DB8APart I: Read and write about the following news article. Min 400. wordsThe Differences between Happiness and Meaning in LifeThe pursuit of happiness and meaning are two of our most central motiva

DB8A

Part I: Read and write about the following news article. Min 400. words

The Differences between Happiness and Meaning in Life

The pursuit of happiness and meaning are two of our most central motivations in life. A wealth of research in positive psychology (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. suggests that happiness and meaning are, in fact, essential elements of well-being. Happiness and meaning are strongly correlated with each other (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and often feed off each other. The more meaning we find in life, the more happy we typically feel, and the more happy we feel, the more we often feel encouraged to pursue even greater meaning and purpose. 

But not always. 

An increasing body of research (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. suggests that that there can be substantial trade-offs between seeking happiness and seeking meaning in life. Consider, for instance, the “parenthood paradox”: parents often report that they are very happy they had children, but parents who are living with children usually score very low on measures of happiness.  It seems that raising children can decrease happiness but increase meaning. Or consider revolutionaries, who often suffer through years of violence and discord for a larger purpose that can ultimately bring great satisfaction and meaning to their lives and the lives of others.

In his delightful book “Meanings of Life (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.”, Roy Baumeister used examples such as these to argue that people seek not just happiness but also meaning in life. Likewise, eminent Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl famously argued that humans have a “will to meaning (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.” in his seminal recounting of his harrowing (yet often meaningful) experiences living in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.

In recent years, a number of studies have further supported the differences between happiness and meaning. In one clever study (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., Baumeister and colleagues found that factors such as feeling connected to others, feeling productive, and not being alone or bored contributed to both happiness and meaning. However, they also found some important differences:

• Finding one’s life easy or difficult was related to happiness, but not meaning.
• Feeling healthy was related to happiness, but not meaning.
• Feeling good was related to happiness, not meaning.
• Scarcity of money reduced happiness more than meaning.
  • People with more meaningful lives agreed that ‘relationships are more important than achievements’.
  • Helping people in need was linked to meaning but not happiness.
  • Expecting to do a lot of deep thinking was positively related to meaningfulness, but negatively with happiness.*
  • Happiness was related more to being a taker rather than a giver, whereas meaning was related more to being a giver than a taker.
  • The more people felt their activities were consistent with core themes and values of their self, the greater meaning they reported in their activities.
  • Seeing oneself as wise, creative, and even anxious were all linked to meaning but had no relationship (and in some cases, even showed a negative relationship) to happiness.
  • It seems that happiness has more to do with having your needs satisfied, getting what you want, and feeling good, whereas meaning is more related to uniquely human activities such as developing a personal identity, expressing the self, and consciously integrating one’s past, present, and future experiences. 
• Further support for this idea can be found in a recent study (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. conducted by Jo Ann Abe on the impact of happiness and meaning-making over an extended period of time. This study overcomes some limitations of prior research on this topic, such as the reliance on self-report questionnaires and the assessment of happiness and meaning at a single point in time.Abe extracted measures of happiness and meaning-making from weekly journals, which were written over the course of a semester. The participants were given freedom to write about what they wanted, and were encouraged to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings. Therefore, this study allowed people to really process their emotions and integrate their experiences across time.
• The journals were analyzed using a well-validated computerized text-analysis program (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. developed by James Pennebaker and colleagues. Happiness was assessed by looking at the frequency of positive emotions words (e.g., happy, laugh). There is a general consensus that meaning has at least two major components (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.: the cognitive processing component involves making sense and integrating experiences, and a purpose component, which is more motivational and involves actively pursuing long-term goals that reflect one’s identity and transcends narrow self-interests. Abe assessed the cognitive component of meaning by analyzing the frequency of causal words (e.g., because, reason) and insight words (e.g., understand, realize), She assessed the purpose component of meaning by analyzing the use of third-person pronouns (which would indicate a detached third-person perspective).
• https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-differences-between-happiness-and-meaning-in-life/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Part II: Read another student's comment and reply with a min of 200 words 

Student: With everything in life there needs to be some sort of moderation, which happens to coincide with the meaning of life and also the happiness.  If individuals only focus on their own happiness, but don’t fulfill a meaning, then they won’t be satisfied to that of a person who is working on both.  I’d like to use relationships as an example.  Once a relationship is established and the “honeymoon” phase is over, they have already created a habit of being with one another, but possible not advancing together. They spend their evenings watching movies, having dinners, and hanging with other couples; but are they really pushing one another to keep moving to advance their meaning or purpose?  A couple who is able to balance the two and grow their lives as a team, rather than becoming complacent in an unproductive lifestyle, would most likely be happy with a sense importance.  Of course they are important to one another, but how can they grow and not become isolated from their own success. 

