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Interview logs

Yes sources

1. Rising Income and the SubjectiveWell-Being of Nations

Diener, E., Tay, L., & Oishi, S. (2013). Rising income and the subjective well-being of nations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(2), 267.

Ed Diener email the author, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, and The Gallup Organization, Omaha, Nebrask.

Louis Tay, Behavioural Sciences Institute, Singapore Management University

Shigehiro Oishi, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia

This study explores whether economic growth is associated with people subjective wellbeing. Representative samples were taken from various nations over time. The study examines material goods, average income of household (GDP) and other possible psychological mediators to give a better reflection of overall prosperity of the average household. The study concludes that rise in income doesn’t associate with rise in subjective wellbeing, and that there are other factors that mediate the association of income and wellbeing, but income alone won’t be the primary determinant of it.

“We hypothesize that increases in income must be associated with increases in the material quality of life of the average citizens of a society in order for increases in SWB to occur.”

“We found virtually no curvilinear effects of income on well-being, and rising income had about the same effects on SWB in poor and wealthy nations.”

“An important avenue for future research is to determine why rising incomes have weak effects on positive feelings such as enjoying life”

2. Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being

Luttmer, E. F. (2004). Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being(No. w10667). National Bureau of Economic Research.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25098760 .

Erzo F. P. Luttmer

Professor Jana Weerasinghe from the University of WesternOntario London, ON.

Lorne-Tepperman- professor and author in the department of sociology, university of Toronto.

Credible Source: Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College. Work published in the Quarterlyh Journal of Economics.

The study is published by oxford University Press.

Cited more than 3500 times.

This paper suggests that happiness is a relative concept. It tries to explain the relationship between a neighbor’s earnings and subjective well-being, using an empirical, systematic method. The data on subjective well-being as well as control variables come from the National Survey of Families and Households. A representative sample of people aged 19 and older were asked in a survey how they felt about their life in general. The data collected over a period of 5-6 years from different geographical locations. .the study finds that one's absolute economic situation matters for happiness in addition to one's relative position.

“This paper builds on previous papers that have empirically examined the relationship between relative position and wellbeing.5 in a series of papers, Easterlin [1974, 1995, 2001] notes that income and self-reported happiness are positively correlated across individuals within a country but that average happiness within countries does not seem to rise over time as countries become richer.”

3. Income Inequality and Wellbeing: The Plight of the Poor and the Curse of Permanent Inequality

Cooper, D., McCausland, W. D., & Theodossiou, I. (2013). Income Inequality and Wellbeing: The Plight of the Poor and the Curse of Permanent Inequality.Journal of Economic Issues, 47(4), 939-958.

David Cooper, W. David McCausland, and Ioannis Theodossiou

This paper investigates the relationship between income inequality and wellbeing. The study employs data from across 14 different European countries. The demographics is restricted to people aged 18-65. Survey questions include, how happy are people with their current jobs, housing, amount of leisure time and overall financial situation. The study shows that income inequality is negatively associated with wellbeing. The study also shows that income inequality adversely affects the entire population, not only those at the bottom of income ladder.

“in societies with high income inequality, there may be a greater feeling of poverty relative to others. This may produce a psychosocial stress affecting health and wellbeing (Kawachi 2000; Lynch et al. 2004; Wagstaff and van Doorslaer 2000b), and that may be passed on to others through social learning or influence”

“Frank (1997), R.A. Cummins (2000), and Diener and Biswas-Diener (1996) also point out that when the income of everybody increases at the same time and in the same proportion, there is no increase in happiness levels. This implies that individual happiness is affected by the distribution of income, and hence by the aggregate income inequality.”

4. Elusive Effects of Unemployment on Happiness

Böckerman, P., & Ilmakunnas, P. (2006). Elusive effects of unemployment on happiness. Social Indicators Research, 79(1), 159-169.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27522632

Petri Böckerman, a research economist at the Labour Institute for Economic Research and an adjunct professor at the University of Tampere.

