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Is Happiness a New Social Responsibility?

By Joyce Shaffer, PhD

To keep your brain fit, keep it happy. According to the first World Congress on Positive Psychology, that’s the best conclusion.

Attended by over 1500 happy people from about 70 countries, this pivotal event brought some surprises in new research. Recent years have fleshed out the science behind your grin. It also has shown how the bottom line of best businesses can grow with positive influence.

Ed Diener, president of the International Association of Positive Psychology (IPPA), emphasized the huge individual differences in how people adapt.  For example, some of his happiest moments occur when he is analyzing data! He urged that we look at cultures that score in the extreme positive, see how THEY are and develop policies to train and cue people to be positive. Since the USA scores at the bottom of a list of nations in terms of happiness, that would take us to Denmark to study what makes them rate their happiness near the top of the scale. Equally important is the crucial distinction between having what we want, i.e. being so materialistic, and wanting what we have, i.e. adapting to whatever. Perhaps more important is learning how to evolve to a personal best. That would include learning to desire what we like in order to enjoy greater job satisfaction. For Dr. Diener, that would rule out running for American Psychological Association President as that would reduce time he could spend hiking, boating and enjoying family when not analyzing scientific data.

Fred Luthans found up to 270% return on investment from a major corporation that applied the concepts of positive psychology to their whole work environment. His model of “psychological capital” is that everyone can be a HERO. He trains businesses to develop in their entire organization Hope, Efficacy that affords confidence, Resiliency in developing the skills to “bounce back and beyond,” and Optimism.

Lord Richard Layard, British economist, explained why happiness is the overarching good. He provided a model that will be used throughout the world after positive psychology provides sufficient science.

While there are, of course, other goods, the value in people feeling good is self evident. Therefore he believes that the government’s best measure would not be GNP … but GNW, Gross National Wellbeing. The public policy he advocates focuses on five areas. Family issues can be addressed with more education, training and support for parenting. Mental health needs to be addressed with more training and preventive measures. Community building and values would be addressed with more social learning. In the issues of work and income, stability would be given priority over growth. Measurement and social science would be given greater priority.

Layard made a clear case that the goals to increase happiness and reduce misery in our global community MUST be science based. Elimination of global poverty is one of the highest priorities.

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, whose book Flow has been declared the “most important business book,” spoke to standing room only. He gave positive psychologists three challenges. Since individuals are responsible for who they are and who they become, positive psychologists need to research how we can learn to live a better life. Since we shape our future, our research needs to address “Where shall evolution be heading?” Because we are stewards of our world, positive psychology needs to expand the science on how we can achieve harmony on the planet.

Founder of the IPPA, Martin Seligman charged attendants with the task of developing the science to guide how positive psychology can best educate youth in cognitive, employment and relationship skills for the best life. His next challenge was to apply the principles of positive psychology to redefine healthcare to focus on better health rather than on risk factors.

We already know that chronic stress and unhealthy lifestyle choices can act like battery acid eroding our elegant brains. Science-based authentic and enduring happiness, in contrast, can do a brain, body and business good. And one person’s positive emotions can be contagious between brains like a neural Wi-Fi. Since that means an individual can improve their health as well as others, staying happy might just be the new social responsibility.

Joyce Shaffer, PhD, is a psychologist, nurse, and author of Ideal Aging®: 5 Steps to Keep Your Brain Fit. DrJoyce@StressPower.com

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