HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Part of HuffPost Wellness. All rights reserved. Let me just pluck out a few of the most intriguing concepts presented in the article. Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. I realize that I have probably just left you with more questions than answers. Joshua's article was clearly not a "5 Steps to Happiness" write-up. Suggest a correction. Therese Borchard, Contributor.
Now What? Newsletter Sign Up. Successfully Subscribed! What Makes Us Happy? He does this by looking at a Harvard research study, which followed men who entered college in the late s through their lifetimes.
However, Shenk's examination of the study does not really focus on the study. He does reveal some details about the study, but what Shenk reveals is that the study is far too immense to cover its details in a page article. It spanned almost the entire history of modern psychology. Therefore, at various points in time, the study has focused on different aspects of psychology that were believed to be relevant at these different points in time, from whole-body phrenology to psychoanalysis.
Moreover, the article also places quite a bit of emphasis on the study's longtime director, George Vaillant. The emphasis on the researcher differs from many psychological studies, where the goal is for the researcher not to impact the behavior of the study's subjects.
For all of those reasons, one must question the results of the study. It has almost all of the weaknesses anyone wishes to avoid in a research design. The study was not random, there is no real control group, the researcher was biased, not all participants engaged in every data collection point, the questions were mainly subjective, and it would be absolutely impossible to come close to replicating the study.
All of those flaws suggest that the study is a good example of bad science. However, those weaknesses are actually the reason that the article is worth reading. While Shenk's article, like Vaillant's study, does not actually reveal the secret of happiness, it does give a great overview of the practice of psychology in 20th century America. Moreover, Shenk's article gives a really interesting glimpse into the lives of upwardly-mobile American men in the 20th century. For its historical insights, cautions about research methodology, and ability to really humanize the practice of research psychology, Shenk's article should be included in the curriculum, despite the fact that Shenk's article does not provide the formula for happiness.
Assignment Shenk begins his article with a question. It is a wonderful question, and one that Shenk acknowledges drives much of the practice of today's modern consumer-driven psychology. For example, the self-help shelves are full of advice for people seeking happy lives. Moreover, when Shenk first mentions that this article is going to review the results of a study that lasted almost an entire century and followed its participants through the entire lives, one has the glimmer of hope that Vaillant actually uncovered the key to happiness and that Shenk is going to share it with the reader.
He does not. Yes, Vailliant's work uncovered some factors that happy people have in common, and Shenk shares them with the reader. However, what Vaillant's work makes clear is that there is no guarantor of happiness. Repeatedly in the article Shenk gives examples of people who have all of the outward trappings of success that one might associate with happiness, and still do not report being happy.
He also gives examples of people who do seem to have far more struggle in their lives, but still manage to be happy. Therefore, the first reason that Shenk's article is worth including in the curriculum is that it serves as a wonderful reminder of the complexity of psychology.
Even an emotion as seemingly simple as happiness is not easily reduced into component parts. Shenk's article covers an investigation that spanned almost an entire century. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;. And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
Joshua discusses the relationship between George Valliant and the positive psychology movement, especially to University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman. He writes:. Now he articulates the dark side of pleasure and connection—or, at least, the way that our most profound yearnings can arise from our most basic fears. I realize that I have probably just left you with more questions than answers.
And c lick here to follow Therese on Twitter. And click here to join Group Beyond Blue , a depression support group. Now stop clicking. Without careful monitoring, its wild wind can rage through your life leaving you much like the lyrics of a country song: without a wife, […].
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