Below you will see the essential questions from our unit. Think about the articles you read. What do the different writers and researchers have to say? How would they answer the questions? What details/studies/quotes in the articles relate to the questions?
Directions: Pick those questions that you think are most relevant to the articles you read. For each article you read, create a post in which you discuss a relevant connection to the questions you picked. You can include any of the following in your post, but DO NOT SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY SAID:
1. You can paraphrase what you think the author would say in response to the question.
2. You can connect specific evidence from the article to the question.
3. You can connect a specific quote from the article to the question.
4. You can connect a specific example from the article to the question.
5. You can take what someone else already posted and develop their idea with
another piece of evidence from the article.
6. You can respectfully disagree with what someone else already said and use
evidence from the article to back up your idea.
Important: Be sure to identify titles, authors, and researchers (if you are quoting any studies). Do not just list info., evidence, or quotes from the article. You must discuss the text details you use and clearly connect them to an answer to the question. Also, remember this is an academic blog, not a text or a tweet, so use clear, respectful, and formal language, and proofread!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
The text we create together will be useful to you
as you start to come up with ideas for the up-coming paper!
EQ #1:
ReplyDeleteWhat is happiness?
What does true happiness look like or feel like?
How does true happiness compare to fleeting moments of pleasure or mild contentment?
How can we measure happiness?
The Essence of Joy in Life is Adventure and Risk-taking by Tyler-Radford Virginia
DeleteHappiness to me is getting to go out, and trying something new. As the author states, "I believe true inspiration and joy stems from the courage to take risks and embrace adventure". Getting to try something new can help you grow as a person.
Delete“Happiness is a Glas Half Empty” by Oliver Burkeman
Happiness isn't trying to have great experiences, it’s accepting the bad ones and being okay with them. True happiness is enjoying your life and being content with it. Happiness is not the fleeting moments like buying a new car, or a new house. Happiness can’t be measured in numbers, but it can be measured by how you feel everyday when you wake up and also over long periods of time.
“Happiness is a Glass Half Empty”
DeleteBy Oliver Burkeman
EQ #1:
What is happiness?
Happiness is accepting and dealing with everything that life throws at you, this means facing all of those negative experiences and emotions. According to Stoics notes, “things will almost certainly go less wrong than you feared”(5). After facing all those unpleasant events life throws at you, you will realize that they weren’t at all as bad as you thought they were going to be. This will leave you pleasantly surprised in a state of happiness.
“Theres more to life then being happy” By: Emily Esfhani Smith
DeleteWhy is happiness important?
Happiness is important because with out it you wont want to live anymore. Like in the article “Theres more to life then being happy”, Viktor Frankl went into concentration camps and helped people who thought they should kill themselves but he had to show them that they had something to live for. And thats how he lived through the camps.
What is happiness?
Delete“Buy Experiences not things “ by James Hamblin
Happiness to me is not about buying things but rather spending time with people i care about. “l...People tend to be more generous when they have just thought about an experiential purchase as opposed to a material purchase.” (4). As research shows spending time doing something together brings people more joy than buying things.
"There's More to Life Than Being Happy" By: Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteHappiness is important because it makes life better. Not having happiness makes things boring and depressing. In this article Viktor Frankl, who is a survivor of the holocaust lost his wife and parents in the Nazi Concentration camp. It show that you could be stuck in the worst situation and get through it and still be happy in the end is unbelievable.
"Buy Experiences, Not Things" By: James Hamblin
Delete"Live in anticipation, gathering stories and memories." This article talks about how money isn't everything. There was a survey on how people with a lot of money weren't as happy as people that had little money. It's all about being with family an friends and having good memories with them. Going on a family vacation and having good memories and being all together enjoying each others company.
In the article “Flow” by The Pursuit of Happiness they explain happiness as a thing you can achieve through a state of flow. The article states “for a flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable (intrinsically motivating), and it must require skill and be challenging with clear goals toward success.” People normally categorize happiness as an emotion but a flow state is characterized by the absence of emotion. He explains happiness more of a place then a state of being. Throughout the article he says the more in focus you are with the flow state the more happy you will be.
DeleteEQ#2:
ReplyDeleteWhat are the things that contribute to happiness?
What are the things that take away from our ability to be happy?
How is our environment connected to our happiness?
ReplyDelete
DeleteCarol WhiteSeptember 28, 2015 at 5:43 AM
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
Apparently, money has less to do with our happiness once we reach a certain income level ($50,000 according to a TIME magazine poll). In fact, for the middle class, a comfortable living standard led to more "reference anxiety" where people judge their own lives by comparing themselves to others, usually the very wealthy (2). As a result, they are less happy with what they have. So that environment created by our materialistic culture has caused more anxiety and less happiness
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” By: Jon Gertner
DeleteOne thing that gets in the way of our happiness is “emotional forecasting”. As humans we tend to overestimate how things will make us feel, for example a new car really won’t make us that happy and the death of a family member doesn’t mean a hopeless sad future. Our predictions of the “emotional consequences of certain events” are often far off. According to the author “...a life without forecasting errors would most likely be a better, happier life.” Our “emotional forecasting” heavily impacts the human quest for happiness.
