CHow do you learn to be happy? The leading educational centers in the world believe that it is a skill that can be acquired. It all started at Yale University in 2018. A course with a title that had a catchy title – Psychology and the Good Life – received a barrage of enrollments, more than a thousand. And classes had to be moved to the concert hall. The teacher who taught it, Laurie Santos, was the first surprised. A surprise tinged with concern. The students confessed that they were having a hard time and a survey, the first of many, confirmed it. Santos then adapted the teachings to the general public and uploaded them to the Internet. That became viral (nearly one hundred thousand students from 168 countries). And dozens of universities took note and followed her example. With the pandemic, what could be considered a temporary phenomenon has become a necessity. And thanks to the new educational coalitions it has spread.
Michael Plant has a doctorate in Moral Philosophy and is part of the research team at the Wellbeing Research Centre, a center at the University of Oxford that studies emotional well-being. In 2019 he founded, and directs, the Happier Lives Institute, which analyzes the cost and effectiveness of resources dedicated to improving global happiness.
XLSemanal. I want to contribute my grain of sand to world happiness, what do I do?
Michael Plant. That’s what we’re trying to find out. But it is a difficult question. Imagine that you want to donate six thousand euros. What is better? Buy a thousand mosquito nets against malaria that will protect a thousand children; make a transfer of one thousand euros to six families; or treat 45 people for depression through psychotherapy?
XL. No idea. But they don’t seem like comparable goals: saving lives, reducing poverty, treating mental illness…
PM Indeed, but it is possible to answer this question by comparing the effects on people’s subjective well-being.
XL. Is it reliable data?
PM Yes, it is calculated with surveys on the degree of satisfaction. Some are skeptical when it comes to putting numbers on feelings, but if we want to know how people’s lives are going, we have to ask them. And the results are amazing.
XL. surprise me
PM Health and wealth are not important in themselves, they only matter because they improve our subjective well-being. Money and success count much less than people think to be happy. This is known as ‘Easterlin’s paradox’. GDP per capita has increased in the West since the 1950s, but happiness levels have stagnated. The personal relationships, the emotional connection, count more.
XL. And does increasing individual happiness serve to increase collective happiness?
PM Yes, there is a contagion effect. That there are kind people around you, in your work, is already a good start. And, in addition, now, for the first time in history, it is possible to increase individual and collective happiness, and measure it rigorously, following scientific methods, thanks to the analysis of data from hundreds of studies carried out in recent years. But it is a line of work that has only just begun. No one can say with absolute certainty what the priorities should be.
“GDP per capita has increased in the West since the 1950s, but happiness levels have stagnated”
XL. Could these priorities change if this new approach is adopted?
PM Yes, and this would have consequences when allocating the resources of governments, institutions, philanthropists… Unfortunately, mistakes continue to be made for not taking into account the impact on happiness and emotional well-being.
XL. For example?
PM A very striking one is that providing psychotherapy to people suffering from depression in poor countries is nine times more effective in improving well-being than sending monetary donations. We have seen it in Zambia and Uganda. This tells us that mental health should have more weight in the development aid budgets of governments and NGOs. It is an urgency that the pandemic has accentuated. More research is needed, but everything indicates that mental health is one of the most pressing problems in the world.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.