Authentic Happiness
Good Fit
- Readers who want the main ideas of positive psychology from the source
- People interested in finding their character strengths and using them at work and in relationships
- Anyone who thinks happiness is not only pleasant feeling but also meaning and engagement
Not a Fit
- Anyone seeking short ready-made recipes: the book is long and has tests and a philosophical background
- Anyone wanting to replace treatment of severe depression or a mental disorder with a book
- Anyone expecting scientific presentation to be balanced throughout: the author takes a sharp stand on some subjects (hedonism, the past of his own field)
The chapter opens with the story of two nuns: Cecilia and Marguerite, who took the same vows in Milwaukee in 1932. Cecilia at ninety-five has never been ill for a day, while Marguerite suffered a stroke at fifty-nine. The nuns' way of life, diet and medical care are the same; the difference lies in the autobiographies they wrote as novices: Cecilia says «very happy», «joyfully», while Marguerite expresses no positive emotion at all. When the amount of positive emotion in the writing was measured, 90% of the most cheerful quarter lived to 85, against 34% of the least cheerful quarter.
The second example is the smile: the Duchenne smile (the skin around the eyes crinkles) is genuine, while the «Pan American smile» is merely a polite pose. Keltner and Harker, looking at the photographs of 141 girls in the Mills College 1960 yearbook, showed that girls with a Duchenne smile married more over the next thirty years, stayed married and felt better; physical beauty does not explain this. From these two studies Seligman concludes that «positive emotion is not merely a pleasant feeling but an indicator of longevity and marital satisfaction».
Then the author criticises hedonism: the formula «quality of life is good moments minus bad moments» is wrong. In Daniel Kahneman's colonoscopy experiment, of 682 patients the group with an extra minute of less uncomfortable time added at the end remembers the experience better and is more willing to repeat it, although the total pain was greater. In the «experience machine» thought experiment (a machine that stimulates your brain) most people refuse: we want not positive emotion but to earn it. Shortcuts — drugs, chocolate, shopping, television — produce emptiness and insincerity.
At the end of the chapter the author shows the plan of the book: Part 1 positive emotions, Part 2 24 strengths and 6 virtues (wisdom, courage, love, justice, temperance, spirituality), Part 3 «the good life». The «good life» is not champagne and a Porsche: «the good life is using your signature strengths every day». Seligman gives as examples that his own strength is love of learning, whereas chairing a committee brings him exhaustion, not vitality. Then the Fordyce happiness questionnaire is given and it is reported that average American adults scored 6.92 (out of 10).
- The chapter opens with a portrait of two nuns, and the science grows out of the story
- Thought experiments such as the colonoscopy and the «experience machine» make the abstract idea concrete
- The author gives examples from his own strong and weak sides, inviting the reader to find their own strengths
- The Fordyce questionnaire at the end of the chapter turns the reader from a passive reader into a participant
The author's earlier book on optimism and explanatory style
The main book on full engagement and «flow»
A classic on the search for meaning
At the end of the part read Seligman recalls 1968: as an assistant professor at Cornell he discovered «learned helplessness» in dogs (dogs that could not escape electric shock later gave in even when they could escape) and that this challenged learning theory, while he himself was interested in the theory's consequences for human suffering. What follows is outside the scope of this review.
If you see a problem, write to us. Publisher, author, rights holder, or just a reader — it doesn't matter. If there's something problematic about copyright in this review, if the review's author has broken the site's rules, or if you simply have a suggestion or complaint, hey@kitabdanevar.com. We'd rather resolve this between ourselves than go to court: we review requests within 48 hours and, if needed, correct or fully remove the review.
