Aggregating transdisciplinary media for an increasingly interconnected world.

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    Study shows experiences are better than possessions →

    azspot:

    The satisfaction we get from buying vacations, bikes for exercise and other experiences starts high and keeps growing. The initial high we feel from acquiring a flashy car or megascreen TV, on the other hand, trails off rather quickly, reports a new Cornell study.

    Also from the article.

    “What does it all mean? “Our results suggest that if people get more enduring happiness from their experiences than their possessions, at a policy level, we might want to make available the resources that enable people to have experiences. You can’t go hiking if there are no trails. And if those are the kinds of things that give people more enduring enjoyment, we need to make sure we’re creating the kinds of communities that have parks, trails and so on that promote experiences that produce real enjoyment.”

    Source: azspot

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    Associate for Psychological Science: “Well-being Is Related To Having Less Small Talk And More Substantive Conversations”

    Matthias Mehl, Shannon Holleran, and Shelby Clark, psychological scientists from University of Arizona, and Simme Vazira from Washington University in St. Louis examined whether happiness is related to the types of conversations we engage in.

    “The happiest participants spent 25% less time alone and 70% more time talking than the unhappiest participants. In addition to the difference in the amount of social interactions happy and unhappy people had, there was also a difference in the types of conversations they took part in: The happiest participants had twice as many substantive conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest participants.”

    Don’t be afraid to bypass the small-talk and have a meaningful conversation with someone.  This might also be a good argument for spending less time in the blogosphere.  The researchers conclude:

    “These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial.”

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    A downside to happiness

    Photo by: Jesus Solana

    New Scientist published an article about happiness and how we direct our attention (either on ourselves or towards our environment).According to Hoe Forgas, psychologist at the University of New South Whales, claims that there is a downside to happiness:

    “People in a positive mood generally rely more on their own thoughts and preferences, and pay less attention to the outside world and social norms.”

    Furthermore,

    “Positive mood is in a sense an evolutionary signal, subconsciously informing people that the situation they face is safe and non-threatening,” he says. This encourages people to rely more on their own thoughts and preferences, with selfishness the result.
    Grumpiness or sadness, on the other hand, produces more vigilant, outward-looking thinkers. “A negative mood produces a thinking style that is more detailed and attentive, and pays more attention to the demands of the external environment.”

    We might say that happiness is not something we should expect constantly, but we should welcome the post-happy down time to reflect on our lives and those around us. Our personal lives and interactions with both others and our environment require reflection, critique, and transformation. Can we satisfy these developmental needs if we are completely satisfied with ourselves or our environment?

    In short, we mustn’t fear non-happiness because it too has its positive, and necessary, functions.