The Happiness Code
Manipur Today | April, 2024 :: Download PDF

Ranjan Yumnam *

“Whoever says money can’t buy happiness is not spending it right,” reads the advertising slogan of a luxurious car. The message is both simple and clear and directly appeals to our widely held belief that money is more or less equivalent to happiness. Classical economists have traditionally reinforced this hypothesis that wealth increases the maximum happiness for all.

New scientific findings, especially in psychology and neuroscience, have debunked the economic determinism; proponents of Positive Psychology movement contend that there can't be one cute reductionist formula equating money with happiness.

It is found that money is just one among many factors influencing happiness, with many studies concluding that nonfinancial factors are as or more potent than money than we care to give credit for.

Let’s equip ourselves by understanding these determinants of happiness in the real world to harness them in navigating the ups and downs of life.

Before we move on, it’s worth knowing a bit more about happiness as a concept for study. Happiness is of two kinds: one is hedonic happiness and the other is eudaimonic happiness.

Most of us are instinctively familiar with the hedonic camp, which believes that happiness is all about feeling good by indulging in pleasures, experiencing positive emotions like joy, laughter, eating delicious food, watching Netflix, partying, dancing, watching the sunset, having a thai massage, etc, characterized by the absence of pain.

Eudaimonic happiness goes beyond mere sensual delights and incorporates living good in the right way, with the right balance, guided by virtues of wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance – each life step progressing towards fulfilling a transcendental purpose beyond self. The Eudaemonists’ motto is: “It’s better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”.

Neither form of happiness is inherently superior, and balancing the two is crucial for a holistic understanding of happiness. Research suggests that a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative emotions is ideal; a lower ratio could lead to long-term stagnation, boredom, and even depression.

You may be familiar with William Maslow’s Hierarchies of Needs, which show the range of human motivation from lower physiological needs to self-actualisation at the top of the pyramid. More recent theories include Caroll Ryff ’s 6 scales of happiness and Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of happiness.

Download the entire article in PDF (767 KB) here