So what is happiness? Aristotle, who adheres to naturalism, believes that happiness is "the realization of virtue"; Rousseau, who advocates liberalism, believes that happiness is a kind of life in line with nature,that is, a life of self-love, compassion and kindness.
Bentham, who advocates utilitarianism, believes that happiness is the ultimate goal of human beings, and happiness is good, and puts forward the legislative principle of "the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people".
The Chinese traditional Confucian Confucius said, "unjust and rich and valuable, like a floating cloud to me", which reflects the Confucian happiness view of virtue and happiness; Laozi, who represents Taoism,
believes that conforming to nature is happiness, and the so-called "heaven and heaven" is called "heavenly happiness". Happiness as a subjective feeling seems to be difficult to evaluate objectively, and people's view of happiness is also very different from person to person.
Instantaneous happiness can be measured by a formula
Since happiness is a subjective experience, is it impossible to calculate and measure? American psychologist Seligman put forward a formula for happiness: total happiness index = innate genetic quality + acquired environment + psychological strength that you can actively control (H=S+C+V).
The total happiness index refers to people's more stable happiness, rather than temporary happiness and happiness. Watching a comedy at the cinema or eating a delicious meal at a restaurant are temporary pleasures;
Happiness is the continuous and stable feeling of happiness that makes you feel, including the overall satisfaction with real life and the evaluation of the quality of your life, which is a comprehensive affirmation of your living state.
The economist Paul Samuelson also has a happiness formula: happiness = utility/desire. Among them, utility can be approximated as personal wealth, and happiness can be approximated as satisfaction.
It is the comparison between real life conditions and mental expectations. The greater the gap between utility and desire, the worse happiness will be. Of course, this calculation is also biased, because studies have shown that there is no simple linear relationship between people's happiness and wealth.
Since happiness is divided into instantaneous happiness and permanent happiness, if you set aside the permanent happiness index mentioned above, which is influenced by genetics, acquired environment and people's psychological factors,
instantaneous happiness may indeed be more accurately measured by mathematical formulas. Robb Rutledge, a cognitive and computational neuroscientist at University College London,
Rutledge's experiment first demonstrated that an increase in people's real income did not increase their subjective instantaneous happiness index (" happiness index "). If we distinguish more precisely between permanent happiness and instantaneous happiness,
then permanent happiness can be called the happiness index, and instantaneous happiness should be called the happiness index). In this experiment, participants were asked to choose between multiple rounds of risky options and certain options,
and to report their happiness level at the moment after two or three rounds of decision making. Their happiness was measured by their choice of a scroll bar displayed on a computer screen, which ranged from left to right.
Over the course of the experiment, people's average income increased from £20 to £28.51, but their happiness index did not increase. Therefore, people's happiness is not related to the actual payoff,
but is affected by the expected payoff (CR or EV) and the gap between the actual payoff and the expected payoff (RPE), respectively. The left side of the formula is the happiness index reported by the subjects after the t round decision;
the right CRj represents the expected return of the subjects when they choose the sure option in the j round; EVj represents the expected return of the subjects when they choose the risky option in the j round;
and RPEj represents the difference between the real return and the expected return after the subjects choose the risky option in the j round. (Where EV=0 and RPE=0 when subjects select the yes option; When subjects choose the risk option, CR=0.) γ is the forgetting factor,
representing the attenuation effect of CR, EV, and RPE values on the happiness index of the subject before the round. This means that the more recent the choice, the greater the impact on happiness.
By estimating the values of the coefficients w0, w1, w2, w3 and γ in the equation with a large number of subject data, we can estimate the happiness index of the subject at the moment by the expected benefit of the choice and the difference between the actual and the expectation. The results show that CR, EV and RPE have significant positive effects on happiness index, and the effect of RPE is significantly greater than that of EV.
