Study Guide

Study Guide

Happiness a Very Short Introduction CH: 1-2, "What Is Happiness?"

1.    What nation did Gallup find to be happiest in terms of daily experience?

Panama 

2.       What does Haybron say will most likely NOT be on your deathbed list of things you'd like to experience again before you go?

Mobile phone, Mall, Another day at the office. 

3.       Which of Haybron's three happiness theories is not mainly concerned with feelings?

Life Satisfaction 

4.       Your posture or stride reveals something deeper than what?

Emotion 

5.       Tranquility, confidence, and expansiveness are aspects of what state of mind/body?

Attunement 

6.       What famous western Buddhist says happiness is an optimal state of being, much more than a feeling?Matthieu  Ricard

CH: 3-4, "Life Satisfaction & Measuring Happiness”

1.   Is satisfaction with your life the same as thinking it's going well?

No

2. Does rating your life satisfaction provide reliably objective insight into your degree of happiness?

No

3. In what sense do "most people actually have good lives"?

Depends on local

4. Can the science of happiness tell us which groups tend to be happier?

Yes

5. What (verbally-expressed, non-numerical) ratio of positive over negative emotional states does happiness probably require?

Overwhelming predominance of positive over negative.

6. What percentage of American college students said they'd considered suicide?

More than half.

CH: 5-6 “The Sources of Happiness; Beyond Happiness: Well-Being”

1.   According to Haybron, is it credible to claim that genetics render some people incapable of being happier?

Even if people do have happiness set points, it is obvious that plenty of things can affect how happy we are.

2. What do studies show about consumerist materialism and intrinsic motivation?

Those with less materialistic values tend to be significantly happier. More broadly, people driven primarily by external rewards like wealth or status tend to be less happy than those who see their pursuits as intrinsically worthwhile, doing them for their own sake.

3. At what $ level do happiness and income "cease to show a pretty substantial link"?

$75,000

4. What does an Aristotelian nature-fulfillment theory of happiness find objectionable about the experience machine scenario?

The experience machine is not unlike being asleep. You can’t achieve real excellence in a catatonic state.

5. What do Desire theories have trouble explaining?

Mistakes

6.   How might a philosophical theory of well-being settle the strivers vs. enjoyers debate?

We find a right theory that picks striving over enjoying. It just depends on what brings out the best happiness for most people around you.

CH: 7-8  Happiness & The Good Life

1.   More important than whether you're happy, says Haybron, is what?

What you contributed.

2. What makes civilization possible?

Citizens willing to limit their rights voluntarily.

3. As a general rule, says Haybron, selfish and shallow people don't look _____.

Happy

4. A more demanding notion of the good life must meet what standard?

Justified Aspirations

5. Does Haybron recommend scheduling quality family time?

No

6. What does Kahneman say about "focusing illusions"?

Nothing is important as it is when we are thinking about it

Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide CH: 1-3 “Aristotle, Epicurus, Meaning”

1.   Are curiosity and awareness both prerequisite to living happily and well, according to Lenoir?

It is important to be aware of your happiness. You can ask too many questions and miss the present moment off happiness.

2.   Which French essayist said happiness is amplified when we take deliberate delight in it? Montaigne

3. What aspect of pleasure have post-Darwinian biologists emphasized?

Adaptive role of pleasure

4. For Aristotle, happiness requires what tandem quest?

Pursuit of pleasure.

5. Who said 90% of happiness depends on health?

Schopenhauer

6. How did Viktor Frankl differ from Freud on the question of meaning?

Frankl thought that human beings are driven by the pursuit of meaning

CH:4-6 Voltaire, Socrates, Jesus, Kant

1.   The direction of wisdom, says Andre Comte-Sponville, is what?

Direction of maximum happiness in maximum lucidity.

2.   What's Lenoir's definition (so far) of happiness?

Level of overall satisfaction that is enduring.

3. What's Matthieu Ricard's "primary aspiration"?

Find an aspiration that satisfies us so much that it makes us love life.

4. The pursuit of happiness demands what from us?

Intelligence and the exercise of will.

5. Who said "full and complete happiness does not exist on earth" but is an "ideal of imagination"?

Kant

6. What kind of happiness did Socrates and Jesus seek?

Higher values differed for afterlife.

CH: 7-9 Being Oneself, Schopenhauer, $

1. Who said the "process of individuation" often begins only at midlife or later?

Carl Jung

2. What was Plato's distinction of temperaments?

Duskolos- Pessimists Eukolos- Optimists

3. What was Schopenhauer's "curious contradiction"?

We can only learn to be better attuned with our natures but we cannot change.

4. How does Lenoir disagree with Schopenhauer ?

Inner Work is a way to improve yourself.

5. How much of our happiness does Sonja Lyubomirsky say is subject to volition?

40%

6. What did Seneca say about invidious happiness comparisons?

Avoid measuring yourself against happier or more prosperous people.

CH: 10-12 “The Emotional Brain; The Art of Attention; Dreaming”

1. Which molecules play an important role in well-being and emotional balance?

Enecephalon

2. What do dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin have to do with happiness?

Dopamine- Energy and Motivation, Oxytocin- Relieves Stress, Serotonin- Enjoyment of love and satisfaction.

3. What crucial point did the Stoic and Epicurean sages of antiquity underscore?

The quality of our attention to life.

4. Why did Montaigne ride his horse? (And a BONUS QUESTION: what startling equine event changed Montaigne's life?)

Brings feelings of reverie. He crashed on his horse and almost died getting over his fear of death

5. Aside from the importance of letting the mind wander, what important qualification does Lenoir attach to the primacy of the present moment?

It keeps us from ruminating which makes us feel more negative.

6. Who pioneered Positive Psychology?

Martin Seligman