Happiness: The Science Behind Your SmileWhat exactly is happiness? Can we measure it? Why are some people happy and others not? And is there a drug that could eliminate all unhappiness? People all over the world, and throughout the ages, have thought about happiness, argued about its nature, and, most of all, desired it. But why do we have such a strong instinct to pursue happiness? And if happiness is good in itself, why haven't we simply evolved to be happier? Daniel Nettle uses the results of the latest psychological studies to ask what makes people happy and unhappy, what happiness really is, and to examine our urge to achieve it. Along the way we look at brain systems, at mind-altering drugs, and how happiness is now marketed to us as a commodity. Nettle concludes that while it may be unrealistic to expect lasting happiness, our evolved tendency to seek happiness drives us to achieve much that is worthwhile in itself. What is more, it seems to be not your particular circumstances that define whether you are happy so much as your attitude towards life. Happiness gives us the latest scientific insights into the nature of our feelings of well-being, and what these imply for how we might live our lives. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
2 Bread and circuses | 45 |
3 Love and work | 65 |
4 Worriers and enthusiasts | 91 |
5 Wanting and liking | 115 |
6 Panaceas and placebos | 141 |
7 A design for living | 161 |
Further reading | 185 |
Notes | 187 |
| 198 | |
| 213 | |
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actually adaptation addicts amygdala anxiety asked Authentic happiness average behaviour better brain activity brain stimulation reward chapter clinical depression cognitive context correlation Csikszentmilhalyi d-fenfluramine depression desire Diener dopamine drugs effect Ekman endowment effect environment eudaimonia evidence evolutionary evolutionary psychology example experience extroverts factors fear feel happier hedonic hedonic treadmill human implicit theory income increase individuals judgements Kahneman kind level of happiness level three level two happiness lives marital status mean mindfulness-based cognitive therapy mood National NCDS ness Nettle neuroticism nucleus accumbens one’s opioids pain participants Paul Ekman peak-end rule people’s personality pleasure positive emotion Positive Psychology possible predict predictor pretty programme question relative response reward Ryff satisfaction Schopenhauer score seems self-reported Seligman sense serotonin social class soma SSRIs stress studies therapy things tion twin unhappiness well-being whilst worry