The Happy Hypothesis

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt is a 2006 psychology book for a general audience. The following discussion is adapted from Wikipedia

In it, Haidt poses several "Great Ideas" on happiness advocated by thinkers of the past, and examines them in the light of contemporary psychological research, extracting from them any teachings that still apply to our modern lives.

Central to the book are the concepts of virtue, happiness, fulfilment, and meaning.

A concise preview of the chapters as follows:

The divided self

Haidt looks at a number of ways of dividing the self that have existed since ancient times:

· mind vs body

· left brain vs. right brain

· old brain vs. new brain

· controlled vs. automatic

Changing your mind

The automatic emotional reactions guide us throughout our lives. People even tend to choose mates, and professions, whose names resemble their own. Haidt discusses three ways of changing those automatic reactions: (1) meditation, (2) cognitive therapy, and (3) SSRI medications such as Prozac.

Reciprocity with a vengeance

Haidt describes ways in which understanding the deep workings of reciprocity can help to solve problems in our social lives and guard against the many ways that we can be manipulated.

The faults of others

Part of our ultra-sociality is that we are constantly trying to manipulate others' perceptions of ourselves, without realizing that we are doing so. As Jesus said, we see the faults of others clearly, but are blind to our own. ("Why do you see the speck in your neighbour's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?")

Haidt discusses ways of taking off "the moral glasses" and seeing the world as it really is.

The pursuit of happiness

It is a common idea that happiness comes from within and can't be found in external things. Haidt argues that we know that some external circumstances do matter. He identifies ways of improving happiness by altering these, including spending money well, and argues that the Western emphasis on action and striving is not without merit.

Love and attachments

There are many kinds of love, but, Haidt asserts, they all begin to make sense when you see where love comes from, and what it does. Understanding the different kinds of love, he writes, can help explain why people make so many mistakes with love, and why philosophers hate love and give us bad advice about it.

The uses of adversity

Nietzsche wrote, "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger," but this is not true for everyone; adversity may result in post-traumatic stress disorder. Haidt discusses how and why some people grow from their suffering, along with ways of improving one's chances of finding post-traumatic growth. Adversity at the right time in life, research on wisdom shows, can make people more compassionate and better able to balance the needs of self and others.

The felicity of virtue

To address the question of how a common morality can be forged in a diverse society, Haidt turns to positive psychology, specifically to Seligman and Peterson's work on virtues and strengths.

Divinity with or without God

Haidt argues that the perception of sacredness and divinity are two basic features of the human mind; the emotions of disgust, moral elevation, and awe tell us about this dimension, but not everybody listens. The "religious act" can only be understood by acknowledging this dimension, which most liberals and secular thinkers ignore or misunderstand. The work of Maslow (on "peak experiences") shows ways in which this dimension is also relevant to the non-religious.

Happiness comes from between

Haidt discusses "the meaning of life," making the distinction between a purpose for life and a purpose within life. Love and work give a sense of meaning to life. "Cross-level coherence" within one's self and life is also vital, coherence between the physical, psychological and sociocultural levels. Haidt argues that religion is an evolved mechanism for creating this coherence.

On balance

Haidt concludes by arguing that the ancient idea of Yin and Yang turns out to be the wisest idea of all. We need, he writes, the perspectives of ancient religion and modern science; of east and west; even of liberal and conservative. "Words of wisdom really do flood over us, but only by drawing from many sources can we become wise."