...My personal challenge with pessimistic and procrastinating habits In the lecture, we discussed about the pessimistic explanatory style and optimistic explanatory style. These two distinct explanatory styles led completely different form of results in terms of individual performances; the discussion of these explanatory styles was previously proven with various stunning statistics. In 1987, Kamen and Seligman studied on predicted grade point average for the University of Pennsylvania freshmen. Students with overachieving explanatory style have gotten greater grade point average than those of students with underachieving explanatory style (Kamen and Seligman, presented in lecture). Intrigued by the information, I investigated my own problematic explanatory style and related negative results. I hope to identify my own behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and changes in both psychological and neurological perspectives. As my graduation-time comes closer, I had to make a big decision of my life. It was my life changing decision of whether I stay in the United States or go back in my home country. Frankly, I have already made a decision to go back to South Korea a while ago. Yet, I was often confused and nervous about the decision that I have made because of my explanatory style. Since I do not have a plan other than preparing for a graduate school from the moment I leave the school, I know it would be better for me to have optimistic beliefs constantly reminding myself, “I will be okay...
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...The relationship between students’ study habits, happiness and depression Susan Bahrami, PhD,* Saeed Rajaeepour, PhD,** Hasan Ashrafi Rizi, PhD,*** Monereh Zahmatkesh, BA,**** and Zahra Nematolahi, BA**** Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ► This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. ------------------------------------------------- Abstract BACKGROUND: One of the important requirements for cultural, social and even economic development is having a book-loving nation. In order to achieve this, there is a need for purposeful and continuous programming. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between students’ study habits, happiness and depression in Isfahan University of Medical Science. METHODS: This research was a kind of descriptive and correlation survey. Statistical population included all MSc and PhD students in the second semester of the Isfahan University of Medical Science (263 students). In this research, stratified and random sampling was used in which a sample of 100 students was selected. Data collection instruments were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Oxford Happiness Inventory and a researcher-made questionnaire to determine the amount of students’ study. Validity of this questionnaires was determined by structure and content related validity and its reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the first (r = 0.94), second (r = 0.91) and third (r = 0.85) questionnaire...
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...Interpretation of Happiness People go through their lives looking for happiness. Is it found in something we do? Is it found in what we have or the people we are involved with? What is happiness? Happiness is simply the state of being happy, but is it really that simple? Aristotle talks a lot about happiness or eudaimonia (a person’s well being) a lot in his work. Aristotle believes there is a “two- tiered” conception of eudaimonia” (Page 1) that is split between the masses or what we would call the common people and the cultured people also known as the educated or upper class. In this paper you will learn what Aristotle believed happiness was and how he thought that we could achieve it. Aristotle believed that happiness was a supreme good or the “highest of all ends” (Hutto 384) and also that the end of political science aimed to it. Aristotle believed that political science “determined what sciences are necessary in the states” (Aristotle 10) and that “the good of an individual is identical with the good of a state” (Aristotle 11). So if “moral purpose aspires to some good, what is in our view the good at which the political science aims, and what is the highest of all practical goods?” (Aristotle 13). The answer to this question was found to be happiness. At this point there was an agreement between two groups of people. These groups of people were known as the masses (common working people) and the cultured (educated upper class). Both groups agreed that happiness was the supreme...
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...Happiness has always been a topic to study by the scientists, psychology and philosophers; however, there is not an agreement about what happiness is. Some branches of the psychology prefer to study the positive feelings that could make the human being feel happy, due to how wide could be the concept of happiness. Humans being has always wanted to discover the key to happiness, furthermore, which is the definitions that science gives to happiness? Otherwise, is happiness a feeling that could be reachable thanks to the things that the human being owned? And afterwards, does the happiness exist as long as the feelings and actions are in the right places? In the next paragraphs these questions are going to be answered. To begin the etymological...
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...Psychology Title: Assignment; Science of Happiness Submitted to: Azra Anjum “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” ~ Aristotle “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi * What is happiness? “Happiness is deceptively simple. It’s about being satisfied with life and experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones.” Every living being in this world seeks happiness whether he/she is aware of it or not. It is the meaning and purpose of life. Happiness seems to have almost magical properties. We have not got proof, but the science suggests it leads to long life, health, resilience and good performance. Still, many of us find the pursuit of happiness to be frustratingly difficult. A relatively new branch of psychology called positive psychology is studying what makes people happy—and what doesn’t. Researchers are learning that the keys to happiness are within everyone’s reach. * Three basic sources of happiness Happier people are more likely to live longer and tend to be healthier, more successful, and more socially engaged than people who describe themselves as less happy. Researchers have explored three basic sources of happiness: genetics, including temperament and personality; life circumstances, such as wealth and health; and our own choices. * Richer but no happier Happiness researchers have been monitoring people's...