Pekka Ilmakunnas Professor of economics at Aalto University School of Business,

This paper aims to aims to explore the connection between unemployment and wellbeing in Finland after the great depression of the early 1990s. Data used in this study was collected from the World Values Survey for the years 1990,1996 and 200. The study finds that unemployment has a negative impact on life satisfaction, however that impact is insignificant on overall happiness.

“The basic results show that personally experiencing unemployment reduces life satisfaction, but unemployment and happiness are not related (conditional on income).”

“Generalized ordered logit estimation, where the parallel regression assumption is lifted, shows that unemployment has a significant negative effect on moving from low happiness levels to higher ones, where at high happiness levels it has an insignificant effect.”

5. Well-being over time in Britain and the USA

Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of public economics, 88(7), 1359-1386.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272702001688).

· David G. Blanchflowera

Department of Economics, Dartmouth College and NBER, 6106 Rockefeller Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA

· Andrew J. Oswald

Department of Economics, Warwick University, Warwick, UK

The relationship between income and wellbeing is investigated using data from the British household panel survey. The study finds that absolute income increases subjective wellbeing but up to certain level. The main conclusion of this study is that relative income plays a bigger role than absolute income in determining highest level of subjective wellbeing.

“Easterlin’s paper concludes: ‘...in the one timeseries studied, that for the United States since 1946, higher income was not systematically accompanied by greater happiness’”

“Some social scientists—prominently the economist James Duesenberry (1949) 50 years ago—have argued that human beings care mainly about relative, rather than absolute, income. For the United States, it is possible to use our data to explore the hypothesis that a person’s position in the income distribution matters per se (and, potentially, to test whether this could help explain the lack of upward time-trend in well-being data)”

“The point estimates are consistent with the idea that people compare themselves more with well-off families, so that perhaps they get happier the closer their income comes to that of rich people around them”

6. Income and well-being: How big is the gap between the rich and the poor?

Richard E. Lucas, Ulrich Schimmack, Income and well-being: How big is the gap between the rich and the poor?, Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 43, Issue 1, February 2009, Pages 75-78, ISSN 0092-6566.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656608001396

Richard E. Lucas ,Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Ulrich Schimmack, Department of Psychology, UTM, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada

This paper explores the association between income and wellbeing in Germany and other nations from around the world. It uses the data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the World Value Survey to assess income levels of a nationally representative sample from nations around the world. Thirteen income groups ranging from $10,000-$200,000 were analyzed to assess life satisfaction level of people across different income levels. The study finds that the association of income and wellbeing is small to medium in size and therefore doesn’t have a great impact on Subjective wellbeing. The study however doesn’t negate the notion that wealthy people are generally happier than those with an average income. The results show that happiness is not exclusive for the rich, those with average or low income also are able to experience happiness in their lifetime.

“Although intuition would suggest that money should play an important role, most psychologists and economists have concluded that lay people overestimate these effects and that money does not really matter that much”

“Although this correlation is robust, it would be described as small to medium in size by traditional standards, accounting for just 4% of the variance in SWB. This appears to support the counterintuitive finding that money does not buy happiness.”

“Not surprisingly, there is an association between employment status and life satisfaction, but like income, the correlation is quite small.”

7. Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matter?

Guglielmo Maria Caporale, Yannis Georgellis, Nicholas Tsitsianis, Ya Ping Yin, Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matter?, Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 30, Issue 1, February 2009, Pages 42-51, ISSN 0167-4870.

(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487008000809)

Guglielmo Maria Caporale , Department of Economics and Finance, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, United Kingdom

Yannis Georgellis , Department of Economics and Finance, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, United Kingdom

Nicholas Tsitsianis , Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, United Kingdom

Ya Ping Yin , Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, United Kingdom

This paper examines the relationship between income, relative income and happiness across 19 European countries. The study supports both relative income and absolute income hypothesis. Although that there is a positive relationship between income and happiness, the study suggests that income alone won’t explain the trend of people’s happiness. the study finds that status, not wealth, is the major contributor to people’s subjective wellbeing.

“Using reported happiness and life satisfaction scores as measures of subjective well-being, we find that absolute income has indeed a strong positive effect on well-being”

“How individuals feel about their well-being depends on the distance between their actual income from a reference value. Such a reference or aspiration value is determined by the income enjoyed by people around them and/or the level of income that the individuals themselves have become accustomed to over time.”

