Harrison West

UWRT-1102 (29)
February 18th, 2016
Double Entry Journal
Citation:
Lyubormisky, Sonja. "How Happy Are You and Why?" 2015. Pursuing Happiness: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Place of Publication Not Identified: Bedford Bks St Martin'S,
2015.324-336. Print.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

While people accumulate experiences that

most predict would affect their well-being
subjective well-being appears to be
surprisingly stable (325)

I found this interesting because Ive always

thought of experiences shaping who you are
as a person throughout your lifetime. Now to
say that big life experiences dont have an
effect on happiness is strange.

in the short run, well-being increases; in

the long-run, however people habituate to
their new circumstances, which diminishes
the positive effect of that event. (326)

Does this go back to the theory that people

have their own personal level of happiness
that they with always eventually return to? Or
is it the adaptation of the human brain to cope
with or diminish these events?

Many studies have shown that there are

strong effects of genetic predisposition and
stable personality traits on well-being. (327)

Ive never thought of genetics having any

effects on happiness. I always believed that
children all are born with the same blank slate
for the most part. Then as they grow their
parents imprint on them and cause them to
have similar personalities. How could
genetics be the cause of personality and
personality affect life experiences? I guess
your personality determines how life
experiences affect you.

Although some major negative events

seem to create lasting changes, there
seems to be little people can do to improve
their well-being. (327)

This statement along with the hedonic

treadmill negates every other theory of
happiness weve covered. By always
returning to the humans base line of
happiness then everything done to increase
your happiness for a short period seem
insignificant.

We suggest that shifting from a focus on

the impact of major life events to a focus on
minor life events the kinds of small
activities people partake in every day
offers insight into how people might increase
their well-being (328)

Maybe its the frequency of minor events

happening everyday that cause your wellbeing to increase because its always
continually being bumped up.

We chose religious practice and exercise

as our initial behaviors because both have
been linked to well-being, and are precisely
the kinds of minor repeated behaviors we
purpose may improve well-being (328)

I guess I was right about the repetition being

a factor in my last statement. It just so
happens that I partake in both activities used
in the study. Exercise definitely increases my
happiness and religion I dont particularly
enjoy that much but I do feel good going
every Sunday.

Our findings imply that, in contrast to the

notion of an inescapable hedonic treadmill, it
is not pointless for people to seek to
improve their well-being (335)

Well thats a relief! I guess the moral of this

story is that its important to find things that
make you happy and incorporate them into
your everyday life. I thing most people
already do this but dont realize how it really
effects their happiness. Im still on the fence
about whether I believe that everyone has a
base-line happiness that they will always
revert back. Then again nothing can make a
person happy forever, we eventually get
bored of something and need something new.
That could be why we have our base-line.