Happiness science: implications beyond happiness

The recently blooming empirical science of happiness is relevant not only to those who seek happiness. It became popular by providing an alternative to sickness-based approaches to mental health, by focusing on the drivers of well-being rather than on the drivers of ill-being (the typical concern of psychology and psychiatry). These two sets of drivers were shown to partly differ from each other. We need different interventions to cure mental illness and to promote well-being. Happiness science gave us a set of tools to improve our well-being, which is very much aligned to our current cultural ideal of pursuing happiness and seeing ourselves as masters of our lives. Aiming for maximizing happiness (and happiness only) may have its downside, however, as argued in Chapter 3.

What has the science of happiness brought us beyond happiness? It has refined our notions of happiness by differentiating between moods, feelings, hedonic and cognitive assessments, myriad forms of well-being. Thus, its results can support us not only in our aspirations for a joyful life but also to live a life which is meaningful, complete and authentic. It can inspire and refine our reflection on the nature of the good life, on both the individual and collective level. What is the good life we really want? And what is the good life we actually seek through our actions? Perhaps these two differ at the moment.

Happiness economics played a major role in challenging the mainstream consensus on the priority of material indicators of progress, such as GDP, and provoked a discussion on potential alternatives (Chapter 2). This search for alternatives is ever more intense, due to the urgent climate change and ecological crisis that challenge the aspiration for unlimited growth on a finite planet.

The economics of happiness examines how the external conditions, institutional frameworks, affect life satisfaction or happiness. (Positive) psychology focuses primarily on the internal factors, the attitude, that individuals can influence, including their response to external circumstances. There are more and more approaches that emphasize the links between the two and that aim for a unified approach (critical psychology and so on), but each discipline ventures more and more to the terrain of the other.