8. Suicide and Happiness: Seven Tests of the Connection

Weerasinghe, J., & Tepperman, L. (1994). Suicide and happiness: Seven tests of the connection. Social Indicators Research, 32(3), 199-233.

Professor Jana Weerasinghe from the University of Western Ontario London, ON.

Lorne-Tepperman- professor and author in the department of sociology, university of Toronto.

This paper examines the connection between happiness and suicide by evaluating seven demographic characteristics associated with happiness. The study finds that unemployment has a negative effect on happiness, which may lead to a higher risk of suicide.

“Some studies have shown that happiness with employment is tied to income (Veenhoven, 1984). But one doubts that this means a low income wipes out the contribution of employment to overall happiness.”

“If our original hypothesis is correct, unemployment rates will be positively correlated with the suicide rates. Said otherwise, people out of work will run a higher suicide risk than people who have a regular job.”

“Yang (1992) examined the relationship between economic and social variables and the suicide rate in the United States, using census data and other federal government data for the years 1940 through 1984. He finds that, for white men, the suicide rate is positively associated with the unemployment rate: as unemployment rises, so does suicide. Along similar lines Dooley (1989) reports finding that thirty studies have confirmed there is a positive correlation between unemployment and suicide.”

9. Better an insecure job than no job at all? Unemployment, job insecurity and subjective wellbeing

Knabe, A., & Rätzel, S. (2010). Better an insecure job than no job at all? Unemployment, job insecurity and subjective wellbeing. Economics Bulletin, 30(3), 2486-2494.

Andreas Knabe, Freie Universität Berlin

Steffen Rätzel , Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg

This study analyzes the effect of employment on overall life satisfaction in Germany. The study finds that unemployment is detrimental to wellbeing, however, the study finds that future expectations of employment and current employment status are equally important when determining SWB.

“Those who have a job, but are worried about the risk to become unemployed in the future, also exhibit lower subjective well-being than people with secure jobs.”

“This suggests that those unemployed who think that it will be easy to find a new job are as happy as comparable employed individuals with medium job security. Moreover, they feel even better than the employed in a job with low job security.”

“We find a similar pattern for the unemployed. More than 90 percent of all unemployed persons who think that it is easy to find a new job actually return to employment within the next five years”

10. Income, Unemployment, Higher Education and Wellbeing in Times of Economic Crisis: Evidence from Granada (Spain)

Guardiola, J., & Guillen-Royo, M. (2015). Income, Unemployment, Higher Education and Wellbeing in Times of Economic Crisis: Evidence from Granada (Spain). Social Indicators Research, 120(2), 395-409.

J. Guardiola (&) Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Applied Economics, University of Granada, Spain.

M. Guillen-Royo Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

This paper explores the relationship between income, unemployment, and education on subjective wellbeing affected by the economic crisis of 2008 in Granada, Spain. The study reveals that unemployment and education have a strong correlation with Subjective wellbeing but income has a weaker relationship with subjective wellbeing.

“Our results lead us to conclude that being unemployed and not having access to higher education are undermining the opportunities of people in Granada to experience satisfaction with life, income and material needs.”

“ Income has a weak and non-robust relationship with satisfaction with life and satisfaction with income and a positive relationship with satisfaction of material needs”

“In addition, social comparison is also important. an increase in unemployment of people in one’s reference group is a negative determinant of satisfaction with income”

11. Income Inequality and Happiness

Oishi, S., Kesebir, S., & Diener, E. (2011). Income inequality and happiness. Psychological science, 22(9), 1095-1100.

Shigehiro Oishi, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia

Selin Kesebir, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia;

Ed Diener, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois; and 4 Gallup, Washington, District of Columbia.

This paper uses General Social Survey data from 1972 to 2008 to investigate the relationship between income inequality and happiness. The study finds that Americans were happier in the years with less national income inequality than in the years with more national income inequality. The study reveals that the negative relationship between income inequality and happiness in low-income households can be explained by unfairness in income distribution, not lower household income.

