Teaching

Issues in the Study of Happiness

This course meets twice a week for 75 minutes over about 14 weeks. Students purchased a two central books

Daniel Nettle's Happiness and
the Foundations of Hedonic Psychology
Kahneman, Diener and Schwarz (eds)
(and a copy of Brave New World); all other readings can be found on-line for free. I have marked (most of) the popular articles by indicating their source in parentheses. Click here for a syllabus (pdf).

The order of the following list of classes is not quite the order of what was taught in SP 07 - I pulled several topics out to the front in order to get the students into the material. For more information on this, please see the calendar (pdf) for that term.

Please contact me by email (cathalwoods at gmail dot com) if . . .

you make use of these materials and how you find them
you can direct me to other good material, whether written, audio, or visual.

1. Background

i. Some Broad Popular Articles on Happiness Studies.

Reading: Wallis (Time) 'The New Science of Happiness' text, Sizer (WaPo) 'Happy?' text, Lanchester (New Yorker) 'Pursuing Happiness' text, Wade (The Times) 'So what do you have to do to be happy?' text
Other Materials: Harford (Slate) 'The Not-So-Dismal Science' text, audio version

ii. Levels of Happiness and Unhappiness.

Reading: pp. 14-20 of Layard Lecture 1 pp. 15-21 text, A Plateau of Happiness? Graphic from NYTimes October 3, 2005 image
Other Materials: Stephens 'Richest Country, Saddest People' (WSJournal March 9, 2007) text, Lane Ch. 2, Layard Chs. 1-3, Easterbrook Ch. 5

2. What Is Happiness?

Many issues are tangled up in the following pieces which are perhaps distinguishable. These include: 1. Pleasure vs. Satisfaction; 2. Subjective vs. Objective; 3. Authenticity; 4. Maximal Development; 5. Not the telos; 6. Closely (Conceptually) Related Psychological Traits.

i. The History of Happiness.

Reading: McMahon 'From the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness' in Daedalus 133.2 text
Other Materials: McMahon, See also the articles by Annas and Nussbaum in the special issue of Daedalus on happiness.

ii. Different Conceptions.

Reading: Brave New World pp. 1-63 and 147-165, and Nettle Introduction and Ch. 1 (pp. 1-33)
Other Materials:

iii. Meaning of "Happiness" (1).

Reading: Haybron 'Philosophy and the Science of SWB' text, Haybron 'Life Satisfaction, Ethical Reflection and the Science of Happiness' especially section 3 text
Other Materials: Traister 'Getting Over Happiness' (Salon) text, Haybron 'Two Philosophical Problems in the Study of Happiness' text, Haybron 'Happiness, the Self, and Human Flourishing' text

iv. Meaning of "Happiness" (2).

Reading: White Chapter 5, Diener & Suh 'National Differences in Subjective Well-Being' in KDS
Other Materials: Crisp 'Well-being' (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry) text, James 'Achievement and the Meaningfulness of Life' text, Kupperman Ch. 2, Lyubomirsky 'What are the differences between Happiness and Self-Esteem?'text

3. Measuring Happiness

i. Measuring SWB.

Reading: Take a look at these instruments: PANAS text, SWLS text, Kahneman at al. 'The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM): Instrument Documentation' text and read Kahneman et al. 'Developments in the Measurement of SWB' text
Other Materials: Diener and Pavot "Review of SWLS' text, Kahneman, Diener and Schwartz 'Preface' in KDS , Kahneman 'Objective Happiness' in KDS , Krueger and Schkade 'The Reliability of SWB Measures' text, Lane Ch. 16, Larson and Fredrickson 'Measurement Issues in Emotion Research' in KDS, Lyubomirsky and Lepper 'A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation' text

ii. Measuring Happiness (2).

Reading: Schwarz and Strack 'Reports of Subjective Well-Being' in KDS
Other Materials: | Kahneman et al. 'Toward National Well-Being Accounts' text, Schwarz et al. 'Global and Episodic Reports of SWB' text, White Chapter 6

4. Causes and Correlates of Happiness

i. Survey.

