee. In Arthur Miller’s classic play Death of a Salesman, the aptly named character Happy, takes a stab at some affect forecasting when talking about his day job:
All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die. And suppose I get to be merchandise manager? He’s a good friend of mine, and he just built a terrific estate on Long Island. And he lived there about two months and sold it, and now he’s building another one. He can’t enjoy it once it’s finished. And I know that’s just what I would do. I don’t know what the hell I’m workin’ for. (2)
In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains that ancient sages have long urged people to quit the rat race. Both Buddhism and the Stoic philosophers taught the importance of focusing on our own internal thoughts and reactions rather than the vagaries of external forces, such as chance and fortune. As Haidt further explains: “Both doctrines are based on an empirical claim, a happiness hypothesis that asserts that striving to obtain goods and goals in the external world cannot bring you more than momentary happiness. You must work on your internal world” (3).
Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: What is the relationship between affect forecasting and the hedonic treadmill?
Challenge - Don’t Worry Be Happy: What is the best thing anyone has ever said about happiness? Do some research on insightful quotations on the subject. Pick the one you like the best, and explain why you like it.
ALSO ON THIS DAY:
November 5, 1605: Today is the anniversary of a foiled plot to blow up the British Parliament. On the night before the ceremonial opening of Parliament on November 5, 1605, 36 barrels of gunpowder were discovered in the basement of the House of Lords. The perpetrators of the plot, 13 Catholics who hoped to topple the Protestant King, James I, were arrested, prosecuted, and hanged.
Although he was not the ringleader of the plot, Guy Fawkes became the “face” of the Gunpowder Plot. This is probably because he was the one man caught red-handed, with matches in his pocket, skulking in the basement of the House of Lords waiting to light the fuse. Once capture, Fawkes was tortured and signed a confession. He also implicated his fellow conspirators who were hanged with him on January 31, 1606. Ever since that fateful night in 1605, November 5th has been a night of thanksgiving and revelry. Celebrants of the failed coup light bonfires, set off fireworks, and burn effigies, called “guys,” of the notorious rebel Guy Fawkes. On Guy Fawkes Night, or as it is also known “Bonfire Night,” British children collect wood for their fires or solicit money for their “guys” as they chant or sing:
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot! (4, 5)
Sources:
1-Dahl, Melissa. “A Classic Psychology Study on Why Winning the Lottery Won’t Make You Happier.” The Cut 13. Jan. 2016.
2 Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.
3 - Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
4- . . . Fawkes and Bonfire Night. http://www.bonefire.org/guy/gunpowder.php
5-Word History and Mysteries. (by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
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