EDUC10057 Lecture 6: Lecture 6
13 Jun 2018
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Department
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Professor
Lecture 6: Wellbeing foundations
If we value happiness why are rates of depression/suicide/antidepressant use so high?
1. Don’t try to be happy
●The pursuit of happiness may be self-defeating
●Become disappointed when we cannot become as happy as we wish we were
●Ironic effects
2. Don’t expect others to be happy
●Happiness as a commodity
●Also applicable in advertising: people using a product appear happy
●Happiness constantly portrayed as this desired state to be in
●Happiness is measured at the national level; gross domestic happiness measured
●Our negative emotional states are often the things that protect us the most - become devalued because they are
seen as negative/problematic
●Countries that value positive emotions seems to lead to higher life satisfaction
●Social pressure to avoid negative feelings becomes problematic
○Social expectancies:
■society generally expects people not to feel depressed or anxious
■people like me less when I feel depressed or anxious
■I think that society generally disapproves of people who feel depressed or anxious
■most people who see someone depressed or anxious as failing in life etc.
●Low social expectancies correlates with loneliness; a place with less social expectancy to feel happy has people
who feel less lonely
●Failure is a critical aspect of achievement: innovation, learning in a school environment:
●Rumination: a strong predictor of depression: index: frequency, duration, distress, repetitiveness, uncontrollability
(of a negative thought); rumination leads to more negative affect; thinking you should be happy but you aren’t
makes you feel a greater sense of failure and feel less happy
Document Summary
If we value happiness why are rates of depression/suicide/antidepressant use so high: don"t try to be happy. The pursuit of happiness may be self-defeating. Become disappointed when we cannot become as happy as we wish we were. Ironic e ects: don"t expect others to be happy. Also applicable in advertising: people using a product appear happy. Happiness constantly portrayed as this desired state to be in. Happiness is measured at the national level; gross domestic happiness measured. Our negative emotional states are often the things that protect us the most - become devalued because they are seen as negative/problematic. Countries that value positive emotions seems to lead to higher life satisfaction. Social pressure to avoid negative feelings becomes problematic. Society generally expects people not to feel depressed or anxious. People like me less when i feel depressed or anxious. I think that society generally disapproves of people who feel depressed or anxious.