Reading: Nettle Chs. 3 and 4, Myers 'Secrets of Happiness' (Psychology Today) text, Pew Research Center 'Are We Happy Yet?' text
Other Materials: Argyle 'Causes and Correlates of Happiness' in KDS, Diener & Seligman 'Very Happy People' text, Easterlin 'Life Cycle Happiness and Its Sources' text, Easterlin 'Is There An Iron Law of Happiness?' text, Easterlin 'Explaining Happiness' text, Layard Ch. 5, 6, Veenhoven 'Conclusions' to Conditions of Happiness text

ii. Personality.

Reading: Diener and Lucas 'Personality and Subjective Well-Being' in KDS,
Other Materials: Harper 'Personal Values ...' text, Lyubomirsky 'The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?' text, Lyubomirsky and Ross, 'Changes in Attractiveness of Elected, Rejected, and Precluded Alternatives: A Comparison of Happy and Unhappy Individuals' text, Lyubomirsky 'The Art of Living By Dispositionally Happy People' text, Lyubomirsky 'Responses to hedonically conflicting social comparisons: comparing happy and unhappy people' text, Lyubomirsky 'Hedonic Consequences of Social Comparison: A Contrast of Happy and Unhappy People' text, Minkle 'Happiness: Good for Creativity, Bad for Single-Minded Focus' (Scientific American) text, Lane Ch. 17, Wilson 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right' (NYTimes) text

iii. Personal-Situational.

Reading: Myers 'Close Relationships and Quality of Life' in KDS, Kohler 'Partner + Children = Happiness?' text
Other Materials: Blanchflower & Oswald 'Money, Sex and Happiness' text, Lane Chs. 5 and 6, Schwartz 'Self-Determination: The Tyranny of Freedom' text, Wilson & Oswald 'How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health?' text

iv. Employment.

Reading: Warr 'Well-Being and the Workplace' in KDS, Clark & Oswald 'Unhappiness and Unemployment' Available via J-Stor, Spiesel 'Jolly Rogers: Why are British men healthier than American ones?' (Slate) text
Other Materials: Bšckerman & Ilmakunnas 'The Elusive Effect of Unemployment on Happiness' text, DiTella, McCullough & Oswald 'Preferences Over Inflation and Unemployment' text, Michael Marmot's work on health and work is also relevant . . . Guardian article, Berkeley Interview (Audio), Berkeley Interview Text, Whitehall

v. Economic (1).

Reading: DiTella & McCullough 'Some Uses of Happiness Data in Economics' text, Easterlin 'The Economics of Happiness' text, Kahneman et al. 'Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer?' text, A Plateau of Happiness? Graphic from NYTimes October 3, 2005 image, A Map of World Happiness image Ban-Ami 'There is No Paradox of Prosperity' (Spiked) text
Other Materials: Frey & Stutzer Ch. 4, Norberg 'The Scientist's Pursuit of Happiness' text, See also Kahneman on Prospect Theory e.g. section 3 of his Nobel Prize lecture, Harford (Slate) 'I Want It Now' text, etc., etc.,

vi. Economic (2) - Consumerism.

Reading: Schwartz et al. 'Is Freedom Just Another Word for Many Things to Buy?' text, Schwartz at TED video, Read the non-technical sections of Schwartz, Lyubomirsky et al. 'Maximizing Versus Satisficing: Happiness Is a Matter of Choice' text Other Materials: | Frank 'The Gasoline-Powered Raise' (NYTimes) text, Gladwell at TED video, Gross 'You're Not Rich, But Now You Can Fake It' (Slate) text, Lane Ch. 7 (along with Ch. 4 pp. 71-6), Lane Ch. (8), 9, (10) Polak and McCullough 'Is Gratitude an Alternative to Materialism?' text

vii. Political Instituions/Participation.

Reading: Inglehart and Klingermann 'Genes, Culture, Democracy and Happiness' from Deiner & Suh, Norberg 'The Scientist's Pursuit of Happiness' text
Other Materials: Frey & Stutzer Chs. 7, 8, 9, Lane Chs. 11-13, Murray 'The Pursuit of Happiness Under Socialism and Capitalism' text

viii. Genetics.

Reading: Lykken & Tellegen 'Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon' text, Seligman-Pinker Correspondence text, Lyubomirsky & Sheldon 'Achieving Sustainable New Happiness' text
Other Materials: Fujita & Diener 'Life Satisfaction Set-Point' text, Lucas 'Reexamining Adaptation and the Set Point Model of Happiness: Reactions to Changes in Marital Status' text, Lucas et al 'Lags and Leads in Life Satisfaction' text, Lyubomirsky interview with Caroline Miller audio

5. Psychological Difficulties

i. Evolutionary Psychology.