Money and happiness coincide like peas and carrots, not to quote Forrest Gump, but really if someone is not financially stable, they find other means to compensate for their financial hardship. In my case, I used alcohol when I was have financial problems, which only hindered the issue even further.  Once I stopped drinking, I noticed that my happiness increased, along with my money, and also my productive side to give me a more productive lifestyle. If I had not gotten out of that rut then I would still be unhappy due to my finances, and unmotivated because of my drinking.  A self-realization and breakdown of our lives will allow us the ability to change what is broken, or move away from something that is hindering our endeavors.  There is nothing more fulfilling than helping another person, but if I go out of my way and start to become “used” in a sense, then I’m not allowing myself to be content. 

Everything in life needs to have some sort of moderation and if we fall in a routine of BAD habits, then our life will be affected negatively.

DB8B

Part I: Read the news article and comment with a min of 400 words

The unhappy states of America: Despite an improving economy, Americans are glum

he U.S. economy looks pretty good by most measures: Jobs are plentiful, growth is picking up, prices aren't rising too quickly, and unemployment is on track this year to hit the lowest level since 1969. But Americans aren't happy.

In fact, Americans are more glum now than they were during the Great Recession, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. While most Americans do feel the economy is improving, the data shows, they don't think their overall well-being is going up. It could be a warning sign that Americans are concerned about more than “the economy, stupid.”

The Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index started in 2008 as a way to assess how Americans are doing beyond the usual financial and economic metrics. Every year, Gallup interviews more than 160,000 adults in the United States and asks them about their sense of purpose, their social relationships, their financial security, their health and their connectedness to their community.

In a surprise to the researchers, 2017 turned out to be the worst year for well-being on record. The overall index score was even lower than during the financial crisis, and, for the first time in the decade that Gallup has done this poll, no state in the country showed a statistically significant increase in well-being.

“It was a real eyepopper for us,” said Dan Witters, Gallup research director for the Well-Being Index. “What we found was an unprecedented decline in well-being nationally.”

The unhappiness showed up across the country: Twenty-one states (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. had statistically significant declines in well-being in 2017, compared with 2016. It was “by far the most states we've seen drop in a single year,” Witters said, and the decline appeared in almost every region, except the Rocky Mountain states.

What's driving the gloominess now is very different from what Gallup and Sharecare, a health and wellness company, saw during the Great Recession. In 2009, a year when 15 states showed declines in well-being, money and financial worries were at the top of the list. Today, emotional and psychological factors dominate. People are not content in their jobs and relationships, and depression diagnoses are at an all-time high in the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/03/30/the-unhappy-states-of-america-despite-an-improving-economy-americans-are-glum/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12464ec3ffbe (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Part II: Read another student's comment and reply with a min. of 200 words

student: The article, " The unhappy states of America: Despite an improving economy, Americans are glum" is an interesting topic to talk about. It gives us two examples of why Americans were unhappy, but the reasons were completely different. For instance, " In 2009, a year when 15 states showed declines in well-being, money and financial worries were at the top of the list." As we can see, the decline of well being is caused by money, but 2017 was about "emotional and psychological factors." These two different factors demonstrates two different causes. I have never thought that our well-being is declining because of our emotional and psychological mentality. At the same time, I wasn't surprised because we became more secured with our economy. Having security in life made people more fulfilled such as having the ability to provide for their family. 

With an increase in jobs, people became more aware of their environment which caused them to be unhappy. Having more employment in America does not define a sense of joy because they might be put in a situation that they never intended. For instance, I might of wanted to do economics as a career, but I had no choice to work at a fast food restaurant. I might be more financially stable, but the pressure of working can effect the way I interact with others and myself. What I learned over the years is we lose one thing, but we gain another. I call this 'opportunity cost.' For example, we have gained more work hours, but we might be losing our time to sleep or eat. This type of situation is normal for all of us. As for myself, I'm doing my my assignments early because I want to be done with summer school, but I am losing time to go out with friends. This article, did a great job in showing the causes of what makes Americans unhappy. It is crazy to see a significant decline of well-being. 

HW 12: ANSWER EACH QUESTION WITH WELL WRITTEN SENTENCES. NOT TOO SHORT.