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发帖数: 4682 | | p*********r
发帖数: 7944 | | g********r
发帖数: 4248 | 3 Defining happiness
Defining happiness can seem as elusive as achieving it. We want to be happy,
and we can say whether we are or not, but can it really be defined, studied
and measured? And can we use this learning to become happier?
Psychologists say yes, and that there are good reasons for doing so.
Positive psychology is “the scientific study of the strengths and virtues
that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” These researchers’
work includes studying strengths, positive emotions, resilience, and
happiness. Their argument is that only studying psychological disorders
gives us just part of the picture of mental health. We will learn more about
well-being by studying our strengths and what makes us happy. The hope is
that by better understanding human strengths, we can learn new ways to
recover from or prevent disorders, and may even learn to become happier.
So how do these researchers define happiness? Psychologist Ed Diener, author
of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes
what psychologists call “subjective well-being” as a combination of life
satisfaction and having more positive emotions than negative emotions.
Martin Seligman, one of the leading researchers in positive psychology and
author of Authentic Happiness, describes happiness as having three parts:
pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure is the “feel good” part of
happiness. Engagement refers to living a “good life” of work, family,
friends, and hobbies. Meaning refers to using our strengths to contribute to
a larger purpose. Seligman says that all three are important, but that of
the three, engagement and meaning make the most difference to living a happy
life.
Moment-by-moment vs. long term
Researchers also distinguish between the moment-by-moment feeling of
happiness produced by positive emotions and how we describe our lives when
we think about it. Regardless of whether you had a good day or not, do you
describe your life as a happy one? Or describe yourself as a happy person?
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes this difference as the “experiencing
self” and the “remembering self.” Psychologists study both to better
understand how daily experiences add up to a happy life.
Scientifically measuring happiness
Since happiness is so subjective, can it really be measured and studied
scientifically? Researchers say yes. They believe that we can reliably and
honestly self-report our state of happiness and increases and decreases in
happiness. After all, isn’t our own perception of happiness what matters?
And if we can report it, scientists can measure it. Psychologist Daniel
Gilbert compares this to optometry: “Optometry is another one of those
sciences that is built entirely on people's reports of subjective experience
. The one and only way for an optometrist to know what your visual
experience is like is to ask you, ‘Does it look clearer like this or (click
click) like this?’”
Research framework
Researchers have formed a useful framework for studying happiness:
Happiness is made up of pleasure, engagement, and meaning
It involves both daily positive emotions and a global sense that life is
worthwhile
People can accurately report their own levels of happiness
Using this framework, researchers are learning more and more all the time
about who is happy, what makes them happy, and why.
【在 p*********r 的大作中提到】
: 变化，惊喜，淡淡的，持久的。
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