“Buy Experiences, Not Things” By James Hamblin
DeletePeople think that buying things can make someone happy. “Happiness is in the content of moment-to-moment experiences” (1). Happiness is in experience and being happy in a moment of an experience, not buying something that will make you happy for a while and then the happiness of that object goes away. Objects can take away our ability to be happy because someone who bought something rather than an experience could forget about what they bought or lose interest in what they bought, but with an experience you will always remember it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” By Jon Gertner
DeleteOne thing that takes away and adds to our ability to be happy is how we adapt to our changing circumstances (5). When something positive happens to us that increases our happiness we get used to the conditions and we put the things that used to make us happy in the background of our life causing them to lose their effect on us. Therefore because we are constantly getting used to the things that make us happy we are also always searching for something else to increase our joy. This shows how even though, adapting to our circumstances decreases our happiness it can also indirectly lead to contentment in a determined person.
“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” -Jon Gertner
DeleteOne thing that takes away from happiness is our prediction of happiness. “When it comes to predicting exactly how you will feel in the future, you are most likely wrong”(1). If we expect something to make us very happy, it usually won’t make us as happy as we thought. This leaves us a little disappointed and saddened.
“Happiness is a glass half empty” -Oliver Burkeman
DeleteThe author states, “Failure is everywhere”(3) so we need to accept it in our life. It is our action to run away from failure that leads us to be miserable. In other words, it’s the act of seeking happiness that makes us unhappy. If you’re not afraid to fail, you can truly be happy. The “Museum of Failed Products” is a prime example of the lack of fear to fail. If those creators had been too afraid of failure, these products would’ve never seen the light of day.
Things that contribute to happiness
Delete“There’s more to life than being happy” by Emily Esfahani Smith
Good friends and a good environment contribute to one's happiness. Sometimes we can not control our environment and in those cases having a clear purpose in life can contribute to happiness. As “ The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances” (1). In other words one's attitude regardless of the situation can lead to happiness.
"Happiness is a glass half empty" By Oliver Burkeman
DeleteIn this article, the author talks about a "Failed Products" museum. Its trying to show that failure surrounds us and its what you do after you fail that makes you happy. I think that the the failed products museum, is a way to show that people get sick of things very easily. That everyone is so happy and excited when you first get something new but shortly after it just because a normal thing you have. Soon after the product will fail because people out there are making new more advanced products. Products cant buy you happiness, the happiness is temporary.
EQ#3:
ReplyDeleteHow much control do we have over our own happiness?
What kinds of life choices will lead to happiness?
Is happiness possible even in circumstances in which we have no control?
“Happiness is a glass half empty” By Oliver Burkeman
DeleteMr. Burkeman discussed one main life decision that can lead to happiness, his idea was that in order to succeed you can not avoid the thought of failure (3). This was shown through all of the products at the Museum of Failed Products. If the inventors had considered the concept of failure, then their products might not have ended up in the museum (1-3). Someone must be willing to play devil’s advocate in order to fix the problems that would keep the item from succeeding. Once you apply this concept to your life then the things you do will not only be more successful, but through triumph you will also be more happy.
Delete“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner
We could have control over your happiness if we knew what would make us happy, but we don't. When we do the things that we think will make us happy, the happiness usually wears of quickly. Daniel Gilbert became a psychologist through a series of events that he did not expect, this shows that happiness cannot always be achieved through a specific and planned out series of events.
“Flow” -The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
DeleteEQ#3:
How much control do we have over our own happiness?
We have ultimate control over our own long term happiness. It seems like many people are so focused on being happy in the present that they don’t think about how they will feel in the future. For an example; people that spend their time doing “low flow activities” such as video games, TV and socializing experience higher levels of fun and happiness than those people that live in a “high flow” lifestyle such as sports, work, homework, etc (3). Although those “low flow” people will not experience long term happiness, like the “high flow” people will experience. Therefore you are responsible to make these decisions that contribute to your happiness.
Is happiness possible even in circumstances in which we have no control?
Delete“FLow” The pursuit of happiness
If you experience something extraordinary you experience something called flow. Flow can be found in many parts of your everyday experience, if you are living in the moment. “The experience of flow in both professional and leisure activities leads to increased positive affect, performance, and commitment to long term, meaningful goals” (1). Living in the moment and doing things you love allows you to be even happier.
