I responded:
>> why the presumption that happiness involves boredom, no tension, ignorance?
>> the author contrasts happiness to depression, which is not the same
as excitement, tension, or knowledge. ...<<
On 4/1/06, Josh Narins then wrote:
> I have not read any more material on this topic than you presented. It was posited that information/knowledge led to unhappiness in this presentation.
>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.
>Perhaps I am over-simplifying when I suggest that not examining
things leads to ignorance, it is hard for me to imagine
_any_other_result_.
>There are, in this modern world, more than a handful of unhappy
geo-political and global situations. Starvation, War, Poverty,
Imminent-any-of-the-above. Should we consider them? Dwell on these
unhappy things?
>Surely it wouldn't be self-reflection, but it probably has, according
to the Lyubomirsky theory, negative internal repercussions which could
cause depression.
> Tension is critical. Without any, nothing gets done, with too much, people snap. That's the tension in tension :) <
with regard to these issues, Lyubomirsky's web-site I quoted said:
>>>Why Are Some People Happier Than Others?
>>> ... 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. [emphasis mine -- JD]
>>>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.<<<
she's not saying that _only_ the unexamined life is worth living. Frankly, I think she was trying to be cute with that phrase. Too cute.
Rather, she's saying a lack of rumination on -- dwelling on -- "social comparison (how people compare themselves to peers), ... self-evaluation (how people judge themselves), and person perception (how people think about others)." That is, there's a depressive psychological process of over-thinking that (1) makes one unhappy and (2) makes one less effective at attaining one's goals (the emphasis of the next part of the web-site). Happiness is avoiding this depressive process (in Lyubomirsky's view).
it's not "information/knowledge" that "led to unhappiness" (to quote Josh) as much as the individual's way of handling that knowledge, his or her basic attitude.
Josh wrote: >Starvation, War, Poverty ... Should we consider them? Dwell on these unhappy things?<
my impression is that Lyubomirsky is _not_ saying that we should avoid dwelling on unhappy things. Rather, she is saying that we should avoid letting such things reflect on our own self-evaluations. We shouldn't let these things get us down.
As for tension, I don't see Lyubomirsky as rejecting it. It's quite possible to have tension between one's happy internal state and the unhappiness of the world.
To quote Yogi Berra (or was it Sam Goldwin?), what's necessary is "optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect." That involves tension, no? -- Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles