The Happiness Hypothesis

Jonathan Haidt is a thinker who seeks harmony where possible, and his book The Happiness Hypothesis strives to achieve a fruitful balance between ancient wisdom and modern science, between East and West, and between liberalism and conservatism.The overriding metaphor of the book involves portraying the mind as as an elephant and its rider, which Haidt uses to explore the insights of evolutionary psychology. Crucial here is the distinction between automatic and controlled processes. The rider represents rationality (a controlled process), which has evolved to serve the elephant, which represents everything else (automatic processing such as intuitions, instincts and visceral reactions.) The rider and elephant work best when they work together, and the rider can influence the elephant, but the rider is not in charge, and Haidt elaborates how and why the interaction between rider and elephant is often dysfunctional. Though the notion that the mind is divided is hardly novel, Haidt provides a thought provoking, scientifically updated and defensible interpretation of this point of view.Haidt views the notion that “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” as the root of much ancient wisdom. Haidt sees this Stoic and Eastern quest for serenity through acceptance as having beneficial aspects, but considers it as only part of the happiness equation. And to the extent that this quest is important, a particular criticism of the Western sages is that their valorization of reasoned insight as a freedom producing tool does not accord with our modern understanding of the mind. Though I’m sure Haidt would not dissuade a reader from tackling Marcus Aurelius or Boethius, he prefers cognitive behavioral therapy as a scientifically updated version of Boethius-like cognitive reframing activities that takes account of the powerful Elephant and its tendency-as seen through our evolved negativity bias-to be be pessimistic. As Haidt puts it: “Cognitive therapy works because it teaches the rider how to train the elephant rather than how to defeat it directly in an argument.” Haidt is also a big fan of meditation, an ancient practice that tames and calms the elephant directly. Haidt also is a supporter of SSRI’s like Prozac, and thinks that since our affective style-which reflects the balance of power between our approach and withdrawal systems-turns out to be largely genetically determined (though meditation and cognitive therapy shows there is obviously some room for self-improvement), SSRI’s can benefit some losers of the “cortical lottery” who otherwise might have very limited prospects for relief from depression, anxiety and the like.Haidt points out that group life is enabled to a great degree by reciprocal “tit for tat” strategizing, and says such behavior is absolutely critical for personal happiness. However, there are problematic complications. Seeming to be a good team player is more practically important than the reality, and persuading others of our good intentions works better when we are convinced of these intentions ourselves regardless of the facts. Haidt notes “we are well-armed for battle in a Machiavellian world of reputation manipulation, and one of our most important weapons is the delusion that we are non-combatants.” This applies both to persons as individuals and to persons to the extent they identify as members of groups. Haidt explores concepts like the inner lawyer, the rose-colored mirror, naive realism, and the myth of pure evil to argue that we have come equipped with evolved cognitive processes that predispose us to hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and moralistic conflict. Haidt also thinks evolutionary pressures have certainly contributed to often joyless “rat race” pursuits and their accompanying worries: “the elephant cares about prestige, not happiness.”Pursuing happiness necessitates becoming aware of and dissatisfied with the various self-promoting games we all tend to play-see his discussion regarding the progress and adaptation principles and the resulting weak relationship between environment and happiness-and striking out in a new direction. Haidt thinks that adversity is crucial for helping people to reassess and make meaningful alterations in their lives, and to develop greater coherence across what he takes to be the three levels of personality (basic traits, characteristic adaptations, and life story), all of which promotes human flourishing. He talks a lot about post traumatic growth-and he thinks that this insight if taken seriously has profound implications for how we structure our society and our lives. Haidt acknowledges, though, that one can experience too much adversity, and that it can strike at unhelpful stages in life. He thinks that adversity tends to be most profitable if experienced when one is in his/her 20’s. Though Haidt doesn’t mention it in his book, an obvious application here applies to college campuses. Haidt is a well known defender of free speech at the University level who laments the stultifying effects of PC orthodoxy on intellectual inquiry; if he is right about the 20’s being the best time to experience post-traumatic growth, than one could also criticize PC “snowflake culture” on the contemporary college campus as a factor inhibiting personal development because of excessive sheltering.Haidt provides a Happiness equation, H=S+C+V, where S stands for the biological set point (the affective style, which can be altered to a degree), C stands for conditions (some of which are inalterable and others which can be changed), and V stands for voluntary activities. A stoic or an Eastern sage would define the happiness equation as merely H=S+V, with the voluntary activities in question being those that promote serene acceptance, thereby improving S. Haidt builds on this beginning, however, insisting that yes, there are conditions and other voluntary activities that matter. Meaningful relationships are important for Haidt, and by exploring attachment theory, he particularly argues for companionate love as a condition that definitely bolsters happiness. And utilizing the scholarship of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, he points to activities that promote “flow” as part of the happiness equation as well. Summing up, if what one might call “the wisdom of the East” taught that happiness was to be found within, Haidt says that it is to be found within and without, though we need to be very discerning about where to look for it outside ourselves.Haidt refines his outlook on happiness even further. We can find love in relationships and strive to find flow-ideally in our work-but Haidt goes further by speaking of “vital engagement,” a relationship to the world that is characterized both by experiences of flow and by meaning. Haidt’s vital engagement prioritizes journey over destination, an outlook that accords well with what he has to say about the effectance motive and the related progress principle. For Haidt, vital engagement is another way of saying that work has become love made visible. Haidt’s revised outlook on happiness is that it “comes from between;” since vital engagement exists in the relationship between the person and the environment, this right relationship is not entirely up to the individual.Accordingly, Haidt emphasizes the importance of cross-level coherence between the physical, psychological, and sociocultural realms for creating a sense of meaning conducive to happiness. The liberal atheist Haidt-he has since started calling himself a political centrist- thus appreciates conservative, durkheimian insights into the importance of “community” for human flourishing, views the “character” approach to ethics as superior to the long dominant rationalist “quandry” approach, sees virtuous behavior as conducive to happiness, conceives of the perception of the “divine” as natural to man and as ennobling, regardless of whether or not God actually exists, and writes appreciatively of the work of David Sloan Wilson regarding religion as a evolutionary group adaptation designed to promote cross-level coherence. Haidt thinks the scientific community should accept religiosity as a normal and healthy aspect of human nature, and that maybe non-religious people can learn something from religious people, whether or not they believe in God.Haidt’s book was a pleasure to read, and has spurred my interest regarding many authors and texts he weaves into his argument. In addition to opening new vistas and providing food for thought over a host of topics, evolutionary psychology in Haidt’s hands helps support time honored components of the “good life” such as family, vocational calling, faith, and community. And his own academic career strikes me as an example of the vital engagement he valorizes.This book is definitely worth a read.

