The Human Pursuit of Happiness

This 29 page report goes in depth about the survey, the background, the methodology, and

results. It begins with an introduction by the mayor of Somerville, then moves on to an Executive summary that goes in depth about the average responses to the questions on the survey. A main portion of the report goes into detail about happiness, city services, and future research. The appendix has the mail-in census form and the phone survey.

This article focuses on Somerville, MA which is the first city in the United States to survey its residents on their happiness and wellbeing. I also found the actual survey that they sent out to the residents of the town in this article. It also discusses how the city used three different methods to collect resident opinions. They used 6,167 surveys from citywide mailing, 200 random-number calling, and 360 web based surveys. The results are shown and give an in-depth conclusion about what the results are showing. The top requests for service improvements are increases in staff and hours at traffic and parking, better online payment systems, reconsidering policies around parking, and communicate more frequently through the website.

American adults were asked about their levels of contentment and life satisfaction.

Only 33% of Americans said that they were very happy which is consistent with the levels in 2011 but dropped from 35% in 2008 and 2009. A correlation between stress levels and happiness levels is that stress levels decrease with age while happiness levels increase as we get older. This poll shows that Americans over 50 are more likely to be happy than young people. While general optimism levels are declining in the U.S., research has also found that Americans are less likely to view monetary values as a necessary ingredient to a happy life. We are putting an increasing amount of leverage on living a fulfilling life rather than a wealthy one. I am using this in my essay for facts about what makes Americans happy, such as age, decreased stress levels and how Americans are stating that money is less and less a factor of happiness

I am using the quote "Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." by Norman MacEwan to start my essay out. It begins the essay by showing how money is not what leads to happiness.

Maslow was a scientist who wanted to more fully understand what really motivated people. He came out with the original hierarchy of needs which included five needs in 1934. This was based on his thought that people need to achieve certain needs before they can move on to

the next one. In 1970, it was changed to add three more needs and became an eight-stage model. The 8 needs are Biological/Physical Needs, Safety Needs, Love and belongingness needs, Esteem Needs, Cognitive Needs, Aesthetic Needs, Self-Actualization Needs, and Transcendence Needs. This article goes into detail on how to meet all of these needs, and more importantly goes over what kinds of behavior lead to self-actualization. I will use this to describe how money is not the motivator to living a happy life, but it is just a way to fulfill the basic needs so you can

move on.

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In this article, it discusses how Republicans, or those who are more conservative, are generally happier than those who are more liberal. It goes over multiple studies that prove that conservatives have more positive outlooks for the future and are also happier with their lives right now. When they looked at what caused this consistent gap between the two sides, they found that even though their average incomes and education levels were the same, conservatives had higher percentages of married couples, attended church more frequently, and also gave more charitable contributions. I will use this to show how Conservatives are happier in general, but Liberal policies create happier states.

In this article entitled Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness, it relates to us some of the most scientific studies in non-technical terms. It goes over seven habits of happy people. These seven habits include, relationships, caring, exercise, flow, spirituall engagement and meaning, strengths and virtues, and having a positive mindset. Starting with relationships, people who have one or more close friendships are happier. Then we have caring, or kindness. People who volunteer or care for others on a consistent basis seem to be happier and less depressed. Exercising and moving are related to improved mental well-being and lower rates of depression. Finding your flow is hard, but when we are involved in something we love or are embracing a challenge that is well suited to our skill set, we can get into a flow where we lose a state of self-consciousness and are enveloped in the activity that we are doing. Discovering what your meaning is and engaging our spiritual side is closely related to happiness and gives us a deeper kind of happiness. When you discover and use your strengths for a purpose, you are among the happiest people in America. Having a positive mindset includes treasuring gratitude, being mindful, and having hope.

The Pew Research Center questioned people from Europe, Asia, Middle Eastern

countries, Latin America, the United States of America, and Africa about how their days are going in the Global Attitudes survey. They asked this question first because it created rapport with the interviewer because it is done face-to-face. They surveyed 48,643 people in 44 different countries and gives a view of the moods of individual nations. This article provides a full account of every country that they interviewed and the full results of the survey. Overall, people in poorer countries said that their day was a good one while comparing this to richer nations. The only exception is the U.S. because Americans were more likely to say they had a good day than other rich nations. I will use this to show how money is not the main reason for having a good or bad day/life.

This article is a statistical analysis of attitudes in the U.S. and it reveals the main determinants of happiness. It discusses how economists usually focus on the life and liberty portion of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" section from the Declaration of Independence. It states that surveys have shown that "life satisfaction is higher in poorer countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, and Panama than North America" which completely dismantles economists and politicians and forces them to think differently about the decisions that will affect the future. Teng Guo and Lingui Hu provide an analysis of the data that was gathered from the General Social Survey. The General Social Survey is a set of questions about attitudes that has been carried out since 1972 and is used as a database for sociologists, demographers, and economists. Guo and Hu break their analysis into two parts: How happiness

correlates with personal conditions such as age, health, marital status, and personal income, and the correlation between macroeconomic indicators such as the rate of inflation with happiness. The biggest factor in determining happiness is health. Healthy people are 20% happier than average while unhealthy people are about 8.25% more unhappy. Married individuals are 10% happier than people who have never been married. Personal income plays a small role compared to what we would all expectAlthough the GDP doesn't have any tight connection with happiness, 1% increase in inflation reduces the happiness levels in the nation by 3.1%.

Although politicians aren't ecstatic about finding out about what makes us happy, when you substitute "happy" with the compound noun "wellbeing", the concept is a lot more welcomed. David Cameron is sticking to a policy where he stated that "It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money and it's time we focused not just on GDP but on GWB- general wellbeing." People are searching for happiness, or well-being, and if they want to decide where to live by looking at stats, you need a large enough sample size and also more than one year, then you can make an analysis that is correct. Questions that are used by the independent national statistician focus on "purpose", "evaluation”, and “experience" and include questions such as:

1. How satisfied are you with your life these days on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is “not at all” and 10 is "completely satisfied"?

2. Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?

3. How much purpose does your life have?

4. Are men and women treated fairly in the workplace and home?

We can enhance our well-being and happiness by practicing gratitude, forgiveness, and self reflection. At least that is what the research that is being done by positive psychology researchers in the scientific field of happiness. This article discusses how even though income has doubled in the United States, happiness levels have remained the same. Recent research shows that only 10% of our happiness is due to external circumstances. Forgiveness benefits the person we forgive, as well as tangible and emotional benefits for ourselves. Forgiveness is proven to reduce tension, depression, anger, and stress and is directly related to physical health. Giving to others releases endorphins which controls the pleasure center of the brain and creates a sense of enjoyment. Statements of affirmation about our present arrangements are a great way to become more productive. When we feel positive, our intelligence, creativity, and energy levels rise because of a release of dopamine that floods our neuro channels when we are positive.

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