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FEATURE 8 | UCR Spring 2013 FINDING HAPPINESS There’s a science to attaining joy, and researchers at UC Riverside say it could be as easy as 1 to 10. Whether you believe in destiny, divine intervention or just pure luck, obtaining and maintaining a blissful life may seem like a total shot in the dark. However, in recent years science has increasingly demonstrated that happiness can be controlled. Happiness, after all, isn’t merely an emotion. Happy people often enjoy good health, good social relationships, even good salaries. At UCR, the research, understanding and cultivation of happiness is serious stuff. (The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences has even made happiness its theme, holding yearlong conversations on the topic of bliss.) The findings are so beneficial that governments and places of employment are listening carefully – and so should you. Play the Game of Happiness online and watch the “Happiness at UCR” video at BY VICKIE CHANG MAGAZINE.UCR.EDU Illustrations by Alex Eben Meyer
1 What you believe about happiness may be getting you down. Some people believe finding happiness is contingent on certain events happening first — say, landing a dream job or getting married. But according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology and the director of the UCR Positive Psychology Laboratory, this thought process actually gets in the way of finding happiness. “When we have a baby, when we get married, when we get a new job, when we earn more money, of course, that makes us really happy initially, but then we adapt to those experiences. And our happiness eventually returns to its original baseline.” Lyubomirsky, who defines happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile,” is one of the world’s leading researchers on happiness. The author of “The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn’t, What Shouldn’t Make You Happy, but Does,” she has Dispel the Myths of Happiness “When we get married, when we get a new job, that makes us happy initially, but we adapt to those experiences.” dubbed these the myths of happiness. A person might think something is wrong if their dreams come true and they aren’t as happy as they thought they would be. They may then think that changing a relationship or a job would solve the problem. “Those things really do make people happy, but they don’t make people happy for as long or as intensely as they think they will,” Lyubomirsky says. Living with a less restricted notion of happiness may end up for the better — and can help you properly determine the (really) good from the (really) bad. The other myth has to do with resilience. Lyubomirsky’s research reveals that people often underestimate their own ability to recover from disastrous events. “We often think that, ‘Oh my God, my life will be over if I get a divorce, if I don’t find a life partner, if I don’t have as much money as I want, if I don’t accomplish what I want to with my life,’” Lyubomirsky says. That’s not actually the case. Lyubomirsky says, “Research shows that when people experience adversities — even when they fall ill, even when they get divorced — they recover and rebound incredibly well.” UCR Spring 2013 | 9
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