Do the great religious traditions contain accurate insights about human nature? Jonathan Haidt examines ten great ideas about human nature from ancient religions. He evaluates the ideas in light of modern psychology, and he then extracts lessons to apply to our lives today. Using what he has learned, he presents his hypothesis about where happiness comes from. The result is a fascinating book.One common hypothesis is that happiness comes from getting what we want. This was rejected by, among others, Buddha, the Stoics, and the author of the Bible's book of Ecclesiastes. They correctly recognized that getting what we want provides but fleeting happiness. Within a day or two of attaining a goal, the effect wears off.A second hypothesis is that happiness comes from our evaluation of what happens. Buddha said, "our life is the creation of our mind." Haidt rates this as partially true. He contends that merely changing conscious thought won't bring lasting change unless the underlying decision making part of the brain is retrained from its usual worry and pessimism. We have a negativity bias. In other words, "bad is stronger than good; responses to threats and unpleasantness are faster, stronger and harder to inhibit than responses to opportunities and pleasures."Meditation and cognitive therapy can reduce depression and anxiety by training patients to catch and reframe distorted, exaggerated thoughts. Haidt is also an unabashed fan of Prozac and related drugs for their purported effectiveness for most people. That notion is strongly challenged in another book I've reviewed, Lost Connections (2018) by Johann Hari, who argues that drugs do not work well over time to treat depression.Contrary to Buddha, Haidt asserts that happiness comes in part from outside of ourself, if we know where to look. Shakespeare said, "Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing." In other words, we get satisfaction out of progress along the route to success. People get gratification from being fully engaged in a challenging activity that uses their talents to meet it, to accomplish or learn something, especially activity that involves social connections.After good or bad fortune, we always revert to our happiness setpoint or range, which is largely determined by heredity. Research shows that "most environmental and demographic factors influence happiness very little." Twin studies show that between 50-80% of the variance among people in average happiness is caused by genes rather than by their life experiences.External factors do influence whether we live on the high or low side of our probable happiness range or setpoint; among the factors that do influence happiness is a good marriage, "one of the life-factors most strongly and consistently associated with happiness." On the other hand, unhappily married people are the least happy group.Haidt contends that "happiness causes marriage. Happy people marry sooner and stay married longer than people with a lower happiness setpoint, both because they are more appealing as dating partners and because they are easier to live with as spouses. "We all have a basic need for dependable companionship, which is what a good marriage provides," writes Haidt. "While passionate love erupts rapidly and always declines, companionate love starts slowly and can continue to increase over a lifetime."Though Haidt is an atheist, he nonetheless recognizes that "religious people are happier, on average, than nonreligious people; this effect arises from the social ties that come with participation in a religious community, as well as from feeling connected to something beyond the self."Religion promotes strong ties among its members. Emile Durkheim, the father of sociology, concluded that people need obligations and constraints to provide structure and meaning to their lives. Durkheim discovered that suicide rises as social bonds and obligations decline. Single people have higher suicide rates, married people lower, and married with kids lower yet. Dense social connections matter to our ultrasocial species."Reciprocity" is the single most important word to guide us, according to Confucius, Hillel and Jesus. It is a deep instinct, built into human nature, asserts Haidt, and the basic currency of social life. We seem to have a built-in system for keeping track of debts owed and favors granted.Social animals play tit for tat, returning favor for favor and insult for insult. Vengeance and gratitude are moral attitudes that reinforce tit for tat. Animals who only had generosity -- but not vengeance -- would be easy to exploit since it could be done without retaliation.Gossip is a mild form of vengeance since it is usually negative and about moral and social violations. Only one in ten gossip tidbits is positive. While gossiping has a bad reputation, almost everyone does it. If gossip didn't exist, Haidt says, then it would be easier for rude, selfish, antosocial acts to be gotten away with. "Gossip is a policeman and a teacher. Without it there would be chaos and ignorance...Gossip paired with reciprocity allows karma to work here on earth, not in the next life."Modern research supports the insight of Jesus and Buddha that human beings are exceptionally sharp in spotting faults, particularly in those we don't like. When it comes to ourselves, by contrast, we are reluctant to admit our flaws, and we judge ourselves much less harshly than we do our enemies. We are all hypocrites, Haidt asserts, and all are relatively blind to the logs in our own eyes (a reference to the verse in Matthew 7:3-5).Haidt argues that we need both the insights of ancient religion and of modern science. Those sources show that happiness comes under the right conditions. Some of the conditions are within, while others require relationships."People need love, work, and a connection to something larger. It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and your work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge." ###

