Happiness Strategies | How to be Happy

The cover story in the current issue of Scientific American Mind is all about how a sense of humor can make you stronger, friendlier – and sexier!

Here are some key ideas from the article (quoted):

- The concept of laughter as a cure for disease lacks scientific support, but humor may indeed have significant effects on the psyche.

- Laughter relaxes us and improves our mood, and hearing jokes may ease anxiety. Amusement can also counteract pain.

- Cheerfulness, a trait that makes people respond more readily to humor, is linked to emotional resilience—the ability to keep a level head in difficult circumstances—and to close relationships. Life satisfaction may increase with the ability to laugh.

Read the whole story – and lighten up!

I thought you may find this article interesting:

Can happiness be found online?

Story Highlights:

• The ‘Virtual Happiness Project’ in the Netherlands looked at the relationship between Web 2.0 and happiness
• The findings suggest that blogs and social networks give people a strong sense of  belonging, which can be part of happiness
• It warns, however, that there’s a risk of being too internet-involved, which can detrimentally affect offline relationships

The report is yet to be published, but survey and experimental results point to findings:

that a lot of Facebook users already sense: social interaction is a driver for happiness, and the Web 2.0 is a valid way to experience it.

Read the article here.

(via @akselsoft)

Image by Kevin Zollman

Look alive!

A new study has found that thinking
fast can improve your mood.

Princeton and Harvard researchers conducted six experiments requiring participants to briskly whisk through activities such as brainstorming, reading ideas on screen or watching a fast-forwarded film clip.

Thinking fast brought participants creativity, elation and, to a lesser extent, a sense of energy and power.

Scientific American observes:

It is unclear why thought speed affects mood, but [the study’s lead author, Emily] Pronin and her colleagues theorize that our own expectations may be part of the equation. In earlier research, they found that people generally believe fast thinking is a sign of a good mood. This lay belief may lead us to instinctively infer that if we are thinking quickly we must be happy. In addition, they suggest, thinking quickly may unleash the brain’s novelty-loving dopamine system, which is involved in sensations of pleasure and reward.

So up your thinking speed – and you’ll join the ranks of the quick and the glad.

Image by jurvetson

About this talk

From the TED site:

Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness — sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.

The take-away

Gilbert gives heaps of interesting examples to show how bad we are at comparing costs and estimating value, and the problem of shifting comparisons. As a result, we make poor decisions about what will make us happy.

In essence:

• we underestimate the odds of our future pains, and
• we overestimate the value of our present pleasures.

My 2 cents

To put it another way: immediate gratification ain’t so gratifying - our brains simply trick us into thinking it will be.

Knowing that, we may find greater happiness if we adopt those old-fashioned virtues of patience, persistence and discipline.

But not when it comes to chocolate.

About this talk

From the TED site:

Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world’s most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.

The upshot

Wallace’s ‘grueling quest’ is amusing, but if you just want the upshot, it’s this:

He ends by describing a study from researches at Stanford and CalTech. They gave participants the same wine labeled with different price tags.

Unsurprisingly, many participants said they preferred the more expensive wine.

But surprisingly, MRI brain imaging performed on the participants showed that their brains registered more pleasure for the wine with the (fake) higher price tag.

My take: The happiness, it seems, is real. We only think we need money to buy it.