Delanceyplace.com 11/3/08-Happiness
In today's excerpt--happiness:
"Imagine a long, terrible dental procedure. You are rigid in the chair, hands clenched, soaked with sweat--and then the dentist leans over and says, 'We're done now. You can go home. But if you want, I'd be happy to top you off with a few minutes of mild pain.'
"There is a good argument for saying 'Yes. Please do.'
"The psychologist and recent Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman conducted a series of studies on the memory of painful events, such as colonoscopies. He discovered that when we think back on these events, we are influenced by the intensity of the endings, and so we have a more positive memory of an experience that ends with mild pain than of one that ends with extreme pain, even if the mild pain is added to the same amount of extreme pain. At the moment the dentist makes you his offer, you would, of course, want to say no--but later on, you would be better off if you had said yes, because your overall memory of the event wouldn't be as unpleasant.
"Such contradictions arise all the time. If you ask people which makes them happier, work or vacation, they will remind you that they work for money and spend the money on vacations. But if you give them a beeper that goes off at random times, and ask them to record their activity and mood each time they hear a beep, you'll likely find that they are happier at work. Work is often engaging and social; vacations are often boring and stressful. Similarly, if you ask people about their greatest happiness in life, more than a third mention their children or grandchildren, but when they use a diary to record their happiness, it turns out that taking care of the kids is a downer--parenting ranks just a bit higher than housework, and falls below sex, socializing with friends, watching TV, praying, eating, and cooking."
Paul Bloom, "First Person Plural," The Atlantic, November 2008, pp. 90-92.
In today's excerpt--happiness:
"Imagine a long, terrible dental procedure. You are rigid in the chair, hands clenched, soaked with sweat--and then the dentist leans over and says, 'We're done now. You can go home. But if you want, I'd be happy to top you off with a few minutes of mild pain.'
"There is a good argument for saying 'Yes. Please do.'
"The psychologist and recent Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman conducted a series of studies on the memory of painful events, such as colonoscopies. He discovered that when we think back on these events, we are influenced by the intensity of the endings, and so we have a more positive memory of an experience that ends with mild pain than of one that ends with extreme pain, even if the mild pain is added to the same amount of extreme pain. At the moment the dentist makes you his offer, you would, of course, want to say no--but later on, you would be better off if you had said yes, because your overall memory of the event wouldn't be as unpleasant.
"Such contradictions arise all the time. If you ask people which makes them happier, work or vacation, they will remind you that they work for money and spend the money on vacations. But if you give them a beeper that goes off at random times, and ask them to record their activity and mood each time they hear a beep, you'll likely find that they are happier at work. Work is often engaging and social; vacations are often boring and stressful. Similarly, if you ask people about their greatest happiness in life, more than a third mention their children or grandchildren, but when they use a diary to record their happiness, it turns out that taking care of the kids is a downer--parenting ranks just a bit higher than housework, and falls below sex, socializing with friends, watching TV, praying, eating, and cooking."
Paul Bloom, "First Person Plural," The Atlantic, November 2008, pp. 90-92.
posted by delanceyplace at 7:30 AM
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