Reading: Nettle Chs. 5, 6, 7, Landsburg 'Why God Created Junk Food' text
Other Materials: Lane Ch. 3, Rayo & Becker 'Evolutionary Efficiency and Happiness' text, Rayo & Becker 'Evolutionary Efficiency and Mean Reversion in Happiness' text, Rayo & Becker 'On the Foundations of Happiness' text
Some background articles on evolutionary psychology: Cosmides & Tooby 'Better Than Rational' text, Duchaine, Cosmides & Tooby 'Evolutionary Psychology and the Brain' text, von Hippel et al 'Evolutionary Psychology and Social Thinking' text, Lloyd 'Evolutionary Psychology: The Burdens of Proof' text, Panksepp & Panksepp 'The Seven Sins of Evolutionary Psychology' text

ii. Aspirative Treadmill.

Reading: Treadmills in general: Layard Lecture 2 pp. 3-10 text, Aspirative treadmill specifically:
Other Materials: Generally: Layard Ch. 4, Diener 'The Nonobvious Social Psychology of Happiness' text. Specifically: Cassidy 'Relatively Deprived: How Poor is Poor?' text, Coase 'The Problem of Social Cost' text, Easterlin 'The Income-Happiness Relationship' text, Firebaugh and Tach 'Relative Income and Happiness' pp. 5-8 and 25-9 text, Frank 'Are Positional Externalities Different From Other Externalities?' pp. 1-20 text, Frank 'Positional Externalities Cause Large and Preventable Welfare Losses' text, Frey & Stutzer Ch. 4, Gross 'You're Not Rich, but Now You Can Fake It' (Slate) text, Veblen 'Pecuniary Emuation' (Ch. 2 of Theory of the Leisure Class) text

iii. Adaptation.

Reading: Frederick and Loewenstein 'Hedonic Adaptation' in KDS pp. 311-8, Easterlin 'A Puzzle for Adaptive Theory' text, Easterlin 'The Economics of Happiness' text
Other Materials: Oswald 'Does Happiness Adapt? A Longitudinal Study of Disability' text, Oswald 'Money and Mental Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study of Medium-Sized Lottery Wins' text

iv. Affective Forecasting (& Memory) (1) .

Reading: Nettle pp. 33-44, Kahneman et al. 'Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer?' text, Loewenstein and Schkade 'Wouldn't It Be Nice?' in KDS Other Materials: |

v. Affective Forecasting (2).

Reading: Gilbert 'Miswanting' (GilbertMiswanting.pdf) text, Gilbert Interview with Diane Rehm audio Other Materials: Gilbert 'Focalism: A Source of Durability Bias in Affective Forecasting' text, Gilbert 'Immune Neglect: A Source of Durability Bias in Affective Forecasting' text, Gilbert at TED video

6. Change - Individual Responses

i. Neuroplasticity.

Reading:
Davidson et al. 'Emotion, Plasticity, Context, and Regulation: Perspectives From Affective Neuroscience' text Lehrer 'The Reinvention of the Self' (Seed) text (skim until you get to the most relevant part) Begley NPR Interview with Sharon Begley audio
Other Materials: Thernstrom 'My Pain, My Brain' (NYTimes) text, Rock & Schwartz 'The Neuroscience of Leadership' text, Rowinski 'Buddhism and Psychology' text Wallace & Shapiro 'Mental Balance and Well-Being' text, Sharma 'Meditation and Mental Well-Being' text

ii. Positive Psychology.