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...The Works of Thomas Hobbes The moral and political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes is very different from those of the ancients, specifically Aristotle. As a thinker during the Scientific Revolution, his picture of morality is framed in science. And while science is usually thought of to have no opinion about questions of right and wrong, Hobbes would argue otherwise. He wanted to move moral and political philosophy into the realm of science, where answers can—and should— come from science and reason, and away from the monopoly over human values held by religious texts. Furthermore, he called for a powerful, civil authority to combat what he called “the state of nature (Leviathan).” It may seem normal to define morality and science as entirely separate from each other, that is, to say that science can help explain why we may value certain things, but it can never determine what we should value. However, Hobbes sees an overlap between facts and values and attempts to use empirical answers to help figure out philosophical problems. This idea of applying facts to issues of good and evil rests upon the notion that questions such as “What is truly worth living for?...Or even dying for?” “What is morality?” and “What is a ‘good’ life?” have answers. Hobbes would say that they do, and with good reason. Questions like “What food is healthy?” or “What exercises are best?” are much like moral questions because it is difficult to find an exact answer due to the many different, correct...
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...What is true happiness? Tori Erskine Journalism You know the old saying “money cannot buy you happiness,” but what is happiness? Happiness has a different definition for everyone. Happiness can be found in a multitude of places. Happiness is an emotion that can be caused by objects or memories or just being with the people we love. Some people think happiness is not caused by overcoming obstacles in their lives or experiencing moments of great joy. Moments like graduating high school or college, getting a job they are good at or getting a promotion, or being married to the ones they love. Other think happiness is found in objects of money that they have or want. Everyone experiences happiness in one way or another in their lives. Some people find happiness in the simplest things. You could also find happiness in the people around you. Others find happiness in overcoming difficult times of their lives. Many people try to achieve happiness, happiness is and emotion of enjoyment, but what is enjoyment? According to Mrs. Decker, a high school counselor at AACS, “Happiness is being comfortable with yourself and content with your live.” Being comfortable with one self means that one loves the way they are and they care about themselves. Being content with one’s live means that one cares about their life and they learn from their mistakes. It also means they make decisions that fit who they are. Many people feel this way. Mr. McAneney, a high school counselor said,...
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...largely about the modern interpretations of happiness and the way psychology has been dealing with improperly by only looking at how to minimize pain and not maximize happiness. He starts the article by recounting some of history of psychology that led to the current state of affairs, beginning at World War 2. He claims that right before WW2 there were 3 main objectives to psychology: curing mental illness, making untroubled people happier, and studying genius/talent. These all fell by the wayside after WW2 however as all of the funding began to flow towards the study of mental illness, not towards the study of mental health. This was mainly because of the increase in both the discovery of mental disorders and also the sheer number of people who were left distressed in the wake of WW2. This led to a huge increase in treatments and cures for many disorders. However it also caused many problems in society and science. There was too much focus put on the minority that had disorders, and not on the majority that, although seemingly bereft of maladies, were not altogether happy. Therefore he states that psychology should be just as concerned about what is right with people as what is wrong. The second section of the article deals with the question of what happiness actually is, because we have to know what it is we are trying to increase. Although science can’t illuminate happiness, it can reveal some of its components, which...
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...Measures of Happiness and the Secret behind Smile In his article, “The Science behind the Smile”, Daniel Gilbert focuses on the various aspects, reasons and measures of happiness. Happiness, as he explains has now become a part of science which was previously studied only by psychologists. Giving it a scientific view, an economist studies happiness to coincide it with the theory of ‘wants’. When he gets to know the ‘wants’, he’ll be able to assume the demand which in turn will also help him in assuming the supply and overall managing of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Then there are neuroscientists studying happiness from a medical attitude, helping themselves to come up with conclusions; but how every discipline measures happiness varies. Happiness might be measured on a rating scale or any modern technology such as electromyography that measures the activity of smile muscles in the face. But I personally think this kind of technology might end up in biased results. Smiling doesn’t always reflect happiness; it might be forcefully done, people might be forced to smile because it is part of their daily work to be gracious and pleasant, so we can’t base our results on one such factor as smile muscles rather there should be more than one factor taken into consideration while measuring happiness. Studies also report how forceful smiling led employees to distress and eventually quitting work. A research paper was published in the Academy of Management Journal, in which...
