Happiness Research

I have a rule against buying books (my dream is to rid our house of all but a collection of good reference books that fit only our existing shelves), but I've broken it for Jonathan Haidt's "The Happiness Hypothesis."  Thanks to Cowtown Pattie's (http://www.texastrifles.blogspot.com/) wonderful book-service link she posted the other day, it's coming in the mail.  In hardback, no less!

That's how good it is, this primer, just out from Basic Books, on happiness.  In only about 247 pages, "positive psychologist" Haidt gives us the latest research on how to be happy, showing experiments testing ancient ideas on the subject, and then translating all this psychology and philosophy into concrete, daily exercises we can do to increase our happiness.  Positive psychology is a new field that emerged in the mid-nineties, shifting the traditional focus of psychology from disorders and disease to health and happiness.  Starting with ancient ideas such as the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do to you, Haidt shows us recent experiments that reveal the power of reciprocity in our ethics and behavior.   

This power runs throughout all cultures and eras; Haidt shows that our species is hard-wired to exchange benefits and costs.  He reminds us of how salespeople and fundraisers of all sorts will give away something free up front, to activate our tit-for-tat reflex, and unless we consciously know the power of reciprocity, we'll fall right in line, feeling obligated to buy products that we don't want or give money to causes we don't support.  He cites the Hari Krishna group in airports in the sixties giving away flowers to passersby; most of those people who took flowers then felt obligated to dig into their pockets for money.

After convincing us that reciprocity is a powerful force, Haidt shows us some daily kindnesses we can practice that use this instinct to enhance our sense of well-being.  The daily practices - small things like singling out someone you're grateful to and thanking them - are ways Haidt says we can "tame the elephant."  Haidt likens the human self to a rider on an elephant.  The rider is our conscious mind, the part of us that uses language to assess our situation and plan how to enhance it, and the elephant our unconscious - the vast part of us beneath our awareness, that reacts without thinking.  This part is wild, untamed, and far beyond the control of the relatively new, underdeveloped conscious mind.  While the tools of consciousness - like language - are a relatively recent development in human evolution, the "elephant" has had thousands more years to maximize efficiency.  This is why, says Haidt, that a computer will beat a human in chess games or math calculations or organizing data any day, but the most sophisticated computer in the world could never mimic the ability of a six year-old child to follow a path through the woods.  Our logical, thinking mind is thus way behind our gut reactions, and those have been hard-wired through thousands of years to keep us safe from predators.  And what Haidt says has kept us safest as a species, is negative attitudes - of always anticipating danger.     

But in these modern times, when we are relatively safe from natural predators, this negative attitude no longer serves us.  However, knowing that and changing our behavior are two different things.  Haidt discusses our frequent resolutions to change, but says that even our most powerful epiphanies fade after a few weeks.  That's because our "elephant" is much more powerful than our conscious mind.  Our "rider" is too tiny, too undeveloped at this stage of our evolution, to control the elephant.  But we can, through daily practice, tame the elephant, retrain it.  The three most effective ways to do this, Haidt says, are meditation, cognitive psychology (and the daily tasks of kindliness, such as showing gratitude are of this category), and anti-depressants. 

I hope this quick account piques your interest.  The only caveat I have is that this book is dense, packed with information, and so for those of you who share my ignorance of brain physiology and science in general, it's a slow read.  But believe me, it's worth it for its practical value.  I already have broken some habitual thought-patterns that weren't serving me well - just by becoming aware of them via this book.           

Comments

[Tabor]

Well, my list of things to do in retiremnet is getting longer and longer.

[joared]

Oh dear! I have more books on hand to read now, than I have time to read. Sounds like I might need to add this one, as I love reading about science studies documenting behavioral links to various areas of the brain.

[Wally]

I just ordered a new book, "Stumbing Toward Happiness". I think I'll order the one you read also. I'm always searching for flashes of insight.

[Terri]

You and I had this discussion not long ago based on something I had done. Sounds like an extremely interesting book and it all makes perfect sense to me.
I love the word "aware"....makes me recall the saying, "When we know better...we DO better."
Happy Mother's Day to you!

[Cowtown Pattie]

Well now, this sounds like a great recommendation!

I can't say exactly why, but while reading your review, I suddenly got a mental picture of the Peanuts gang. Could have been Mr. Schultz projecting his own abilities, but don't you get the feeling that those wise little comic strip children knew more about "taming elephants" than we real-life adults?

Thanks, Mary Lee!