A new look at happiness

Many people remember one of the collisions touched upon by the Strugatskys in Roadside Picnic – the compatibility of individual happiness and “happiness for all”. The British economist Richard Layard eventually devoted a book to the same. Turning to the new psychological reality of the XNUMXst century, which is still busy searching for the «blue bird», he declares without any moralizing: taking into account the interests of other people and society as a whole is not sacrifice, but calculation. It not only does not reduce our personal satisfaction, but, on the contrary, increases it. So Layard calls for the development of a new doctrine of happiness for all — at the present level of human understanding. The author of the book cites the results of numerous studies by sociologists, psychologists and economists on what affects our happiness. In some ways, they echo the facts known from the books of the social psychologist Michael Argyle and Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, but among them there are many new ones that make us look at the problem more broadly. For example, a number of studies confirm that happiness is influenced by our need to compare ourselves to other people. Here, let’s say, in which of two imaginary worlds would you prefer to live (at the same price level): where you will receive 50 thousand dollars a year with an average salary of others 25 thousand, or where you will receive 100 thousand, and others — an average of 250 thousand? Exactly.

Getting used to or adapting to good things (think of The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish) is another psychological mechanism that prevents us from becoming more and more happy.

And here is another curious observation: those changes that lead to well-being (domestic comfort, increased free time) go hand in hand with phenomena that have the opposite effect (growing disunity of people, weakening family and neighbor ties, a decrease in trust, a cult of violence and sex , imposing the pursuit of external success, etc.). These two tendencies balance each other, and…we don’t become happier as a result. Politicians and economists overlook or ignore the factors that positively affect our sense of well-being – social stability, trust, cooperation. Analyzing this and other data, Layard condemns economics, which focuses on efficiency and GDP growth, and not on what is really important for life, while «the goal of politics is to make the world a friendlier place, not to turn it into a streak of obstacles.»