The Shifting Meaning of Happiness (original) (raw)

2011, Social Psychological and Personality Science

From Ancient Greeks to Buddhists to modern philosophers and politicians, thinkers have queried the nature of happiness. Although scientists have investigated behavioral correlates, measures, and determinants of happiness, 1-6 little empirical work has explored the meaning of happiness. Here, we present our examination of emotions reported on 12 million personal blogs, three national surveys, and two experiments, showing that the meaning of happiness changes over the course of one's lifetime. Whereas younger people are more likely to associate happiness with excitement, older people are more likely to associate happiness with feeling peaceful. Further investigation into this shift reveals it to be driven by a redirection of attention from the future to the present as people age. Moreover, younger people can be influenced to temporarily redefine happiness as feeling peaceful (like older people) through a simple meditation that increases focus on the present moment. Finally, we show this shift in meaning of happiness to have behavioral implications, for example in how people choose to spend money. Given the energy humans invest in the pursuit of happiness, scientific inquiry is needed to understand what it is that is being pursued. With a pulse on human emotions, this investigation reveals the meaning of happiness to be dynamic, with older and younger adults pursuing different things.