The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science

by Jonathan Haidt

So what is the right kind of activity? What is V in the happiness formula? The tool that helped psychologists answer that question is the “experience sampling method,” invented by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “cheeks sent me high”), the Hungarian-born cofounder of positive psychology. In Csikszentmihalyi’s studies,48 people carry with them a pager that beeps several times a day. At each beep, the subject pulls out a small notebook and records what she is doing at that moment, and how much she is enjoying it. Through this “beeping” of thousands of people tens of thousands of times, Csikszentmihalyi found out what people really enjoy doing, not just what they remember having enjoyed. He discovered that there are two different kinds of enjoyment. One is physical or bodily pleasure. At meal times, people report the highest levels of happiness, on average. People really enjoy eating, especially in the company of others, and they hate to be interrupted by telephone calls (and perhaps Csikszentmihalyi’s beeps) during meals, or (worst of all) during sex. But you can’t enjoy physical pleasure all day long. By their very nature, food and sex satiate. To continue eating or having sex beyond a certain level of satisfaction can lead to disgust.