“As predicted, Americans perceived others to be less fair and trustworthy in the years with greater income disparity, and this perception in turn explained why Americans reported lower levels of happiness in those years”

“As Table 1 shows, the decreased happiness of lower-income individuals in the years with greater income inequality was not due to the economic factor of reduced income. Instead, it was explained by lower perceived fairness and general trust for the lowest-20% income group, the 20–40% income group, and the 40–60% income group.”

12. Why Inequality Makes Europeans Less Happy: The Role of Distrust, Status Anxiety, and Perceived Conflict

Delhey, J., & Dragolov, G. (2014). Why inequality makes europeans less happy: the role of distrust, status anxiety, and perceived conflict. European sociological review, 30(2), 151-165.

Jan Delhey, Professor of Sociology, Jacobs University Bremen, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Georgi Dragolov, Research Associate, Jacobs University Bremen, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and PhD Fellow, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences

This article addresses the issue of income inequality and its negative effects on wellbeing in European countries. The study features distrust and unfairness as possible mediators as to why income inequality makes people less happy. The study finds that countries with extreme level of income disparity have ‘unhappy’ citizenry, while people living in egalitarian societies enjoy higher level of subjective wellbeing.

“In affluent societies, the theory says, improvements in societal quality of life are no longer associated with economic growth, but rather with the level of income inequality”

“There is a long-standing tradition to see happiness, at least partly, as relative in the sense that social comparisons with others influence how happy and satisfied people are with their lot (Michalos, 1985)”

“Further, single-country studies for the United States (Oishi, Kesebir and Diener, 2011) and Japan (Oshio and Kobayashi, 2011) found people to be less happy in times or regions with a more uneven income distribution”

“More unequal societies tend to have a less happy citizenry. The correlation across the 30 countries is quite strong, with r(30) ¼ .65, P < .01.”

No sources

13. Does Your Neighbor’s Income Affect Your Happiness?

Firebaugh, G., & Schroeder, M. B. (2009). Does your neighbor’s income affect your happiness?. AJS; American journal of sociology, 115(3), 805.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/603534

Firebaugh, Glenn; Schroeder, Matthew. American Journal of Sociology115.3 (Nov 2009): 805-831.

Glenn Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University

Matthew B. Schroeder, University of Minnesota

This study tests the relative income hypothesis, the effect of local neighborhood income on happiness. The relative income hypothesis suggests that living in poor neighborhood would make someone happier, that’s because everyone is earning less than what you earn. The study however shows that living in a poor neighborhood has the opposite effect. I will not use this source because I it doesn't exactly answer any of my research questions. The research contradicts some of my other source conclusions. The amount of information contained in this document is also very large and is unhelpful.

14. Comparing Yourself to Others: It’s Not All Bad

Tugend, Alina. “Comparing Yourself to Others: It’s Not All Bad.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 July 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/your-money/02shortcuts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

By ALINA TUGEND

This short article discusses how people around us influence our view about happiness. The conclusions of this article are repetitive, and I don’t think they will add any value to my research. However I found a link of a peer-reviewed study that I used as a yes source from this news article. I will not use this article because it doesn’t have in-depth info about my specific topic.

15. Why the Happiest States Have the Highest Suicide Rates

Szalavitz, M., & Szalavitz, M. (2011, April 25). Why the Happiest States Have the Highest Suicide Rates | TIME.com.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/why-the-happiest-states-have-the-highest-suicide-rates/

The article talks about how happiness and suicide rates are paradoxically related in different parts of the world. The study found that he happiest places on earth, are also known to have the highest suicide rates. Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark and Sweden rank among the happiest nations, but they also have a high suicide rate as well. The same trend is observed in the United States. Utah, for example, ranks highest in life satisfaction, but also has the ninth suicide rate in the country. I will not use this source because it’s irrelevant to my research topic. I’ve decided not to include suicide in my research because I realized it doesn’t go well with my other research subtopics. I also couldn’t find many sources that make the connection between suicide and wealth. Therefore I will not use this source.

