Ignorance is Bliss.
And...
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty\u2014power is ever stealing from the many to the few... . The hand entrusted with power becomes
... the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity."
And if there was no tension, life would be boring.
And boring life would result in vapid art.
So, was it really the Beatniks, who mocked the conformity and uniformity of post-WWII America, that were the problem?
Do you want to be square?
> http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~sonja/
>
> Sonja Lyubomirsky
>
> Professor
>
> Ph.D. Stanford University
>
> (951) 827-5041 (msg)
>
> The majority of my research career has been devoted to studying human
> happiness. Why is the scientific study of happiness important? In
> short, because most people believe happiness is meaningful, desirable,
> and an important, worthy goal, because happiness is one of the most
> salient and significant dimensions of human experience and emotional
> life, because happiness yields numerous rewards for the individual,
> and because it makes for a better, healthier, stronger society. Along
> these lines, my current research addresses three critical questions -
> 1) What makes people happy?; 2) Is happiness a good thing?; and 3) How
> can we make people happier still?
>
> Why Are Some People Happier Than Others?
>
> I have always been struck by the capacity of some individuals to be
> remarkably happy, even in the face of stress, trauma, or adversity.
> Thus, up until recently, my research efforts have been focused on
> trying to understand why some people are happier than others. To this
> end, my approach has been to explore the cognitive and motivational
> processes that distinguish individuals who show exceptionally high and
> low levels of happiness. These processes include social comparison
> (how people compare themselves to peers), dissonance reduction (how
> people justify both trivial and important choices in their lives),
> self-evaluation (how people judge themselves), and person perception
> (how people think about others). All of these processes, it turns out,
> have hedonic implications - that is, positive or negative consequences
> for happiness and self-regard - and thus are relevant to elucidating
> individual differences in enduring well-being. My empirical findings
> over the years have revealed that chronically happy and unhappy
> individuals differ systematically and in a manner supportive of their
> differing temperaments in the particular cognitive and motivational
> strategies they use. For example, my students and I have found that
> truly happy individuals construe life events and daily situations in
> ways that seem to maintain their happiness, while unhappy individuals
> construe experiences in ways that seem to reinforce unhappiness. In
> essence, our research shows that happy individuals experience and
> react to events and circumstances in relatively more positive and more
> adaptive ways.
>
> On-going studies in my laboratory are exploring additional cognitive
> and motivational processes that support the differing worlds of
> enduring happiness versus chronic unhappiness. For example, current
> research is examining the role of extensive self-reflection and
> "dwelling" in well-being. Several investigations have revealed that
> unhappy individuals are more likely than happy ones to dwell on
> negative or ambiguous events. Such "dwelling" or rumination may drain
> cognitive resources and thus bring to bear a variety of negative
> consequences, which could further reinforce unhappiness. These
> findings demonstrate some of the maladaptive by-products of
> self-reflection, suggesting that not only is the "unexamined life"
> worth living, but it is potentially full of happiness and joy.
>
> To cast our work on happiness in a broader framework, we have also
> been exploring the meaning and expression of happiness and suffering
> across cultures and subcultures. For example, current research is
> investigating the value and reasonableness of the pursuit of happiness
> in "meritocratic" vs. "non-meritocratic" cultures (e.g., U.S. and
> Russia, respectively). Our preliminary findings suggest that Russians
> are less concerned with the pursuit of happiness, less likely to deem
> happiness as attainable or stable, and less likely to publicly express
> happiness than their American counterparts.
>
> What Are the Benefits of Happiness?
>
> A recent interest has steered me from the search of the roots of
> happiness to an examination of its consequences. Is happiness a good
> thing? Or, does it just simply feel good? A recent review of all the
> available literature has revealed that happiness does indeed have
> numerous positive byproducts, which appear to benefit not only
> individuals, but families, communities, and the society at large. The
> benefits of happiness include higher income and superior work outcomes
> (e.g., greater productivity and higher quality of work), larger social
> rewards (e.g., more satisfying and longer marriages, more friends,
> stronger social support, and richer social interactions), more
> activity, energy, and flow, and better physical health (e.g., a
> bolstered immune system, lowered stress levels, and less pain) and
> even longer life. The literature, my colleagues and I have found, also
> suggests that happy individuals are more creative, helpful,
> charitable, and self-confident, have better self-control, and show
> greater self-regulatory and coping abilities. On-going and future
> experimental and longitudinal studies that attempt to increase the
> long-term happiness of students and working adults will give us the
> opportunity to assess whether increases in durable happiness predict
> changes in other positive outcomes, such as altruistic behavior,
> creativity, work performance, physical health, and social
> relationships.