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...data sets. Week 6 Measuring happiness Suzy Moat Tobias Preis Suzy.Moat@wbs.ac.uk Tobias.Preis@wbs.ac.uk What we’ve covered Measuring Predicting What we’ve covered Measuring Economics Health Predicting What we’ve covered Measuring Predicting Economics Economics Health Crime What we’ve covered Measuring Predicting Economics Economics Health Crime Happiness Social networks http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_the_hidden_influence_of_social_networks.html Twitter and happiness Positive affect Negative affect Golder and Macy (2011, Science) Twitter and happiness Positive affect Negative affect Golder and Macy (2011, Science) Facebook and happiness Own updates % positive words % negative words Kramer et al. (2014, PNAS) Negativity reduced Positivity reduced News feed Facebook and happiness Own updates More positive % positive words % negative words More negative Kramer et al. (2014, PNAS) Negativity reduced Positivity reduced News feed Facebook and happiness Own updates % positive words % negative words Kramer et al. (2014, PNAS) Negativity reduced Positivity reduced News feed Facebook and happiness Own updates % positive words % negative words Kramer et al. (2014, PNAS) Negativity reduced Positivity reduced News feed Facebook and happiness Own updates % positive words ...
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...responding “The pursuit of happiness” Eng101-AC17 September 25, 2015 Matthew F. Adams The Pursuit of Happiness Mark Kingwell is an author of the book In pursuit of happiness: Better living from Plato to Prozac (1998). The reading is about the happiness, and this is the philosophical question "what is happiness?” In general, he wants to show the reader how to identify, to pursuit happiness? But he shows happiness is an essentially contestable concept. By many ways, he tries to define the meaning of happiness by taking another author’s idea about happiness. Firstly, he chooses to explain by a New English Dictionary, for example, the famously unhelpful state of pleasurable content of mind, which results from success of the attainment of what is considered good. And the he called a universal definition of happiness “a mug’s game”- that is the game no one can win. He states that the search for the happiness is one of the chief source of unhappiness”. Base on the Psychological Science money, education, and family background are less important in determining one’s level of happiness than basic genetic. What is happiness? Happiness is really easy to answer someone if there happiness is simple. Or it might be a confusing answer. Henri de Montherlant said “happiness write white when it comes to literature or it’s just a banality of contentment”. The author knows that is an impossible answer but he wants to show that every people want to search for their happiness concept. Therefore, the...
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...through knowledge of art or particularly, political sciences and desiring to aim at it for the sake of pursing something good. The universe teaches us that the good things to be learned in life starts with known about certain subjects. An end is reached when men performs acts that’s leading to that end. Which is the only way men arriving at any state...
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...topics pertaining to Psychology, Evolution, Cognitive Science, Philosophy and even Economics. It wasn’t the easiest read and sometimes was unclear about what the author was trying to say but he did put it together these different ideas to build some interesting insights. Amongst all the topics that were touched on, I would like to relate what I read and understood from this book to a couple of lecture topics from my “Mysteries of the Mind, Morality” class. I would be mainly focusing on the Ted Talk “The Surprising Science of Happiness” by Dan Gilbert and a couple of references to other lectures and “There’s More to...
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...26th January ‘2015 Happiness Knowledge Questions: -In what way can subjective experiences such as emotions be described objectively? -To what extent can the human sciences give a useful description of human experience? * Operationalize: - A process, prevalent in the Human Sciences, where and abstract and subjective value or idea is converted into a quantifiable, measurable, and therefore comparable unit - Is it possible / appropriate / useful to try to measure / quantify subjective human experience? - What are the limitations of operationalizing subjective human experience? Limitations: - Perceived happiness – no guarantee stats will prove happiness - Cultural differences (e.g HKPride / Prestige) - Difference between primary (universal) + Secondary emotions - Emotions vary over time Imagine you were a human scientist (geographer or psychologist) who was interested in comparing the happiness of different populations Decide whether you would like to use statistical indicators or a questionnaire * For those choosing to use indicators – which indicators would you use? * For those choosing to use a questionnaire – what questions would you ask? How do you think the following would impact on human happiness? * Wealth/poverty: People with higher income are generally happier because they have the ability to satisfy their wants * Freedom/Stability: The more freedom they have they will be happier because people get to do what they like to do. ...
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...When I noticed this trait in young children, I had an epiphany that if our global society followed this childish outlook on the world, the world and the education system wouldn’t be the same. I will elaborate upon two possible perspectives towards this question; either you believe that disagreement does aid the pursuit of knowledge or you believe that it doesn’t. I will demonstrate both perspectives by analyzing how the roles of logic and emotion help gain new knowledge in the sciences. Ideally the role of logic is applied towards the natural sciences, and the human sciences use emotion as a way of knowing. I believe that disagreement in the natural and human sciences opens up the opportunity to question what has been asserted, in order to ameliorate our current Truths, but there are cases where this same disagreement rather hinders the pursuit of an “underlying truth”. The first perspective agrees with the statement above, that disagreement aids the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences. The...
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