Even happiness can have a dark side, accordin to a new review article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. They say that happiness shouldn't be thought of as a universally good thing, and outline four ways in which this is the case. Having said that, it may be opined that, not all types and degrees of happiness are equally good, and even pursuing happiness can make people feel worse. As June Gruber of Yale University says, by setting a goal of happiness can backfire. One of the many downsides of happiness is - people who strive for happiness may end up worse off than when they started.
Often we are suggested tools for making ourselves happy, which ofcourse aren't necessarily bad - like taking time everyday to think about things we are happy about or grateful for, or setting up situations that are likely to make us happy. "But when you're doing it with the motivation or expectation that these things ought to make you happy, that can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness." Gruber says. For instance, a study conducted by Mauss and colleagues found that people who read newspaper article extolling the value of happiness felt worse after watching a happy film than people who read newspaper article that didn't mention happiness - presumably because they were disappointed they didn't feel happier. Too much happiness can also be a problem, according to a Yale University press release.
In one study that followed children from the 1920s to old age found that those who died younger were rated as highly cheerful by their teachers. Researchers have found that people who are feeling extreme amounts of happiness may not think as creatively ane also tend to take more risks. For instance, people who have mania, such as in bipolar disorder, have an excess degree of positve emotions that can lead them to risks, like substance abuse, driving too fast, or spending their life savings. But even for people who don't have of a psychiatric disorder, "too high of a degree of happiness can be bad." Gruber says.
Another problem is feeling happiness inappropriately; obviously, it is not healthy to feel happy when you see someone crying over the loss of a loved one or when you hear a friend was injured in a car crash. Yet the research has found this inappropriate happiness also occurs in people with mania.
Happiness also can mean being short on negative emotions - which have their place in life as well. Fear can keep you from taking unecessary risks; guilt can help remind you to behave well towards others.
Indeed, psychological scientists have discovered what appears to really increase happiness. "The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame," Gruber says, "It's having meaningful social relationships."
(June Gruber is from Yale University who co- wrote an article on happiness and its dark side with Iris Mauss of the University of Denver and Maya Tamir of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
Often we are suggested tools for making ourselves happy, which ofcourse aren't necessarily bad - like taking time everyday to think about things we are happy about or grateful for, or setting up situations that are likely to make us happy. "But when you're doing it with the motivation or expectation that these things ought to make you happy, that can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness." Gruber says. For instance, a study conducted by Mauss and colleagues found that people who read newspaper article extolling the value of happiness felt worse after watching a happy film than people who read newspaper article that didn't mention happiness - presumably because they were disappointed they didn't feel happier. Too much happiness can also be a problem, according to a Yale University press release.
In one study that followed children from the 1920s to old age found that those who died younger were rated as highly cheerful by their teachers. Researchers have found that people who are feeling extreme amounts of happiness may not think as creatively ane also tend to take more risks. For instance, people who have mania, such as in bipolar disorder, have an excess degree of positve emotions that can lead them to risks, like substance abuse, driving too fast, or spending their life savings. But even for people who don't have of a psychiatric disorder, "too high of a degree of happiness can be bad." Gruber says.
Another problem is feeling happiness inappropriately; obviously, it is not healthy to feel happy when you see someone crying over the loss of a loved one or when you hear a friend was injured in a car crash. Yet the research has found this inappropriate happiness also occurs in people with mania.
Happiness also can mean being short on negative emotions - which have their place in life as well. Fear can keep you from taking unecessary risks; guilt can help remind you to behave well towards others.
Indeed, psychological scientists have discovered what appears to really increase happiness. "The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame," Gruber says, "It's having meaningful social relationships."
(June Gruber is from Yale University who co- wrote an article on happiness and its dark side with Iris Mauss of the University of Denver and Maya Tamir of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
nice article, everything has two side :D
ReplyDeleteI must agree with you on that! It is good that we know both good and bad things, even though they may seem to be good, some things aren't always they seem to be, same with things that look bad too, they are also not that bad as they appear after all....:D
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