"There's More to Life Than Being Happy"
DeleteWe have a lot of control over what makes us happy and what things do not make us happy. From the article, Viktor Frankl says "the last human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to chose one's own way."(2) From being in a nazi concentration camp, he had learned that no matter what happens, no one can take away your attitude which correlates to you wanting yourself to be happy. This shows that you have control over your own happiness.
In “Happiness is a glass half empty” by Oliver Burkman he speaks about how we all would be much more happy if we “learned to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure.”(pg.3) So choosing to experience more negative emotions can actually lead to a higher happiness. We need to choose to be motivated to achieve the happiness we want and that is what this article is about.
DeleteEQ#4:
ReplyDeleteWhy is happiness important?
What benefits (physical, psychological, social) do happy people enjoy?
“Flow” -The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
DeleteHappiness is important because it leads to an increased productivity state known as flow. The author states that, “In order for a flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable, and it must require skill and be challenging…”(1). Increased happiness is important to become more efficient at a task.
“Flow” by The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
DeleteHappiness is important because through experiencing contentment we also feel the flow. The flow is achieved by working towards an adequate personalized goal (1). There are also many personal benefits to being exposed to the flow. Not only has is been shown that people who encounter the flow are happy, but they also have an “increased concentration, self-esteem, and performance” (2). This shows how the flow is advantageous for your personality and how happiness indirectly benefits your personality.
Delete“Flow” By: The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
Happiness is important to humans because it helps us and keeps us motivated. When we perform certain tasks and they make us happy we can become more productive and achieve long term goals according to the article. As said in the article “In order for flow to occur you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable (intrinsically motivating), and it must require skill and be challenging, and with clear goals to success. Increased happiness is important in day to day life because it can help humans become more efficient when doing things and help them achieve firm and desirable long term goals.
“Flow” By The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
DeleteHappiness is important because it shows that doing certain things can get you in state of flow. Flow shows that if you are happy with what you’re doing at the time, then you can get in the state of flow where time goes by really fast to you. “Do you ever find yourself so completely immersed in what you’re doing that you lose track of time?” (1). The benefits of flow is that you can be doing something that you’re very interested in something and the time just goes by while you’re in flow.
"Happy People: Joyful Things They Do" By Gabrielle LeBlanc
DeleteHappiness is important because when you are happy you live in the moment. "Contentment is definetly a component of over all happiness" While happiness might bring us joy in the moment we need to be aware that finding meaning or purpose is also important .
“Flow” by The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
DeleteHappiness is important because it leads you into a joyful state known as flow. Flow is important because it increases your productivity level and it means you are enjoying what you are doing. The author states “In order for a flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary, enjoyable.”(1). By enjoying the activity you are involved in you can reach flow.
“There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” By Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteHappiness is important because it gives a meaning to a person's life. The author proves this statement by relating how important happiness was to a jew who is inside a nazi concentration camp. “life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them.” (1). She proves why being happy gave the man a reason to live and keep going by interviewing the man and by him explaining what the world had in store for him in the future because he stayed happy and alive.
"Flow" by The Pursuit of Happiness
DeleteHappiness is important in peoples lives. Happiness leads you into a joyful state of mind called flow. Flow is when someone is completely involved in what they are doing. They have no other distractions, and you're 100% focused on succeeding. "In order for flow state to occur, you must see the activity as voluntary and enjoyable, and it must require skill and be challenging with clear goals towards success" (1). It explains what you have to be doing to be in a "flow" state of mind. If you are enjoying the activity and succeeding.
"Flow" by The Pursuit of Happiness inc.
DeleteHappiness is very important because it allows you to be completely focused on the task that you are doing. A great example of this would be when the author says, "One may find still greater happiness working towards long-term, meaningful goals" (1). This quote is showing that doing things that you can see an end result to work towards has a greater impact on your happiness than if you were to complete small, short term goals.
EQ#5:
ReplyDeleteWhat role does technology play in terms of our pursuit of happiness?
Does it help us find more time or ways to be happy, or does it distract us from true happiness?
Delete“Flow”
Technology like video games and tv leads to low flow, but doing things that you want to do that challenge you intellectually lead to high flow. People with high flow have more happiness throughout their life.
Delete“Buy Experiences, Not Things” By James Hamblin
People are missing out on life experiences due to technology. James Hamblin states “Happiness is in the content of moment-to-moment experiences. Nothing material is intrinsically valuable” (1). People are missing out on important and fun life experiences due to possessions such as technology
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness”
DeleteBy Jon Gertner
EQ#5:
What role does technology play in terms of our pursuit of happiness?
Since technology is quickly consuming our daily lives, we sometimes will get lost in what truly makes us happy. The newest versions of technology are constantly being released to consumers and people just “have to have it”. After a while these new and approved materialistic objects just become ordinary and quickly the happiness fades. According to Gilbert and Tim Wilson this is called “impact bias” or “miswanting” which leads us to making decisions we believe will give us pleasure when they ultimately do not (2). People need to stop looking outside for what “makes them happy” because happiness is supposed to come from within.
