Posted by pseudoname on October 7, 2006, at 13:09:19
Research in do-it-yourself techniques to increase chronic personal happiness suggests it’s possible to move your own hedonic “set point” up for long-term increases in happiness. Really simple stuff, but apparently you have to do them *just right* for you.
(Example 1) Students who wrote down a list of things they were grateful for (“counting their blessings”) reported themselves significantly happier than before and much better off than the control group (who wrote no list) at the end of the six-week study. HOWEVER, this was only true if the students made the grateful-for list ONCE a week. Students who did it three times a week reported themselves WORSE off!
Why? The authors talk about getting the right fit between the person and the happiness-increasing activity. “The particular techniques considered most effective for raising happiness varied greatly from one individual to another and appeared to be determined by each participant’s needs and areas of specific weakness.” The 3-times-a-week group of students was doing the project during exam time: it may have been too much work at the time.
(Example 2) Other students who deliberately did five small kind things each week for other people reported themselves much happier than the control group at the end of six weeks. HOWEVER, this was only true if the students did all five kind acts on ONE day, rather than if they spread the kindnesses out throughout the week. This was counter-intuitive to me.
The researchers think that spreading the kind acts out throughout the week made them less distinguishable from normal behavior. Happiness-improving acts must be done mindfully and intentionally, not habitually or by rote, in order to get the benefits. Perhaps they should be grouped, done intermittently, or otherwise varied in order to keep them feeling fresh.
We soon get used to new stuff and improved living conditions and to relief from particular stresses. The authors conclude: “Only life changes involving intentional activity can be expected to lead to sustainable changes in well-being.”
The full article is currently available online only as a Google cache:
• “Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change” by Sonja Lyubomirsky, Kennon M Sheldon, David Schkade. Review of General Psychology (2005), vol 9, no 2, pgs 111–131: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?num=30&hl=en&lr=&q=cache:C8R2J47LLg8J:138.23.71.114/papers/LSS2005.pdf+author:LyubomirskyThere’s an inadequate summary at the American Psychological Assn magazine:
• “A key to happiness” by Zak Stambor, APA Monitor on Psychology (October 2006), vol 37, no 9, pg 34: http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct06/key.html
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