I'm sure every person reading this has heard of the term YOLO. Scientists did a study on aging and how it affects the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of happiness can be exotic travel, spending time with your family, and everything in between. "We examine how age—and the perceived amount of time left in life—impacts the happiness people enjoy from both extraordinary and ordinary life experiences," write authors Amit Bhattacharjee (Dartmouth College) and Cassie Mogilner (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania). The authors asked subjects to recall or imagine a happy experience, and hopefully be able to draw a line between ordinary and extraordinary. In one study, with 200 participants ranging from 18 to 78, there was a strong correlation with the fact that the older the person was, the more likely that their happy experience was an ordinary event. "Young people actively seeking to define themselves find it particularly rewarding to accumulate extraordinary experiences that mark their progression through life milestones. On the other hand, once people are older and have established a better sense of who they are, the experiences they view as self-defining are just as likely to include the routine daily events that reveal how they like to spend their time," the authors state, in conclusion.
Nature of Science Theme: Role of motivation and curiosity. These authors were curious about the younger generation and how they felt about pursuit of happiness. That curiosity led them to do this experiment.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/02/11/yolo_aging_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness.html
This post was thought provoking. It was interesting to see how researchers determined that older people relate happiness with more everyday activities. Ultimately, the pursuit of happiness is dependent on what is most important to the individual. For example, a younger person may go car shopping for a car that will look good or drive fast, but an older person, more focused on raising a family and safety, will buy a car that is safer or has better gas mileage. The younger person finds his happiness in the thrill of the ride, while the older person is just content to have his kids home safely with him at night. This is not always the case, but as you said in your post, the more you establish who you are, the more likely that "self-defining moments" will be more routine activities.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pathwaytohappiness.com/pursuit_happiness.htm
The title of this post made me want to read it. We year the word yolo everyday, and it's good to know some of the psychological sciences behind it. I thought it was very accurate how younger people pursue more lively interests, while an older person would be more focused on more stable, or less yolo activities. It's very interesting how it is human nature to pursue happiness and find interesting things to do. I also read another study about more sciences behind it: http://www.nature.com/news/immunology-the-pursuit-of-happiness-1.14225
ReplyDeleteIt mentions how thinking positively is very important to pursuing happiness. It even talks about how our mental state and condition can help us fight off diseases!