Hic Habitat Felicitas

Headaches are Contaigious!

Hello y'all,

James Fowler, Nicholas Christakis and Steven Colbert claim that happiness is contagious.

Justin Wolfers claims that they confuse correlation and causation.

   Excelsior!

   C.L.Sosis

T.V. and Happiness, Again...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

A new survey corroborates another set of studies which show that happy people watch thirty percent less T.V. than unhappy people. The General Social Survey has shown that happy people report watching an average of 19 hours of television per week and unhappy people report watching six more hours of television on average (education, income, age and marital status were controlled for).

The survey revealed things that wouldn't surprise those who follow this blog. Happy people are more socially active and attend more religious services than unhappy people.The survey also shows that happy people vote more, and read the newspaper more often than unhappy people. I found this a bit surprising in light of the evidence that suggests extremely happy people are a bit less politically active (and realistic) than their moderately happy counterparts.

The researchers have established a correlation between watching television and being unhappy but they don't know whether unhappiness leads to more television-watching or more television watching leads to unhappiness. After all, T.V might be a way for unhappy people to avoid dealing with the things that make them unhappy. Again, if you follow this blog, you are probably aware that another explanation of this data has been proposed: people who watch television are engaged in passive downtime (such as 'pooping out' in front of the boob-tube) miss out on the gratification of engaging in active downtime (such as riding a bike) or social activities which have been shown to increase your subjective well-being.

These explanations aren't mutually exclusive, and I would argue that television is probably part of some sort of vicious cycle (or shame spiral).

    Excelsior!

    C.L.Sosis

Who Needs a Flying Pig?

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Have you ever heard of que psychology? Me neither, but Richard Larson, director of the Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals at the Massachusetts institute of Technology has been studying it for two decades! He claims that, "you can change a queuing experience into a very positive experience." What have que psychologists learned?

 According to David H. Maister, author of "The Psychology of Waiting Lines" 

1) Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time

2) Anxiety makes waits seem longer

3) Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits

4) Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits

5) Unfair waits are longer than equitable waits

6) The more valuable the service, the longer the customer will wait

7) Solo waits feel longer than group waits

Larson  has discovered that fair play is important: first come, first served lines work best, and unfair lines can lead to what he calls "que rage." This is really really interesting isn't it?

I don't think so either. To be honest with you, this gave me a good excuse to post an old (but excellent) Kids in the Hall video, but if you're interested, you can read the entire article on this topic here.

   Excelsior!

   C.L.Sosis

 

The Quick and the...Happy?

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

This is by far one of the most interesting studies I've read recently. Among manics, euphoria and hyperactivity are often accompanied by "racing thoughts" and "pressured speech." This simple observation inspired Emily Proctin, Elana Jacobs and Daniel Wegner to conduct a series of experiments--one had people narrate the "Job Switching" episode of "I Love Lucy," at fast or slow playback speeds--to test whether being forced to think faster results in a more positive mood...

It turns out thinking faster is significantly associated with positive mood, but there was also evidence that thinking faster might inflate your self-esteem and make it harder for you to stop talking. Apparently, thinking fast about ostensibly depressing things can improve mood too! The authors conclude that "experiences that can succeed in making us think fast may have desirable consequences for affect (and, perhaps, for energy and self-confidence). In a world where we often could use an extra boost to our mood, simple manipulations of thought speed may have valuable practical importance." Awesome!

   Excelsior!

   C.L.Sosis

Happiness is a Disease...

Hellow Fellow Hedonists,

Take it from Steven Colbert, happiness is contagious:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

ThreatDown - Happiness

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

 Excelsior!

  C.L.Sosis

T.V. and Flow...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

I present you Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on 'Thinking Allowed'!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. I just got back from a long, arduous journey; I had to help my fiancee move from New Haven, CT to Talahassee, FL. I promise I'll be updating 'the Hic' regularly again.

                                                                            Excelsior!

                                                                            C.L.Sosis

Betsey Stevenson on Nightline...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Betsey Stevenson on why (she believes) the work she has done with Steven Wolfers shows that the Easterlin Paradox is false:

                                                                                     Excelsior!

                                                                                     C.L.Sosis

Hedonic Thrift...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson claim that they have have shown that there is no Easterlin Paradox!

The authors don't address the truly puzzling cases that troubled Easterlin: why, for example, are Venezuelans happier than Americans? Why, exactly, are extremely wealthy nations (such as Japan) as happy or slightly happier than poor nations (such as Jamaica)?

As far as I'm concerned, this chart reveals the gross hedonic inefficiency of wealthy nations (and, conversely, the hedonic ingenuity of less wealthy nations). Remember, money is extrinsically valuable, and this data provides us with reasons to reconsider the way we use it. 

                                                                 Excelsior!

                                                                 C.L.Sosis

P.S. You can watch a video on the research, here.

Healthcare and Happiness...

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Watch this video on the hedonic inefficiency of our healthcare system.

                                                                      Excelsior!

                                                                      C.L.Sosis

P.S. Read this interview with Daniel "I'm not Dr. Phil" Gilbert, author of "Stumbling on Happiness."

Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover...

"I hate television.  I hate it as much as peanuts.  But I can't stop eating peanuts."

Hello Fellow Hedonists,

Children who watch alot of television are unhappy. It has been hypothesized that television makes people who have better things to do (such as graduate students) unhappy because it is percieved as an opportunity cost. Busy people feel guilty for watching T.V. Television also seems to provoke materialistic anxiety (men's magazines have a similar effect).

Now, Daniel Kahneman, Alan Krueger, David Schkade, Norbert Schwarz and Arthur Stone have shown that we spend too much time engaged in 'neutral downtime' when we could be engaged in more gratifying activites. Interestingly, it has also been shown that people who have televisions in their homes report greater well-being than do those who do not have televisions in their homes. I wonder why...

                                                                                             Excelsior!

                                                                                             C.L.Sosis