Sonja Lyubomirsky Has Created The Subjective Happiness Scale

In her article “How Happy Are You and Why?,” Sonja Lyubomirsky argues that people have control over their own happiness. Lyubomirsky supports her claims with her interviews with happy people and scientific studies. Her purpose is to consider steps that people can take in order to become happier. She establishes an informal relationship with her audience of unhappy people.

Happiness, an elusive eight letter word with a mighty punch! Many have sought to define happiness, but found it a difficult task to do. While reading an article published in the New Yorker by Will Sorr on July 07, 2017 titled “A Better Kind of Happiness”, I was informed that happiness is more than just a word, happiness is essential to the well-being of human health. Dating back nearly two and half million years ago an ancient Greek Philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, proposed the idea of eudaemonic happiness. He stated that “happiness was not merely a feeling, or a golden promise, but a

Happiness is something that all people, no matter what race, gender, or social class, strive for. Based on lifestyle or perspective each person has their independent idea of what happiness is, but everyone shares an end goal to live their definition of a happy life. Many people, though, struggle in finding their way to this goal. They face hardships and challenges that test their happiness every day. Happiness, though somewhat indirectly, does take learning and training to discover and maintain.

Happiness. It is not tangible, measurable or even understandable. Yet, above all other things, it is what people seek the most. Individuals draw happiness from a number of different sources,presumably causing the confusion as to why happiness can not be traced back to a specific object. Still, how can you possibly meet the expectations of being happy? This article will attempt to demystify the subject of happiness.

Happiness is a popular topic that is constantly being discussed by experts around the world. In the article “Happy Like God”, written by Simon Critchley, Critchley proposes his view on happiness and its inability to be measured or found through sources outside of ones-self. In another piece written by Richard Schoch, titled “A Crtique of Positive Psychology”, Schoch also discusses the topic through a process of critiquing studies and experiments that claim to have the answer to happiness. Both of these texts not only make claims that happiness cannot be measured, but they also bring questions to the table that provide valuable insights on the wrong answers in order for us to find the right ones.

What is happiness? People have agonized over this question for centuries. Let me start this essay by answering a somewhat easier question: what isn’t happiness? Happiness is NOT feeling good all the time. Happiness is a combination of human emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come.

Even if we use the word “happiness” on daily basis, has anyone ever tried to define it? It’s harder than it seems. When do you feel happy? How is it when you feel happy? Is there any way to understand how much happiness to you experience? This is the main hypothesis of this paper – Can happiness or wellbeing be measured? And if it can be measured, how do we measure it? Happiness is feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation (Meriam Webster). Pleasure and enjoyment are very subjective and means different things to different people. This is where the term subjective wellbeing comes from. There are a lot of things that can be included when measuring wellbeing. Various studies have been conducted to assess wellbeing and how does it affect other factors. For example Earlstin(1995) and later on Ferrer-i-Carbonell(2005) have examined the relationship between income and happiness. Gruber(2004) studies the relationship cigarette taxation and happier smokers. Richard, Clark, Gerogellis and Diener(2004) analyze the effect of unemployment on wellbeing.

Is there really one definition for what it means to be truly happy? A simple joy such as a piece of candy may bring happiness to one; whereas something much larger might be the determining factor for another’s happiness. The definition of happiness is one of the most debated questions among many different philosophers and people through out the ages. Aristotle and John Stuart Mill are two philosophers who had similar ideas regarding the definition of happiness, but argued different theories on what constitutes happiness and what is required to be truly happy.

Happiness is not a strange term to us. We usually use that word to express our feelings in every day. Additionally, more than a word, “happiness” is what we really need and always seek in life. However, finding and understanding deeply its meaning is not easy. The online dictionary, “vocabulary.com” defines, “Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness.” Thus, we always wonder if we are happy or how could we be happier in our life. Happiness, therefore, becomes a goal for everybody.

The premise of the article: Universal Happiness? Cross-Cultural Measurement Invariance of Scales Assessing Positive Mental Health, is that positive mental health compliments the emotional security and the psychosocial aspects of a person’s life into a single paradigm. The paradigm shows that people who have a good mental health status see themselves as having a distinct direction in their life and that their life has more purpose than those who allow their mental health to deteriorate. Along with direction and purpose people with a good mental health status also have lasting relationships, are more accepting of whom they are, and exhibit a more positive affect. Bieda et al (2016) illustrates this by utilizing the Positive Mental Health Scale,

Happiness can be defined as “life satisfaction” which is made up of your own overall feelings and attitudes about your life. Not the elusive state of emotional happiness, but rather your state of being, happiness at your core which does not wane day-to-day like emotions. Happiness reports are being used to show quality of life, and help governments to be able to pass legislature that improves the lives of all people in their countries. The World Happiness Report is a research-based paper that has been published by the United Nations for the past 3 years. They gather information from surveys, economic studies, health records, and national statistics. This information is gathered from every country in the world and is compiled and structured to find the most statistically happy country. In 2015 the top five happiest countries were Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Canada. Finding patterns on what makes people happy and optimistic in these places could be the key to figuring out how to create a truly successful and prosperous country.

The true meaning and idea of happiness could perhaps never be truly known. Throughout the ages, the idea of what happiness is has been

Many researchers have varying answers and opinions regarding the topic of happiness and if it is a suitable goal for society, people like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is a Professor of Psychology and Management in the Division of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences at Claremont Graduate University in California says that the prerequisite for happiness is the ability to get fully involved in life. A survey study done by researchers

One of the definitions of happiness is an extent to which an individual judges their overall quality of life (Veenhoven R. , 1991). There has been a growing interest in the past few years on consumer happiness, with researchers being interested is finding out how to best measure consumer happiness, and people’s happiness in general.

Happiness may have diverse meanings to diverse individuals. But regardless of how we define happiness, our distinct passions and life experiences contribute in making each one of us cheerful. Undoubtedly, the secrets on how to live a happy and healthy life depends on how we sort out all the factors that play an imperative role in accomplishing the level of happiness we desire for ourselves.