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Hadley’s Intro: 7 things to add or subtract
for happiness is based on good science studies
on how to be happy. Increase Gratitude and novelty
are two tips you discover
Courtesy of WashingtonPost Article written by
Jacqueline Nessi, PhD.
How to be happy, based on (good) science
What happens when we narrow the number of
happiness studies to only those that were
preregistered?
The number gets a whole lot smaller.
A team of researchers at the University of British
Columbia systematically reviewed every
experimental study on happiness, but limited their
search only to those that had been preregistered.
The result? Just 65 studies, which is a drop in
the bucket in the world of happiness research. The
benefit of this approach, though, is that it
increases the likelihood that these 65 studies are
good ones.
So, what do these studies tell us? How can we be
happier?
The researchers break down evidence-backed
happiness boosters into two categories: addition
(things we can add to our lives) and subtraction
(things we can eliminate from our lives).
Things to add to make us happier
- Express gratitude
Think about how grateful you are for someone in
your life, and consider telling them. In one
study, participants’ moods improved after being
told to write a gratitude letter to someone
(without sending it), send a gratitude text, or
post their gratitude on social media.
- Be more social
Spend time connecting with the people around you.
One study randomly assigned people to talk to a
stranger while commuting (vs. their typical
commuting activities), and those people reported
being in a better mood during the commute.
- Act happy
Smile! One study showed that asking people to
smile naturally (for example, by mimicking a
person smiling in a photo) improved mood. The key
is a natural smile, as one commonly cited study
that involved participants biting on pens (to
produce a smile-like facial expression) have been
mostly debunked.
- Increase novelty
We are all subject to hedonic adaption, or the
idea that we quickly adapt to positive
experiences. One way to avoid this is through
injecting novelty into everyday experiences. For
example, one study randomly assigned people to
treat their weekend as a vacation, resulting in
better moods and greater satisfaction when they
returned to work on Monday. Another study — in
all seriousness — assigned people to create
“hand goggles” when watching a video for the
third time, thereby making the experience more
novel and increasing enjoyment.
- Help others
We feel happier when we choose to spend money on
others, like through gifts or donations. For
example, when people are randomly assigned to
spend money on themselves or on someone in need,
those who spend the money on others report better
moods afterward.
Things to subtract to make us happier
- Reduce unpleasant time use
Do less of the things you don’t like. One study
gave participants $40 to spend on a purchase that
would save them time (for example, paying someone
to do household chores). Another weekend, they
gave participants $40 to spend on a material
purchase. When participants made the time-saving
purchase, they felt less pressed for time and,
subsequently, happier.
- Reduce smartphone and social media use
As someone who studies the impact of smartphones
and social media on mental health, I know
firsthand that this research is complicated. The
evidence suggests that reducing use will not
increase happiness per se, but that it is more
likely to do so when it enhances our participation
in the social situations around us, and when it
extends for a longer stretch of time (one month
vs. one day).
This is not an all-encompassing list. The downside
of this research approach is that it leaves out a
lot of studies, some of them high-quality. Decades
of research, for example, support the benefits of
exercise, sleep, spending time in nature and many
other interventions. These may be effective for
increasing happiness, but there are few (if any)
preregistered experiments proving it.
In time, the body of rigorous, preregistered
research on happiness will grow. For now, the best
we can do is follow this list and, otherwise, do
things the old-fashioned way: without good science
to guide us.
Jacqueline Nesi, PhD, is a clinical psychologist,
assistant professor at Brown University, and
author of the popular weekly newsletter Techno
Sapiens.
What will you add or subtract from your life
to create happy sexy love?
Hadley Finch
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