Paradox Of Happiness

According the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of Happiness is being pleased, being satisfied, and being lucky (Oxford Dictionary). However, the definition of being happy is different for everyone. There are many elements to one person’s happiness, whether that be fame or fortune, or something that most take advantage of such as a roof over their head, or dinner on the table every night. Happiness is an emotion that can be uncontrolled, and is forever changing. Expectations are a major reason why a person’s happiness is manipulated every second of everyday. According to a health website “Positive Med,” there are six major emotions which include anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, and sadness. According to this, happiness only occurs
When people wake up in the morning, they have no idea how many decisions they will have to make that day. Barry Schwartz, PhD, author of "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less," argues that the higher amount of options that a person has, the higher their expectations will be. Schwartz concludes that people only need a few necessary things in their life to be truly happy, and everything else is unnecessary and a burden. Three main necessities that Schwartz swears buy include having a solid group of friends, having a balance of down time and social time, and loving yourself (Buchan 2005). When people believe that they need more than the simple, critical things in life, it takes a toll on them emotionally and mentally. According to the article “7 Secrets to Happiness,” high expectations cause a person to become overwhelmed and slowly begin to not appreciate themselves, as well as what they are fortunately able to have in life (Buchan
26 subjects were asked to complete a decision making task, each decision that was made lead to a gain or loss of money. A functional MRI was used to measure the subject’s neural activity as well as an oral response while participating in the activity. Subjects were asked repeatedly during the activity whether or not they were happy. By using the data reported by the subjects and the MRI, scientists concluded that the participant’s happiness was due to rewards and expectations. The study then went on to test 18,420 subjects in a game entitled "What Makes Me Happy," an app on smartphones created by UCL. Even though during the game, participants did not win real money, the loss or gain of points still caused them to increase or decrease their happiness levels. Scientists then concluded that when a person receives a reward, a person’s happiness level increases dramatically. On the other side, however when one has high expectations that cannot be met, their happiness level decreases greatly (UCL