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alnigrishai2-blog-blog · 10 years ago

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Three Sources

ithttp://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/why-the-happiest-states-have-the-highest-suicide-rates/

This article talks about how happiness and suicide rates are paradoxically related in different parts of the world. The study found that the happiest places on earth, are also known to have the highest suicide rates. Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark and Sweden rank among the happiest nations, but they also have a high suicide rate as well. The same trend is observed in the United States. Utah, for example, ranks highest in life satisfaction,but also has the ninth suicide rate in the country. I will explore more sources about suicide rate and happiness and see if there's a link between the two, if so I will possibly feature it in my research as a subtopic

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/01/does-income-bring-happiness.html

This article talks about how absolute income doesn’t bringhappiness to people, rather it’s the relative income levels compared to others is what matters. The article references many studies, most of which are statistical analysis of life satisfaction and income levels across many countries around the world. However I will not rely heavily on the bulk of data used in these studies. The study concludes that rising income leads to higher levels of satisfaction, which is a very logical conclusion. But what I really want to know is do people see happiness as a relative position , or do they perceive happiness as something absolute ?

To illustrate my point, would a happy person who makes a good amount of income in one place feel less happy if he/she moves to a different place, where income levels are higher than they were in his/her original place?

I think that this article might not be too valuable to use in my research, but it gave me a new direction in which I could expand my research upon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/suicide-rate-rich-neighborhoods_n_2102777.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/your-money/02shortcuts.html?pagewanted=all&_r

I find this article fascinating because it answers my previous question of how people around us influence our view about happiness. A study from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that people who earn less money than their neighbors are more likely to suicide than their counterparts who make the same income in a less wealthy neighborhood. In the second article, a similar study suggests that individuals feel worst off when they make less income than their neighbors. These two articles are relevant to my topic and I found a peer-reviewed study referenced in the New York Times published by The Quarterly Journal of Economics, which is also applicable to my research topic.

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alnigrishai2-blog-blog · 10 years ago

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Inquiry and the Craft of Argument

Possible Essay Structure:

1) from your own experience and observations, define happiness and describe what it means to you.

2) gather evidence from the the three analyzed articles, find connections and link them to your idea of happiness.

3) Find a subject that interests you about happiness, draw the final conclusion, and state your research questions.

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alnigrishai2-blog-blog · 10 years ago

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Blog Post 4

Article analysis

Article 1

http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-money-buy-happiness-heres-what-science-has-to-say-1415569538

This article examines the effect of wealth on happiness and backsit up with a strong evidence to support its main claim: money doesn’t necessarilymake you happier, it’s how this money is spent.foundthat people with higher income tend to be happier than those who struggle tomake ends meet; however this assumption doesn’t hold true after a certain point. In a study conducted by Stevenson and Justin Wolfers at the University of Michigan reveals that people who make 150K to 500K roughly share the same level of happiness. The article goes on to explain the link between the psychology of the human being and the feel to want more. According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside, a rise in income is accompanied by the rise in aspirations. The desire to want more is what makes us fail to appreciate what’s in our lives.

Another point the article mentions is that experiences leave a longer lasting sense of satisfaction than material purchases. In this article, a sample of people were asked to evaluate their level of satisfaction of how well their money was spent after they made experiential/material purchase. The study found that people feel more satisfied with their experiences than with their material purchases. Part of our human nature is that we lust for more possessions, and the more we possess, the more we ask for. According to prof. Gilovich, experiences tend to be more satisfying because they meet more of our underlying psychological needs. That’s because Experiences are often shared with other people and integrates us deeper into the fabric of society. This is very true for me, the best times I spend are with my family and friends.

I think that the article makes few solid points about happiness. the author uses pathos appeal throughout his article, the author references numerous studies, statistics and data to support his claim, leading to the logical conclusion that happiness doesn't strongly correlate with wealth, rather with experiences.The author also uses ethos appeal by citing many credible scholars and researchers. overall, i think this article was very informative and carried substantial evidence and reasoning behind it . The conclusions reached in this article very much line up with my pre-existing assumptions about happiness.