>
> The Architecture of Sustainable Happiness
>
> A new program of research, funded by the National Institute of Health,
> is asking the question, "How can happiness be reliably increased?"
> Despite pessimism from the current literature that the pursuit of
> happiness may be largely futile, my colleagues and I believe that
> durable increases in happiness are indeed possible and within the
> average person's reach. Thus, following my construal theory of
> happiness, I have begun to explore how the cognitive and motivational
> processes and biases associated with relatively greater happiness can
> be nurtured, acquired, or directly taught. To this end, my current
> research focus is investigating the architecture of sustainable
> happiness - that is, the mechanisms by which a chronic happiness level
> higher than one's genetically-determined set point can be achieved and
> sustained. My colleagues and I believe that sustainable increases in
> happiness are possible through the execution of intentional cognitive,
> motivational, and behavioral activites that are feasible to deploy but
> require daily and concerted effort and commitment
>
> My students and I are currently conducting several experimental
> intervention studies in which participants' cognitive and behavioral
> strategies are systematically retrained. For example, three
> intervention studies are testing the efficacy of three potential
> volitional strategies, two cognitive and one behavioral: 1) regularly
> setting aside time to recall moments of gratitude (i.e., keeping a
> journal in which one "counts one's blessings" over the course of 6
> weeks), 2) engaging in self-regulatory and positive thinking about
> oneself (i.e., reflecting, writing, and talking about one's happiest
> and unhappiest life events for 15 minutes a day during one week), and
> 3) practicing altruism and kindness for 6 weeks (i.e., routinely
> committing acts of kindness).
>
> Responses to Depression
>
> Finally, a separate line of research focuses on people's responses to
> depression. Many people believe that, when they become depressed, they
> should try to focus inwardly and analyze their feelings and problems
> in order to gain self-insight and find solutions. Contrary to such
> beliefs, my research suggests that repetitive and self-focused
> rumination about the implications of one's depressive symptoms
> actually appears to maintain those symptoms and impair one's ability
> to solve problems. In this work, I have been particularly concerned
> with the mechanisms by which rumination may prolong depressed mood. I
> also have recently been investigating the consequences of ruminative
> thinking in the domains of health and academic achievement. For
> example, several studies have shown that ruminative responses are
> associated with delay of diagnosis-seeking for serious health
> symptoms.
>
> Selected Publications
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing
> happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General
> Psychology, 9, 111-131.
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S., King, L. A., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits
> of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success?
> Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803-855.
>
> * Lyubomirksy, S., Sousa, L., Dickerhoof, R. (in press). The costs
> and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life's triumphs
> and defeats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S., & Tkach, C. (2003). The consequences of
> dysphoric rumination. In C. Papageorgiou & A. Wells (Eds.),
> Rumination: Nature, theory, and treatment of negative thinking in
> depression (pp. 21-41). Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons.
>
> * Ward, A. H., Lyubomirsky, S., Sousa, L., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S.
> (2003). Can't quite commit: Rumination and uncertainty. Personality
> and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 96-107.
>
> * Schwartz, B., Ward, A. H., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S.,
> White, K., & Lehman, D. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing:
> Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social
> Psychology, 83, 1178-1197.
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S. (2001). Why are some people happier than
> others?: The role of cognitive and motivational processes in
> well-being. American Psychologist, 56, 239-249.
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S., & Ross, L. (1999). Changes in attractiveness of
> elected, rejected, and precluded alternatives: A comparison of happy
> and unhappy individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
> 76, 988-1007.
>
> * Lyubomirsky, S., Tucker, K.L., Caldwell, N.D., & Berg, K.
> (1999). Why ruminators are poor problem solvers: Clues from the
> phenomenology of dysphoric rumination. Journal of Personality and
> Social Psychology, 77, 1041-1060.
>
> --
> Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence
> of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles
>
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