What makes you happy ?

Happiness, like any word, has so many meanings in different contexts that without agreeing on a limited starting definition we would argue forever about what it was, let alone how much of it we have. Common usage often qualifies it as long-term, fleeting, deferred, the happiest moment or day etc.
When the US Declaration of Independence mentions the "pursuit of happiness", it was with a strong sense that this would be up to each individual to define. Individuals work out their own definitions within a context of inextricably entwined biological and social influences. Individual happiness will be influenced by just knowing how childlessness is viewed by whatever culture dominates in our lives. Individual happiness of parents is also heavily influenced by this cultural lens - are they regarded as the valued engine house of the culture or just a resource hungry nuisance.
Biology is also playing with us at so many levels - from hormonal cycles over months, years or our lifetime - to hard wired responses to the sights, sounds and smells of children. Some of this hard wiring has of course been short circuited within individuals in a myriad of ways - some commonplace: My girlfriend is a "my baby" - some less common but even more dangerous: I want to "have" children - sexually.
The relative strength of these two main super systems - biology and culture - are endlessly debated, although the strength of the influence of biology is growing steadily since the denial phase of the late 20th century.
When we say that we are pursuing happiness, we are not much more informed that a child with $20. Will I buy lollies or a movie ticket ? If I eat all the lollies will I feel sick afterwards ? Will it matter if they tasted good ? Should I save some for next week ? If I don't like the movie, I will say it was cool anyway so that others envy me. etc. etc. etc. All these dilemmas are enacted daily at the new car yard, the house auction and the bottle shop - by adults.
Happiness is worth studying because it is so important to us. But, being important to a complex social and biological system, also usually means that it is infinitely arguable. The relative failure of social sciences such as philosophy and sociology as guides to action compared to the "hard' sciences is because the matter that they work with is essentially impossible to define in any defensible way.
We need to take the results from each survey more as work of art than a piece of science. I might get you to respond to words in the context of a novel about the agony and ecstasy of parenting; or I might get you to respond to words in the context of a survey and then to the responses of many others to those same words.
The surveys on what provides happiness are interesting to us all because happiness is important to us. But we need to decide how to spend our $20 ourselves.

Stephen Digby

Links:

• What makes you happy? - ABC Life Matters Download Audio
• Daniel Gilbert (psychologist), Harvard professor of psychology
• Happiness and Its Causes
• Daniel Gilbert