Happiness

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Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources.

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this older sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. In everyday speech today, however, terms such as well-being or quality of life are usually used to signify the classical meaning, and happiness usually refers[citation needed] to the felt experience or experiences that philosophers historically called pleasure.

While direct measurement of happiness presents challenges, tools such as The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire have been developed by researchers. Positive psychology researchers use theoretical models that include describing happiness as consisting of positive emotions and positive activities, or that describe three kinds of happiness: pleasure, engagement, and meaning.

Research has identified a number of attributes that correlate with happiness:[citation needed] relationships and social interaction, parenthood, marital status, religious involvement, age, income (but mainly up to the point where survival needs are met), and proximity to other happy people.

Happiness economics suggests that measures of public happiness should be used to supplement more traditional economic measures when evaluating the success of public policy.

For more information about Happiness, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with happiness

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Therapy 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than money

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (6) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by the University of Warwick and the University of Manchester finds that psychological therapy could be 32 times more cost effective at making you happy than simply obtaining more money. The research ...


Hourly employees happier than salaried

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

People paid by the hour exhibit a stronger relationship between income and happiness, according to a study published in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB), the official journal of the So ...


Child Development Expert Says The Magic Of Santa Claus Is No Lie

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Should parents let their children believe in Santa Claus?


Binge drinking youths find getting old a drag

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Young men who believe that happiness declines with age are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors such as binge drinking. Their misguided negative view of the aging process may act as a disincentive to behave 'sensibly' ...





Search results for happiness


Are angry women more like men?

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (13) | comments 4

"Why is it that men can be bastards and women must wear pearls and smile?" wrote author Lynn Hecht Schafran. The answer, according to an article in the Journal of Vision, may lie in our interpretation of facial expressions.


Social scientists build case for 'survival of the kindest'

Social scientists build case for 'survival of the kindest'

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (29) | comments 49

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing ...


Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans

Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (10) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.


Coroner: Self-help course led to woman's suicide (AP)

Coroner: Self-help course led to woman's suicide

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(AP) -- An Australian coroner said Tuesday that participation in an intense self-help course led a woman to suffer a psychotic breakdown before she stripped naked and leaped to her death from an office window ...


Gift Guide: High-tech happiness for $100 or less (AP)

Gift Guide: High-tech happiness for $100 or less

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- No one's going to blame you for keeping holiday gifts minimal this year. But if you want to round out your handmade cards, scarves, pickles and jam with a gadget or gizmo, here are a handful of our ...



List of search results for happiness