Article 2

http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0301happy_EdDiener.html

I find this article quite interesting in its claim. The article suggests that there’s a link between our happiness and health. Over 160 studies, as the author of this article mentions, have found that happy people tend to live longer than those who are unhappy. One study by the University of Illinois professor Ed Diener analyzed the long term effects of happiness on our lives. In a comprehensive review of eight different types of studies, he concluded that feeling positive and staying away from depression, can indeed lead to longevity and better health. In another study which followed 5000 college students for 40 years, found that those who were pessimistic as students tended to live shorter than their peers. Laboratory experiments on humans show that positive moods induce a proper immune response, and subsequently makes us less susceptible to diseases, and contribute to better health.

I think that the articles mentions quite few studies that point in the same direction. The author makes use of studies and experiments done by professionals to bolster his claim. He uses an ethos appeal by citing Dr. Diener as a person who is qualified to talk about this subject. I don’t think the studies were biased because the article mentions, quoting Dr. Diener, that there were few other studies that revealed the opposite. What makes this article convincing is the numerous studies presented by the author.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/positive-thinking_b_3512202.html

This article explores the various impacts positive thinking can bring into a person’s life. The article claims that positive thinking will bring positive changes to your life, work, and health. The author shares with his readers the findings of Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina. Her research reveals that negative thoughts narrow your mind and make you less focused, a strategy that our brain utilizes to bring us out of trouble. Often times when we are fearful or feel stressed out about something, we begin to lose our attention. Dr. Fredrickson then systematically tests the impact of positive thinking on brain. She sets up an experiment in which five different groups were shown different clips that convey different emotions. The first two groups were shown a clip that created positive feelings, such as joy and contentment. The last two groups were shown a clip with negative emotions, such as fear and anger, while the third group was the control group. The subjects were then given a piece of paper to write how they would react if they were in these situations. The study finds that people who were in t first two groups had the highest number of responses. The article goes further to demonstrate that positive thinking leads to developing useful skills.

I think that the article’s claim was validated through the experiment conducted by Dr. Fredrickson’s. The article uses ethos appeal by citing reputable sources and showing confidence in delivery. The article also uses pathos appeal, an appeal in which it triggers emotions of joy and fear. Overall, the argument was well-constructed and explanatory in nature.

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alnigrishai2-blog-blog · 10 years ago

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Research Proposal Final

Aws Al-Nigrish

Mary L Hall

Inquiry and the Craft of Argument

02/02/2015

Happinessis an elusive concept that encompasses wide varieties of thoughts. My firstthought on happiness is that it may lie in obtaining what we have never beenable to get, therefore everyone holds his own definition of happiness depending on the experiences each one has been through. To the poor, happiness is gaining wealth, to the sick, it means health. To the prisoner, it means freedom and to the oppressed, it means justice. From these examples we can see that happiness may take an experiential form or a materialistic one. It’s a question of permanence whether one of these two will achieve happiness in a more lasting, effective way. According to a study conducted by Stevenson and Justin Wolfers at the University of Michigan, Experiences leave a longer lasting sense of satisfaction than material purchases. In their study, a sample of people were asked to evaluate their level of satisfaction of how well their money was spent after they made experiential/material purchase. The study found that people feel more satisfied with their experiences than with their material purchases.

Part of our human nature is that we lust for more possessions, and the more we possess, the more we ask for, and the less grateful we become. According to Prof. Gilovich, experiences tend to be more satisfying because they meet more of our underlying psychological needs. Experiences are often shared with other people and integrates us deeper into the fabric of society. This is very true for most of us, the best times are the ones we spend with family and friends. Memories with family members and friends leave a lasting impression in our brain. It’s the company of others what make our times enjoyable, and therefore gives us a feeling of satisfaction about what we do with our time. Material possessions on the other hand, are short lived because we get used to them after a while, and their charm disappears after we adapt to them.

