Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Blog 1 Due 4/5
Jon Gertner has provided a unique insight into one of the most basic aspects of humanity, what it means to be happy, and how this motivates us. Through his research he has argued that happiness is not a state of being, but rather a motivational tool utilized by our bodies. We act on a desire because we think it will make us feel happy, but in reality the longest stretch of happiness we can experience is 3 months, according to Gertner. This impact bias, or the amount our estimation is off in how happy something will make us, is important because it motivates us as a society. If we could achieve happiness we would no longer be motivated to accomplish or strive. Our psychological immune system ensures that we will not always be in a state of happiness, as well as creating synthetic happiness when bad things happen. This ensures that we are always moving and evolving as a species. The research done by Gertner gives us a better understanding of what it truly means to be human.
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I agree completely with this. Impact bias is essential to our society because everything we do is because of it; we buy materialistic goods because we think they will bring us happiness. If we were able to find true happiness and keep it, we would stop buying things, doing things, etc. As for our psychological immune system, its true that it is there to prevent despair from overcoming us by helping to create synthetic happiness, or simply put, doing with what you got. Gertner's research, compiled with others, does give us a better opportunity to understand human nature and why we do what we do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you mentioning on how far we are off making us happy. It all depends on how close we are to how happy we are. Its good to mention to that if we fake happy it can be very unhealthy for us.
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