46 AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER 1 2008
ILLUSTRATIONBY JESSELEFKOWITZ
P S Y C H O L O G Y
W
WHAT IF,
asacagedwhite rat learns topress
a lever in order to get food, we could learn
topress our ownmental buttons and voilà:
— happiness? Could we train ourselves so
well thatwe’d start togethappy inanticipa-
tion, à laPavlov’sdogwith food?
The short answers:We can, and yes.
Of course, the truth is way complicat-
ed. The study of happiness reaches back
thousands of years, to philosophers you’ve
(probably) never heard of. It dealswith the
humanbrain, still amysteryeven toneurol-
ogists. And these days, it’s making its way
throughacademic journalsand conferences
anduniversityclassrooms, bubblingup into
thepopularpress everyonce inawhile, likenow.Happiness— justwhat is it?What causes
it?Can it be cultivated?
The answers to these questions, once the province of philosophy, nowbelong topositive
psychology, anewishbranchof thepsychologyprofession that studieshealthyminds rather
than sickones. Thanks topositivepsychologists,wenowknow the following:
•The thingswe thinkwillmakeushappyoftendon’t.
•Moneydoesnotmakeushappy.
•Havingmoremoney thanourneighborsmight.
•Andhaving less than theneighbors is guaranteed to interfere, big-time.
•Friends and familydomakeushappy.
•Movingaway from them for agreat new jobdoesn’t.
•Old fogies arehappier than the young.
•Beautiful peoplearen’t happier than the rest of us (they just lookbetterunhappy).
•Having lots of choicesdoesn’tmakeushappy; it seriously stressesus out.
•Oh, and commuting is an immensedragongrossnational happiness.
ThePursuit
ofHappiness
Putting on a
happy face is
positively all
in themind.
By
TracyStaton
