Happiness+Articles

"Affective Forecasting- Knowing What to Know" Few reasons/theories as to why & some notes on these ideas: -people tend to base many decisions on //affective forecasting//, which is predictions about their emotional reactions to future events (which can be wrong, therefore leading to dissatisfaction) -in **//affective forecasting//** people often show //impact bias//, which is overestimating the duration and intensity of their emotional reactions to certain events. In more simple terms, this is when people do a bad job at realizing how long/short or how difficult/easy their emotional reactions will be in response to specific events. Although, people are usually good at deciding/predicting whether an event will be pleasant or unpleasant. - **//impact bias//** is important because when people are making decisions/deciding what to focus on they need to be able to not only predict if something will be pleasant or not but they also have to predict the intensity and duration //- **impact bias** // also states that if you are in a different state when you are asked your feelings might change about the subject -one cause of the ** //impact bias// **= **//focalism//**, which is the tendency to overestimate how much we will think about the event in the future and to underestimate the extent to which other events will influence our thoughts and feelings -people fail to realize how readily they will make sense of unexpected events when they occur. People don't realize or consider how quickly their tendency to explain certain events will decrease the impact of the events. Thus, if making sense of unexpected or novel events decreases the duration of the pleasure they create then inhibiting sense-making processes should increase the duration of people's pleasure. -another cause of impact bias in which forecasters fail to realize or recognize how quickly and easily they will be able to make sense of an unexpected event once they happen. -events like the above trigger a sequence of processes: attention, reaction, explanation, and adaptation (in this order) -attention= people who have novel things happen to them keep their attention focused on the thing and nothing else -reaction=people will emotionally react to the unexpected incident -explanation=the next step leads people to try and make sense of the event (ask: why did this happen?) -adaptation=after making sense of the event it is no longer a big deal and in turn people adapt emotionally to them -this eventually leads us to lose pleasure in positive events once we make sense of them and try to explain why they happen, so if we block the sense-making process then people can have prolonged pleasure from the event. -people tend to approach such things that have given them pleasure in the past and avoid things that have cause pain in the past -the causal theories that people come up with to explain events will teach them to avoid pain and pursue pleasure that was obtained through certain events. -people have a psychological immune system that fights threats to emotional well-being -These defenses are unconscious and since people are unaware of them we don't usually take them into account when predicting future emotional reaction=**immune neglect** -people have stronger reactions when negative events are difficult to make sense of rather than vice versa but in both cases we, as humans, are unaware that we are using our defenses to react to these negative events -people tend to owe their own personal reduction of the impact of a negative event to a higher being (i.e. god) -people are often times happier when they make choices that can not be changed (irrevocable) because they rationalize by saying 'there's nothing I can do to change it.") -the pain of minor traumas can often times last longer than more serious trauma because we are more strongly motivated to make sense of the major trauma rather than the minor one -illogical decisions are made on the basis that people weigh potential losses more heavily than potential gains -people make many of their decisions using it -since peoples predictions of what makes them happy is flawed people will fail at increasing their happiness -unanswered question, however, is whether impact bias has some pros (does it have advantages when used?)
 * Main idea:** Sometimes people can be disappointed by getting exactly what they want-why is this?
 * Causes of //Impact bias//:**
 * Sense-making--(positive events)**
 * Pleasure Paradox**:
 * Motivated Sense Making (negative events)**:
 * What consequences does immune defense lead to?**
 * Importance of Affective Forecasting**

This article is finished but if you guys think you have anything to add, be my guest =)

-HISTORY OF HAPPINESS- -Ancient Greece was location of 1st philosophical thoughts on what is "the good life" Democritus--happy is not only "product of favorable fate or of external circumstances but rather of a man's cast of mind" Socrates and Plato--'secure enjoyment of what is good and beautiful Aristotle--happiness is realizable for any person willing to lead a life in accordance with the most valued virtues -Hellenistic Era
 * "In Pursuit of Happiness" Kesebir & Diener*