StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The futile Pursuit of Happiness - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
In Jon Gertners article titled "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" the author reports on the work of psychologists who contend that people continually overestimate their happiness or sorrow from future events. The article puts forth the notion that by misjudging the importance of…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.9% of users find it useful
The futile Pursuit of Happiness
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The futile Pursuit of Happiness"

In Search of Happiness: Resistance is not Futile In Jon Gertners article d "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" the author reports on the work of psychologists who contend that people continually overestimate their happiness or sorrow from future events. The article puts forth the notion that by misjudging the importance of our choices, we make decisions that are not always in our best interest. This reflects in the cars we buy, the jobs we seek, and the ways that we react to disappointment and loss.

The article is a report on the study of our decision-making processes and sterilizes the human nature that adds the unpredictability that makes our life more interesting.There is a lot of truth in the article. Gertner states that we, ".will adapt to a pleasurable event and make it the backdrop of our lives". We see this everyday through our own lives. Children will quickly discard and neglect the Christmas toys that they had anxiously waited a month to receive. The toy does not have the lifespan or the energy of the anticipation for it.

People buy a new car and soon find that the newness has worn off. Just as the glitter wears away from the Christmas toys, so does the grief from a tragic loss. Its easy to think you will never find a job as good as the one that just laid you off, but people are almost always pleasantly surprised by lifes fortunes.The mistake we often make in judging the happiness that we will receive from a given decision or event is generally due to our misunderstanding of where happiness lies. We may be unhappy due to our limited income.

The thought of winning the lottery seems like it would make us ecstatic beyond belief. However, by logical examination, it would in all likelihood only result in greater unhappiness. If a modest amount of money made us unhappy, a large sum may make us miserable. How many of the things that make us unhappy could be changed with only money? The bills may be paid, but the underlying reasons for our unhappiness would persist.The author points out that we can train our emotions and in doing so make more rational decisions.

A cooling off period to prevent buyers remorse may be rational, but it removes the excitement of making a new purchase. Analyzing our potential for happiness based on laboratory rationale takes away our propensity for risk. It reduces our courage and limits our innovation and invention. While it may be a practical approach to making decisions, it precludes the human nature of emotion.Evaluating our predicted happiness and basing our decisions on a calculated outcome may be more practical than basing our actions on a more emotional state.

There is no doubt our judgment is usually clouded when we estimate how happy we will be by a decision. When the initial newness is gone, our new car may become just one more discarded Christmas toy. Still, we cant adequately measure our happiness or always know the source of our unhappiness. To attempt to do so robs us of our most basic characteristic, human nature. The loss of emotional input on our decisions would leave a sterilized life where there was once innovation and excitement. Works CitedGertner, Jon.

"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness." . 7 Sep. 2003. 25 Mar. 2007 .

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
The futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1539756-the-futile-pursuit-of-happiness
(The Futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
The Futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1539756-the-futile-pursuit-of-happiness.
“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1539756-the-futile-pursuit-of-happiness.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The futile Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness in the Main Pursuit of Humans

Happiness is the main pursuit of humans One of the main goals of humans is to be happy.... happiness may be defined in different ways but there is a consensus that we, as humans, want to find our true happiness in life.... hellip; There may be different ways how humans view their happiness.... Some may find happiness in love, some through success, wealth or fame.... Some may see happiness in finding challenges, in expressing themselves, in defining who they are....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Patrick J. Deneen

(Thoreau) Jon Gertner The idea of America according to Jon Gertner is one where people are in pursuit of happiness, all trying to do one more thing so as to attain it.... (Deneen) This alternate life that they are always after seems to promise happiness to whomever embraces it, it is one of youth.... He postulates that every individual thinks that they will attain happiness if they perform a particular act or acquire a particular thing.... ?? Gertner draws his work from George Loewenstein who stated that “happiness is a signal that our brains use to motivate us to do certain things....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

REDEFINING HAPPINESS THROUGH THE PRISM OF LIFE

We treat life through the prism of happiness and satisfaction living always with a fear of death.... hellip; But as the analogy of starting and ending points just descried implies that there must exist something in between to fill the space between those two points, I might sound a bit vague but as the discussion will take momentum the reader will get a grip as to what happiness means in life and how it is to be defined.... Does only living on and on means happiness untouched by what goes around us or even a brief stint of life, if its filled with satisfaction can be termed as a good life....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Inexact Idea of What Happiness Is

Other studies seem to indicate that our concept of happiness continues to change through life, so that what might have made us happy in the past will likely lose its ability to make us happy in the future (Diener & Diener, 2009).... Although definitions of happiness and how to attain it may shift over time, research seems to link gaining happiness very strongly with the concept of adhering to a strongly identified sense of moral behavior.... According to Aristotle, almost all of our other pursuits in life are with the ultimate goal of finding happiness while happiness emerges as the end goal in itself (cited in Bolt,… The reason it is so difficult to find is that no one really has a clear sense of what happiness is or how to achieve it....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper

On Being an Atheist

Where efforts are needed it is essential that positive aspects that would ensure an invoking of healthy thoughts for discerning the While any person pursues earnest efforts for the purposes of ensuring pursuit of law of Karma that only with limited faith in God entails good results.... Sometimes in too much pursuit of God an impediment is caused for not establishing belief and being practical for getting the desired results.... The author McCloskey (1964) is created with an emphasis on various aspects for creating an ambience that would exonerate the various awakenings in the process of healthy achievement that would ensure happiness....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

The Norton Anthology of American Literature

hellip; The movie, In pursuit of happiness, is based on a true story of a man called Christopher Gardner.... n the pursuit of Happiness, the values of Puritanism and enlightenment were portrayed in the character of Chris Gardner.... Development has made Americans optimistic for a brighter future in pursuing their happiness....
5 Pages (1250 words) Movie Review

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness therefore are considered as ethos of the American society and determine the overall American dream.... hellip; The article takes a deeper look at Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness as one of the most well-known declaration statements in the Declaration for Independence of United States of America.... The main purpose of the research is to present that Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness is a phrase which outline and indicate the unalienable rights given to all human beings by the God and the institution of government is formed to protect those rights....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Influence of Beauty Industry on Society

Pertinent course work sources are The futile Pursuit of Happiness by Jon Gertner and “Advertising's 15 Basic Appeals” by Jib Fowles.... Each ad needs to influence potential consumers of the products worth, or even its need for the consumer's happiness and confidence (Ketchum 1-2)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Proposal
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us