Slides from a seminar which I led — translated to English. Lots of important points are missing... but hey.

1. Happiness… what do
we know about it?

2. To be stupid, selfish, and have good health
are three requirements for happiness,
though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert

3. Smart people against happiness:
Schopenhauer Freud Sartre

4. Smart people against happiness:
Every happiness is but lent by chance for
an uncertain time, and may therefore be
demanded back the next hour.
Schopenhauer Freud Sartre

5. Smart people against happiness:
The intention that man should
be happy is not included in
the plan of Creation.
Schopenhauer Freud Sartre

6. Smart people against happiness:
@#%$*$( happiness %^!#@
(^*)!@#!@__*#@!^#!!!!
Schopenhauer Freud Sartre

7. Amount of articles in psychology 359,295
magazines from 1887 to 2003:
242,134
93,381
38,349 43,529
23,790
933 4,247
Prophy- Therapy
Courage Fear Happiness Depression
lactics
Good
BAD

8. Who needs
happiness?

9. They do:
Martin Mihaly Daniel Sonja Ed
Seligman Csikszentmihalyi Gilbert Lyubomirsky Diener

10. They are positive psychologists

11. They research happiness
(maybe not exactly this way)

12. They research, how happiness links to...
Intellect Money Income Love All the rest…?

13. For instance:
Is it true, that only
fools are happy?
Source: Lisa Simpson

14. Is this
happiness?

15. Actually…
H
A
P There’s a mildly
P positive correlation
I between happiness
N
E and intelligence.
S
S INTELLIGENCE
Source: Choi and Veenhoven (2008)

16. Is it true that
happiness leads
to laziness?

17. Actually, happy people are
MORE achievement oriented.
Source: Lyubomirsky, King, Diener (2005)

18. In companies, where happy people work…
Customer Personnel Work-related
Productivity
satisfaction turnover injuries Profits
Source: Harter, Schmidt (2002)

19. Happy people earn more:
Happy in 1976: Income in 1990:
:-( $50,000
:-) $65,000
Source: Diener, 2008

20. Does money bring
happiness?

22. To some extent — yes
Text

23. If everybody’s poor —
êÓÒÒËfl
there’s no difference.

24. The richer — the happier

25. Nobody to envy again.
êÓÒÒËfl

26. The real income increased by 100%,
but the happiness level is…

27. In the US, as of today:
10
9
8
7.85
Happiness 7 6.38
6
5
level 4
3
2
1
< 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 150 > 200
Income, thousand US$ per year
Source: Lucas and Schimmack (forthcoming)

28. Money could make
you happier, but if
they are TOO
important for you...

29. Source: Diener and Oishi (2000)

30. If you are concerned with money
you are more likely to be unhappy.
Source: Diener and Oishi (2000)

31. Happiness is
in marriage!

32. It’s a popular opinion…
What makes you happy?
37%
22% 26%
15%
Family life Friends Work Income
Source: Loewenstein

33. Marriage correlates with happiness
 10%
Married
are happier than


single

34. However, there are some nuances…
Got married
Got divorced
Source: Diener (2008)

35. Wedding!...
The effect
lasts for
~ 2 years

36. Children:
Small
negative
impact*
*Yes, that’s shocking! Source: Gilbert, 2007

37. Exception: women with their first child

38. Friends are more reliable: if you can name
5 or more close friends you are 60% more
likely to be very happy.
Source: Myers, 1992

40. Good health
is essential!


41. Typical emotions of a recovering patient
Point of recovery
Source: Diener (2008)

42. Gerald is the
happiest person
I ever met.

43. Older people are happier!
Happiness
Age Source: BHPS

44. True
happiness
lies in faith.

45. Percentage of very happy people in the US:
41%
36%
21%
16%
Atheists Former believers Believers New believers

46. But this is true only for religious countries.
(Also, non-religious Denmark and Netherlands are happier than the US.)
Denmark
India
Nepal
Afghanistan

47. So where is it?

48. Factors that affect happiness:
Income
Employment
10% Family status
Genes
Health
Age
50% Religiousness
40%
Hedonic affect
Flow
Meaning of life
Source: Lyubomirsky (2008), consensus estimate

49. Pleasures bring happiness (nothing new)

50. 
But not the purchases — activities!
(people adapt easily)

51. Source: Fontane (1996)
Start +12%
to the
exercising: happiness
level

52. Sleep enough:
minus 8% for every hour if less than 8 hours
Source: Pilcher, Ott (1998)

53. Sex* = a lot of happiness
* with someone you like ;-) Source: Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz and Stone (2003)

54. Happiness is in the FLOW

55. The flow is a psychological state
where things just happen…
Too hard
Challenge
lo w
F Too boring
Skills Source: Csikszentmihalyi (1975)

56. Work that you like:
+28%
Source: Thakar and Misra (1995)

57. Monetize! Stop doing!
Can do
Happiness
There’s
Want a market
to do for that
Source: loosely adapted from
Practice! Jim Collins’ Good to Great

58. There’s only one thing you need
to know about sustained
individual success: "Discover
what you don't like doing and
stop doing it."
— Marcus Buckingham

59. Happiness is finding the meaning of life

60. Does your life have meaning?
Yes No
Happy
70% 30%
30% 70%
Unhappy
Source: Lepper, 1996

61. The secret of happiness is
finding something bigger than
you and devoting your life to it.
— Daniel Dennett
(he’s an atheist)

62. What’s YOUR Holy Grail?

63. What are you SEEKING?
(maybe not exactly this way)

64. Alexei Kapterev
kapterev@gmail.com
Contents: www.newcode.ru
Slide design: www.kapterev.com