Discovering the Science of Happiness

It is obvious to assume that self-care brings happiness, but enriching the lives of others can offer wellbeing effects that are less likely to fade over time.

If as a teacher, you are able to make students happier, everybody wants to know what the secret is. What are your tips? What advice you would give to others in the same line of work? These are the most asked questions, as if there is some quick, surefire path to happiness. However happiness here is being able to make a positive impact on students’ lives. This is not just by making them get better grades but also by developing confidence in them.

The problem is that there are no life-transforming discoveries, because most of what works has already been talked about. Social connection, mindfulness, gratitude letters, acts of kindness, going for a walk in nature, sleep hygiene, limiting social media use. These are some of the 80 or so psychological interventions which have been shown to work to improve our wellbeing (to a lesser or greater extent).

But if we already know so much about what works, then why are we still fielding requests for top happiness tips? The data tells us that students and young people today are increasingly unhappy, with national surveys finding wellbeing is lowest among the young in the UK and the US compared to other age groups.

Developed societies tend to have more unhappy people than the developing societies. This could be due to lack of engagement. In developed societies, life is easier, plenty of time and energy to spare, but nowhere to spend. This results in mind not getting engaged or looking forward to something new everyday. The boredom caused by monotony and predictability in life, which leads to unhappy feelings.

Learning the science of happiness

It is the engagement and not the outcome that matters. Getting behind a goal in life and achieving it causes happiness. Not achieving a goal can create determination and commitment for retrial. However, measuring only the outcomes of life’s activities can become computational, often leading to a non-human feeling.

Does this sound like a course credit without examination? That must be a breeze you might say. However, for many students, turning up on time to over 80% of lectures and tutorials, completing journal entries on a weekly basis and submitting a final group project turned out to be more of a challenge than they predicted during a study. Similarly in life, we must focus on input. Output is to be enjoyed as a consequence of those inputs.

Around 5% of students fail to meet the course demands each year in any universtiy, and have to complete a reassessment in the summer. Creating consistent positive habits in the face of all of life’s other demands is not a trivial request. However, positive habits do help in minimizing negative thinking.

Nevertheless, the science of happiness is more psychology than science. It appears to be effective only in a positive environment created by the therapist for the participant. Even the most negative person who finds it difficult to feel good about anything can be cajoled into opening up and eventually getting to know oneself better.

Another important learning in the science of happiness is hedonic adaptation: we get used to both good and bad things. Since humans have a brain wired to pay extra attention to problems, it comes as no surprise that the initial wellbeing boost disappeares as participants returned to focusing on life’s hassle after the therapy.

However, it was observed that not all participants followed this pattern during a study. Approximately half the cohort reported that they continued to regularly practice some of the things they had learnt, such as gratitude or mindfulness, many months or years after completing the therapy.

Although the participants who no longer practised the activities returned to their happiness baselines, on average, those who did keep up with at least some of the recommended activities showed no such drop. They maintained their elevated levels of wellbeing up to two years later.

In many ways, mental health is no different from physical health. Few people expect to see long-lasting muscle gains after one trip to the gym. For the most part, we are begrudgingly aware that there are no shortcuts if you want to remain fit and healthy. You have to stick with the program.

New habits

The same applies to our happiness. Unless we keep working at it, the improvements are temporary. Indeed, if we did have to focus on just one top tip it might be to learn how to harness lessons from psychology to build the better habits we need for lasting change. For example, aiming for small incremental changes rather than an unsustainable overhaul of your whole life.

One thing we question is whether the self-care industry may be sending out the wrong message by telling people happiness is all about making yourself feel better. One of us, Bruce Hood, writes in his new book, that becoming a happier person in the long term is less to do with focusing on ourselves, and much more to do with focusing on others.

Ultimately, whatever methods or activities we choose to improve our wellbeing, we would do well to remember that happiness is an ongoing pursuit. We need to make conscious effort to be happy.
If you want to be happy, you will!