Reading: Short VIA Survey questionnaire, Long VIA Survey questionnaire, Flow Questionnaire [no longer available], Duckworth, Steen & Seligman 'Positive Psychology in Clinical Practice' text, Seligman 'Positive Psychotherapy' text
Other Materials: Csikszentmihalyi 'Finding Flow' (Psychology Today) text, Csikszentmihalyi 'Flow With Soul' text, Frederickson interview with Caroline Miller audio, Haidt 'How To Become Happier' text, Harper 'Personal Values ...' text, Linley et al. 'Positive Psychology: Past, Present and (possible) Future' [no longer available], McCullough et al. 'Gratitude in Intermediate Affective Terrain: Links of Grateful Moods to Individual Differences and Daily Emotional Experiences' text, Park, Peterson & Seligman 'Strengths of Character and Well-Being' text, Peterson and Seligman 'Introduction' to Character Strengths and Virtues [No longer available. As a brief substitute, see text], Seligman 'Positive Psychology, Positive Prevention, and Positive Therapy' text, Seligman et al. 'Shared Virtue: The Convergence of Valued Human Strengths Across Culture and History' [Available via JStor], Seligman et al. 'Positive Psychology Progress 2004' text, Seligman et al. 'Positive Psychology Progress 2005' text, Seligman 'Staying Happier For Longer' (BBC) text, Sheldon and Lyubomirsky 'How to Increase and Sustain Positive Emotion: The Effects of Expressing Gratitude and Visualizing Best Possible Selves' text, Sheldon and Lyubomirsky 'Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, Not Your Circumstances' text, Tkach & Lyubomirsky 'How do people pursue happiness?' text

iii. Positive Psychology - Criticisms.

Reading: Haidt 'It's more fun to work on strengths than weaknesses (but it may not be better for you)' [No longer available], Handler '20 Weeks to Happiness' text, Norem 'Presentation of Cognitive Strategies' (Norempessimism.pdf) [No longer available]
Other Materials: Nesse 'Natural Selection and the Elusiveness of Happiness' text, Peterson 'The Future of Optimism' [no longer available], Schwartz and Sharpe 'Practical Wisdom: Aristotle meets Positive Psychology' text

7. Change - Political Responses

i. Happiness as a Political Goal.

Reading: For a quick intro read the pieces by Schwartz and Wilkinson at Cato. Then read Diener & Seligman 'Beyond Money' text and Frey & Stutzer 'Should National Happiness Be Maximized?' text
Other Materials: Frey & Stutzer Chapter 2, Layard Chapters 8, 9, WBUR On Point 'Economics of happiness' audio, Wilkinson 'In Pursuit of Happiness Research' text, Van Praag and Frijters 'The Measurement of Welfare' in KDS

ii. Happiness-Directed Social Policy.

Reading:
Layard 'Lecture 3' text. The country of Bhutan had already adopted many such policies. See Herrera 'Zen and the Art of Happiness' text Other Materials: Gurung 'Accountability and Gross National Happiness' (in Bhutan) [no longer available], Lane Ch. 15, Layard Ch. 10-11, 14, Layard 'Human Satisfactions and Public Policy' [no longer available], Priesner 'Gross National Happiness: Bhutan's Vision of Development and its Challenges' [no longer available]

iii. Taxation.

Reading: Read Layard Lecture 2 pp. 10 ff text, then Wilkinson 'Happiness is . . . Higher Taxes' text and the last 4 paras of Jasay 'More Nonsense on Stilts' text and then Geoghegan 'We Are All Waiters Now' text
Other Materials: For more on taxation as a deterrent to overwork, see the papers by Frank, above. Griffith 'Progressive Taxation and Happiness' text, Kaiser 'In Finland's Footsteps' (WaPo) text, Layard Ch. 10, Norberg 'Swedish Models' text, Steele 'Richard Layard's Happiness' [no longer available], Shea 'Vive la Welfare State!' (Boston Globe) text

Books/Journal Special Issues

Daedalus Vol. 133.2
Diener & Suh, Culture and Subjective Well-Being, 0262541467
Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox, 978-0812973037
Frey & Stutzer, Happines and Economics, 0691069980
Huxley. Aldous, Brave New World, [multiple editions]
Kahneman & Diener & Schwartz, Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, 0871544237
Klein, Stefan, The Science of Happiness, 156924328X
Lane, Robert, The Loss of happiness in Market Democracies, 0300078013
Layard, Richard, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, 1594200394 (hb)
Lykken, David, Happiness: The Nature and Nurture of Joy and Contentment, 0312263333
McMahon, Darrin, Happiness: A History, 0871138867
Nettle, Daniel, Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile, 0192805584
Peterson, Christopher and Martin Seligman, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, 0195167015
White, Nicholas, A Brief History of Happiness, 1405115203 (pb) 140511519X (hb)

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