Daniel Nettle Happiness

As a species we are fascinated by the pursuit of happiness, holding it as one of (if not the most) important goals achievable, but how much stock should we really put into this drive? As Professor Daniel Nettle argues in his book, Happiness: the science behind your smile, we are not unhappy because of our environment, but rather because of our nature. Happiness and consequently unhappiness is due in large part to how we address our world. The majority of people rank themselves above the average level of happiness, and when asked how happy they projected to be in the future the bulk of people predicted an increase in happiness. This not only means that most people are happy but most people are optimists. However, people consistently tend to
Meaning that we are not meant to seek out happiness, we are meant to seek out what will best assist us to survive and reproduce. We are driven to compete and look for every possible advantage by nature, rather than choice. Evolutionarily we are set to adapt to compete with those around us to give ourselves a better chance of survival. This begins with the comparison of ourselves to those around us. If our competitor has a resource that we do not, we immediately begin to crave that resource. But even that must still leave a sense of dissatisfaction or unhappiness, or we would miss other, potentially better, opportunities that would give us an advantage. Thus complete happiness is impossible in the long term as that we are driven by our biology to be unsatisfied.
Is this such a bad thing? Living in a constant state of happiness would not only be torture but completely unproductive. We cannot truly have happiness without the juxtaposition of unhappiness. Unhappiness acts as our alarm system to tell us something is wrong and requires immediate attention. If we were to ignore immediate or imminent problems we would not survive long. Without that system progress, adaptation, and innovation is impossible. Our unhappiness is a necessary byproduct to ensure our survival, not just as individuals but as a
It is only natural to feel anxious and stressed within the first semester of college, especially in comparison to a non stressful event such as being accepted into Case. As Nettle himself says “people adapt quite quickly to positive changes in life circumstances, and then return to to close to their previous level of happiness.” In other words, while we are pleased by being accepted, it does not last long as we are always looking beyond to find the next big thing. So what can we do? The biggest thing to consider here is that students here are inherently driven to compete, and if given the option majority would still take on the same amount of work if they believed it would give them an advantage over everyone else. Thus asking students to take on less work is not a likely solution. Rather having a vigorous support system in place to assist those who are struggling academically and catch those who fall into depression. Case has both, so what’s the issue? Before Case, needing educational assistance (tutoring) was for those who were struggling in a class, but at Case it is for those who wish to succeed in a class. It is the remnants of pride that holds back first-year students, pride from not needing tutoring, pride from looking down on those who do. It is only when the adjustment is made that normal happiness