While we all can agree that happiness in life is achievable in one way or another, we may not agree on what constitutes true happiness to us. In other words, the concept of happiness remains a subjective matter that can be viewed from a philosophical and scientific standpoint, but with no definitive answer. To me happiness in its very simplistic terms, is not the gain of new materials, nor the desire to achieve more in life. It’s quite the opposite. It’s the feeling of satisfaction that you get when you accept whatever you have, or whatever situation life throws at you, whether good or bad, and being able to isolate yourself from negativity whenever confronted by unfavorable, uncomfortable situation in life. I think of happiness as the ultimate spiritual gain of life; it’s what soothes our pain and keeps us functioning. As a society, we may fall into thinking that happiness comes from possessions, wealth or prestige. Although it’s true that these contribute to our happiness, they may not gauge how happy we truly are. Sure, it would be nice to have luxury car, expensive clothes and tons of cash, but at the end of the day these things don’t define life for me. I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to take me for shopping with him, and he would buy me all the things I wanted, toys, food, ice cream, clothes etc.., and after we would get home, he would ask me if I was happy that day, I would tell him that I enjoyed the trip, but I didn't go to the zoo, or didn't buy everything I wanted, and therefore I was unhappy. My dad would look at me and say this to me “contentment is an inexhaustible treasure.”

I didn't know what these words meant when I was a kid, that’s because I didn't equate the concept of happiness with contentment at that time. Being happy meant new clothes, new toys, more candy and less worry. The concept of happiness evolved within me as I grew up and began to have my own experiences with life, and that happiness exists within us, it’s just a mentality we build, rather than a goal we aim for.

Freedom of choice is very fundamental to achieving happiness. You can never be happy with what you’re doing if you’re not satisfied. Everyone has a right to find joy in life in their own unique way. One of the most fundamental principles this country was built on is the pursuit of happiness. The founding fathers described happiness as a right everyone entitled to, and that it comes as a result of both life, and liberty; a very natural rights that should be safeguarded for every human being.

Applying this concept on myself, I can say that I��m happier than when I was two years ago. I traveled to the Ukraine to study medicine, along with a group of international students. Last year I made a decision, which is to return back to the United States to resume my college education here. I can say that this decision was one of the reasons why I’m happy with my life today. Finding joy in what you do in life brings joy, but the freedom to choose what to do with your life is a greater one.

Positive thinking leads to happiness, According to a study conducted by Dr Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina. Her research reveals that negative thoughts narrow your mind and make you less focused, a strategy that our brain utilizes to bring us out of danger. Often times when we are fearful or feel stressed out about something, we begin to lose our attention. Dr Fredrickson then systematically tests the impact of positive thinking on brain. She sets up an experiment in which five different groups were shown different clips that convey different emotions. The first two groups were shown a clip that created positive feelings, such as joy and contentment. The last two groups were shown a clip with negative emotions, such as fear and anger, while the third group was the control group and were shown a clip of neutral emotions. The subjects were then given a piece of paper to write how they would react if they were in these situations. The study found that people who were in the first two groups had the highest number of responses.

Happiness may also lead to a better health. Numerous studies have found that happy people tend to live longer than those who are unhappy. One study by the University of Illinois professor Ed Diener analyzed the long term effects of happiness on our lives. In a comprehensive review of eight different types of studies, he concluded that feeling positive and staying away from depression, can indeed lead to longer life and better health. In another study which followed 5000 college students for 40 years, found that those who were pessimistic as students tended to live shorter than their peers. Laboratory experiments on humans show that positive moods induce a proper immune response, and subsequently makes us less susceptible to diseases, and contribute to better health.

Happiness is a path we take, it’s a not a goal to aim for. Many of us will try to achieve happiness, but it’s not something that’s fully can be achieved. Happiness comes from within, it’s the peace of mind, tranquility of the heart, and a good sense of fulfillment. it's a deeply buried emotion in our minds, and it’s up to each one of us to be able to dig it out. Depending on each person’s mood, reactions and circumstances, we may experience happiness differently, and thus we express it differently.

Although I've not chosen a concrete research topic, I would like to know few things about happiness.The first is how can happiness improve our health? the second question makes me wonder if there are any negative side effects to happiness; why do the happiest states have the highest suicide rate? the last question is, what can be done to sustain happiness in our lives?

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