Una lectura amena a la vez de profunda. Necesaria no sólo para el ámbito de la psicología, tanto más para el público en general, muy reflexivo.Una particularidad no tanto negativa pero al menos me ha generado una digresion en la unidad del planteo es el marcado matiz entre lo que entendemos en latinoamérica, desde el punto de vista filosófico-politico, por liberales y conservadores. Lamentablemente nuestras sociedades han evolucionado inmersas en una guerra permanente y estéril entre preceptos de izquierda vs derecha. Y en ese contexto los conservadores son tildados de individualistas liberales, asociados a doctrinas económicas como a modo de ejemplo pueda ser la escuela austríaca cuyo centro es la libertad individual. En cambio la izquierda está plenamente asociada a un concepto de entidad superior al individuo, al grupo social, al organismo, pero claramente a costa de la libertad individual. Este tema es para reflexionar con mayor profundidad.

In my opinion, a lot of religious fanatics in India would be offended by reading this book.But I found this book extremely helpful and the author explains the happiness hypothesis by comparing modern psychology as well as old religious scriptures (with great emphasis on Buddhist and Hindu scriptures).I like how he went on to question and even in some cases challenge the happiness principles of old scriptures.I would definitely recommend this book for one reason only. It has challenged my beliefs and encouraged me to think and question a lot of ideas in my mind. It has motivated to have an inner debate in my previously held beliefs.This is going to be a very interesting read irrespective of your professional background. I would definitely recommend you to invest in this book.Cheers !!

Offers practical insights and steps which can literally change your thought processes and help you achieve a greater appreciation of your life

Well worth reading: Jonathan helps the reader come to his / her own conclusions but there are some really useful messages.

Interesting. We are what we are.

Such a great book