Toady's Unrealistic Standards For Happiness And The Pursuit Of Happiness

Philosopher Confucius once said, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated” (“Confucius Quotes”). In life, obtaining happiness is one of the most uncomplicated achievements. Today’s fast-paced world coerces individuals to concentrate on the future, making it challenging to discover true happiness. Despite these complications, society continues to promote the concept of chasing happiness without regarding its detrimental effects on an evolved civilization. The pursuit of happiness inhibits the formation and perpetuation of an advanced society due to engendering individuals to feel dissatisfied and disappointed. Happiness is clinically “defined as a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life.” The cognitive
This fixation has led to the creation of unrealistic standards for happiness and the chasing of happiness. The two most common goals are to have an increase in the frequency and intensity of happiness. Both of these goals, however, may have detrimental effects on people and their pursuits of happiness. Having an increased frequency in happiness levels is “associated with negative psychological health and adaptive functioning outcomes” (Ford and Mauss 368). An increased intensity of happiness will most likely lead to extreme disappointment due to falling short of the unrealistic standards. In turn, this disappointment inhibits the experience of pursuing happiness. “When examining the pursuit of happiness, however, feeling disappointed will conflict with the goal of happiness. Unlike non-hedonic goals...feeling disappointed about one’s progress towards their goal of happiness can impair one’s very progress toward the goal [of happiness]” (368). There have been several studies concerning the negative effects of chasing happiness. In one, some participants were asked to respond to one of two video clips. The participants who watched the positive clip recounted feeling less happy because of clip. The participants who viewed the neutral video clip reported either increased happiness levels or no change to their happiness level (369). People from the first group came in with an expectation of happiness and then, when this was not met, were disappointed. On the other hand, the viewers of the neutral film clip went in with no standards, so they could not be let down. Likewise, during a study participants were asked to fill out a survey about their New Year’s Eve plans. Two months after the celebration, the participants were asked how much they enjoyed the celebration. Individuals who planned large celebrations were found to be the most disappointed because they did not enjoy their plans as much as expected. “This study