Summary of Paul Dolan's Happiness by Design

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Happiness is defined as pleasure and purpose over time. In chapter 2, I will present some new research that shows how people are happy as they go about their daily lives. In chapter 3, I will explain how we can understand what causes happiness.

#2 Happiness is the feeling of pleasure and purpose over time. It is a coherent definition that resonates with people in my research and in my life. It is also measurable, which is crucial if we are to advance our understanding of happiness.

#3 Happiness has typically been measured using evaluations of how well life is going overall. However, this is not how most people experience happiness. Single questions can help us approximate what makes most people happy or unhappy, but they do not take into account how people feel on a day-to-day basis.

#4 Life satisfaction is very difficult to measure, and it is affected by many factors. We need to focus on our day-to-day feelings instead of global snapshots of overall life satisfaction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822514188

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Insights on Paul Dolan's Happiness by Design

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Happiness is defined as pleasure and purpose over time. In chapter 2, I will present some new research that shows how people are happy as they go about their daily lives. In chapter 3, I will explain how we can understand what causes happiness.

#2

Happiness is the feeling of pleasure and purpose over time. It is a coherent definition that resonates with people in my research and in my life. It is also measurable, which is crucial if we are to advance our understanding of happiness.

#3

Happiness has typically been measured using evaluations of how well life is going overall. However, this is not how most people experience happiness. Single questions can help us approximate what makes most people happy or unhappy, but they do not take into account how people feel on a day-to-day basis.

#4

Life satisfaction is very difficult to measure, and it is affected by many factors. We need to focus on our day-to-day feelings instead of global snapshots of overall life satisfaction.

#5

Your life goes well when you feel happy. You experience a rich array of feelings in any one day, and over a lifetime. Positive and negative feelings are categorized according to a two-by-two model: positive and negative, and aroused and nonaroused.

#6

The distinction between positive and negative affects your happiness. The more pleasure and pain you experience, the happier you are. But there are other feelings that might matter besides categories of pleasure and pain.

#7

There is another important category of feelings that matters to you, and these are the feelings of purpose and pointlessness. These feelings affect your happiness in ways that must be taken into account.

#8

Purpose is a feeling that covers the types of emotional pleasures and pains that psychologists typically think of when they discuss emotions. It is a