"Flow" by The Pursuit of Happiness Inc.
Delete"High-Flow teenagers see their low-flow peers as experiencing more fun engaging in low-flow activities, such as video games, TV or socializing." This quote is saying that people that are really happy see people that aren't as happy using technology such as video games and watching TV but having a better and more enjoyable time than the people that aren't. But kids with high flow end up having greater long term happiness as well as success in school.
In “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner they talk a bit about how technology plays a part in our happiness. He explains that when we buy new things like a car or an Iphone we think we will be extremely happy, but that is not the case. These pieces of technology do not make us as happy as we imagine they would. He then goes on to explain we can never correctly predict how we will feel in the future but a death in a family won't be as devastating as you think and technology won't make us any happier either.
Delete"Buy Experiences, Not Things"
DeleteTechnology does not make you truly happy. From this article the author says how "research has shown that experiences bring people more happiness than do possessions. (3) This is brining up the idea that going on a vacation with your family can bring you true happiness where as something like going on your phone will not bring you true happiness.
"Futile Pursuit of Happiness" By Jon Gertner
DeleteIn this article the author talks about how things that have to do with technology don't make you happy for a long period of time. We forget what actually makes us happy in life because we are so surrounded by new and advanced technology. We cant predicate our future emotional reactions to things. Since we cant predicate how we will react, people tend to pick long term annoying problems that will keep bothering you rather then the short term problems that drag on and annoy you longer.
EQ#6:
ReplyDeleteIn what ways is a democratic government responsible for the happiness of its citizens?
Does our government have an obligation to the ability of its citizens to pursue happiness?
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteWhile the middle class is worrying about keeping up with the wealthy lifestyles they see on tv and in the media, the very poor are struggling. According to the article, "being poor causes unhappiness" because of the "relentless frustration and stress of poverty (2)." Clearly, if we believe in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we could be considered hypocrites if a large number of people are caught in the web of poverty. I would need to find actual statistics on the number of people living at and below the poverty line to pursue this claim.
“Happiness is a glass half empty” By: Oliver Burkeman
DeleteAs humans we think that in order to happy we must always be thinking on the positive side and running away from negativity. According to this article “failure is everywhere.” We are always surrounded by failure, and in order to be happy we should start to embrace that failure rather than avoiding it. We can take the “negative path” to happiness. As humans we need to learn to enjoy the uncertainty of life and embrace insecurity and become comfortable with failure in order to be truly happy.
“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner
DeleteIf our nation was founded on the very beliefs that all people are naturally entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is only logical that the primary goal of this nation’s government is to protect these rights for its citizens. That being said, if our government truly does have an obligation to defend our pursuit of happiness, by what means could they achieve this? According to Dr. George Loewenstein, professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon, and Dr. Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard, the best way to aid our nation's happiness is to aid our lower class. Multiple studies carried out by these men and other colleagues have clearly shown that raising the living conditions of the already comfortable does very little, if anything, to their overall happiness. However, raising the living standards and level of well-being of the impoverished makes for a vast improvement in their overall happiness. Therefore, if the government seeks to raise the happiness of any of its citizens, it would be wise to start with the poor.
EQ#7:
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to live a meaningful, fulfilling life?
What role does happiness play in that type of life?
“There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” By Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteTo live a meaningful life, you have to have things that have happen to you in the past and present. The author says “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering” (3). To life a meaningful life you would have to go through a struggle or a situation that has changed you in a certain way or it would have to change how you feel towards things. Happiness can play a certain role in a meaningful life. It shows that if you have a things in your life that have been bad or anything you could overcome it and be happy.
"There's More to Life Than Being Happy" By Emily Esfahani Smith
DeleteThe author is trying to say that having a purpose in life will make you happier. "Research has shown that having a purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life-satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chance of depression"(2). The research helps back my statement that having a purpose in life will lead to overall happiness.
EQ#8:
ReplyDeleteIs there a question related to happiness that you don't see here, but would relate to an article you read for this project? Write your own question and respond to it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the story There’s more to life than being happy. Happiness can best be described as a man and how he survived through the concentration camps. In my opinion this story was mainly saying that when you are really close to death and you survive. You have much more happiness that you are alive. Or better yet have a better appreciation for your own life that you're alive and healthy.
ReplyDeleteIn the story Buy Experiences, Not Things. Happiness can be looked or felt like buying useless objects you don’t need. When you order a new pair of sneakers, a new car, etc. You may feel like you have that happiness feeling, but in a week your happiness will be gone. Happiness can be looked at with social interaction, rather than objects.
ReplyDeleteIn the story the Flow I think that technology plays a big in social interaction. Some things like social media, TV, video games. Those are all things friends like to do. Research has shown that people get happiness by doing these type of things.
ReplyDelete