The Proposition That Happiness Is Something Which Can Be, And Ought To Be, Taught

Critically assess the proposition that happiness is something which can be, and ought to be, taught.

There is no one definition of happiness, however philosophy and psychology have long been interested in this phenomenon as well as how to enhance it. Sometimes these two disciplines came up with propositions how to be happy. As an example Epicurus (342вЂ"270 BCE) begun hedonistic approach referring to maximization of pleasure (Seligman, 2002). Later on Aristotle said that “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of lifeвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ where eudaimonic route to happiness is observed (Seligman, 2002). Nowadays, methexic approach was introduced, also known as meaningful life (Seligman, 2002), where one is stepping out from the box and focuses on another person. One of the goals of positive psychology is to understand happiness and enhance its level in individuals by using psychological interventions. Several studies presented in here indicate that happiness can and should be taught.

In order to answer whether happiness is something which can be taught, effectiveness of psychological interventions is assessed in the following paragraph. First of all, it is important to mention that Seligman proposed “happiness formula” which is: H = S + C + V (Seligman, 2002, p. 45), where “H” is “enduring level of happiness”, “S” is ones set point meaning ones general level of happiness presumably biologically determined, “C” is the circumstances of ones life and finally “V” is things individuals have voluntary control on. The last factor is the most important one for positive psychology in context of increasing control that people have. The following issues have been argued in the literature: only genetics can determine happiness, existing weak association between circumstances factors and well-being or whether person is able to pursue his/her happiness. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) compared the past research and presented all these factors affecting happiness in form of percentage of population variation chart. It can be observed from Figure 1 (next page) that 40% of population variation is for intentional activity, in other words, the things we have control on. This means that there is definite possibility for people to enhance their “enduring level of happiness” (Seligman, 2002, p. 45).

Figure 1.Three primary factors influencing the happiness level (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005, p. 116).

The third factor is highly connected to interventions because positive psychology targets people’s intentions to engage in some actions or practices that should benefit them in a way of increasing their level of happiness. First of all, Lyubomirsky et al. (2004) conducted study where she asked participants to pursue 5 acts of kindness per week for 6 weeks either all in one day or spread them into different days. The research revealed that change in well-being was predominantly higher in subjects who performed their acts of kindness all in one day. It is said that when people do random acts of kindness whole day, they feel happier as they did something useful and nice for other human being (Lyubomirsky et al., 2004). Another study Lyubomirsky et al. (2004) has done was on counting ones blessings for 6 weeks, which was describing the things for which students were grateful. They could again either spread them into once or three times a week. The research showed that when students were counting their blessings once a week their level of happiness on subjective scale increased. Lyubomirsky et al. (2004) claimed this intervention conducted 3 times a week could have led some people into habituation and boredom. It is also important to mention the most recent longitudinal study conducted by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2006) on counting blessings exercise versus visualising best possible selves versus details of the day (control group). The participants were assigned randomly to perform these activities for 4 weeks. The results indicated that best possible selves exercise had immediate and the most positive affect comparing to other 2 activities, which showed that this condition is the best in increasing positive emotions (in a short time). Participants were more motivated to do that particular exercise, however there still need to be more follow up studies on this two interventions (Lyubomirsky, 2004). The last study emphasising that happiness can be taught is internet one conducted by Seligman, Steen and Peterson (2005, p. 416), where participants were instructed to carry out 5 happiness exercises: “gratitude visit”, “three good things” (plus explain why they happened), “you at your best”, “using your highest signature strength in a new way”, “identifying signature strengths”. There was one placebo group conducting early memories exercise. Depression and happiness symptoms were measured before and just after exercise, 1-week, 1-month, 3-months and 6-months following exercise. It occurred that 2 exercises: three good things plus explaining why they happened together with using signature strengths exercise increased happiness and decreased depression up to 6 months. Also gratitude visit was mostly effective for