DATE POSTED: 20th JULY 2024

It is a question that humans have focused on since their existence began. Aristotle was one of the first to document his opinion on the matter, at least on a philosophical level, aimed at providing insight for optimising life. After many varying paths, he summarised that happiness was best attained from a life of virtue—doing things that matter and are beneficial to one’s self and others, a contributor to society.

Contemporary science has had many models and frameworks, even though happiness itself has no solid definition. Diener and colleagues stated qualities of happiness that had a majority of agreement in the industry, and research went on to frequently cite this. It is a concept of subjective well-being. The consolidation of the balance of the prevalence of positive and negative affect and life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1999).

What is Happiness?

Happiness has no set definition; surprisingly. It has a level of personal satisfaction, has a stable positive affect and is absent of negative emotions (Ben-Zur, 2003). A flaw with the many conceived models has always been the individual variance found in humans. Until recently, this defining feature of our species was not embraced and appreciated.

This article mentions some of the closely related terms, in regard to this article, happiness, where the term is used synonymously. Equally, there is no definition as to what ‘unhappiness’ is; however, it is typically mentioned as negative affect, sadness, or depression. All of these terms can mean different things to different people. 

There are a handful of qualities that are highly correlated with happiness, so much so that they are almost synonymous in how people perceive them. Namely (Argyle, 2001):

• Optimism
• Self-Esteem
• Control
• Life-Satisfaction.

Typically, we do not communicate in direct emotions-related actions. For example: 

“I am going to spend an hour being happy.”

This kind of communication would be highly peculiar and, due to this, we are rarely prompted to consider our emotions and perception of any given situation. We focus on productivity and purpose, as a life of virtue would deem beneficial, and therefore give indications of actions, results or locations, things that are identifiable by everyone.

Maybe it is normal for humans to endure happiness and depression, which would make sense, and some are simply better at adapting or coping. What is clear, the presence of one does not mean anything in terms of the other.

The article will focus on the research using the term ‘happiness’, or otherwise, the highly correlated terms or keywords involving the rough definition. We take happiness as - the production of a positive affect (feeling).

Main Points:

• Happiness has no single definition, however, it is regarded as a positive emotion and satisfaction.
• Qualities that correlate highly with happiness: optimism, self-esteem, control and life-satisfaction.
• We will think of happiness as something with ‘a positive affect’.

Some of the Facts & Figures:

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 280 people worldwide suffer from some form of depression (in 2023). It is about 50% more prevalent in women than in men (Woody et al., 2017). Typically, men are less likely to seek help or even discuss their depression with anyone at all. 

More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year and it is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-29 year olds. (World Happiness Report, 2024).

It is important to note that we cannot assume depression and happiness are on opposite ends of the scale. What is obvious from the research, there are startling figures about both, which sometimes support a single picture and, as is often the case, many variant ones that cannot be simplified into one or two reductionist claims.

How You Can Control Your Happiness?

A direct relationship has been found between happiness and an internal locus of control (Myers, 2002). In addition, age was found to be the determining factor when it came to assigning control. The elderly of most countries do not like the social and political issues that are present, and they feel out of touch and control of what is going on.

As humans, we are singular and also part of a social collective. This aspect may hold the key as to why happiness is so elusive. We are all different, especially if we are striving to be our authentic self, and yet some attributes unify all of us in being happy, such as access to money, social integration, and a life of meaning and purpose.

The correlation between internal (self-governed) control and happiness is strengthened over time (Cummins and Nistico, 2002). Self-esteem, which is closely linked to happiness, has a 3-way relationship, when it comes to control (Shubina, 2015). We might assume that behaviour A has a control perceived as high internal in origin, which in turn boosts self-confidence. The elderly, however, feel less and less in control of societal change and therefore rate their life as being unhappy, which is now the age range with the highest level of depression.

Summary

The most obvious forms of pleasure, the things people think of first, are the ones that people find the easiest, in terms of prevalence in their lives. Typically, the locus of control (where it comes from) is not you, like being born or inheriting wealth and good family and friends. Typically, as you are not the one in control, at least not fully, they can be lost or altered throughout your life.

Yet, if you know how to alter your perception, to refine what about X or Y makes you happy, you can learn to appreciate life to a greater degree. There are often cases of super-wealthy socialites who are not happy in life and are compared with a slum-living person who can hardly find food and water, yet they are somehow happier than most.

If you are not happy in life, perhaps take this article as a call to action, if nothing else. Often, it is the process of taking the step, altering the behaviour, or starting the first step of change that is the hardest. Some ‘epiphany’ moment or realisation is needed. This can be anything at all, even the smallest of things; it is all about how much attention you place on it.

Keywords: #writing #publishing #self-help #happiness #content #improve #productivity #life-hack #depression #control 

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