Dan Gilbert On Our Natural Drift Towards Happiness

Dan Gilbert is an author and Harvard psychologist who has made happiness the main object of his professional life. Fit, bald and bearded, radiating something of the glad energy of an amiable pirate, Gilbert’s appealing research subject seems to have rubbed off on the researcher: In the age of YouTube, academic speakers are increasingly discarding the lectern in favor of a more engaging approach with their audience, and Gilbert, in black T-shirt and jeans, animatedly pouncing to and fro, gesticulating with abandon as he enthusiastically provides his hypotheses and research results, is a prime example of the new breed of scientist–as entertaining as he is informative, and as ready to deliver a one-liner of some wit as a statistic of some weight. And a light touch is not inappropriate, though some of the observations in his TED talk are far from a laughing matter.

The good news, says Gilbert, is that research apparently supports the notion that our happiness is not at all dependent upon external circumstances. Rich or poor, comfortable or challenged, over the long haul the spikes and valleys reach a natural balance; our core baseline level of happiness emerges and asserts itself. Gilbert’s research into the nature of happiness has taken me him through an amazing array of subjects—from lottery winners to paraplegics. Research shows – hardly surprisingly – that the winners are initially happier than the paraplegics. What is surprising is that a year later both subjects report being experiencing happiness levels equivalent to those perceived prior to the precipitating event. Citing a study regarding how major life traumas affect people, Gilbert notes its conclusion that, with only a very few exceptions, most any event which occurred I an individual’s life during a time period in excess of three months prior to the current moment has little to no impact whatsoever on one’s perceived happiness. Apparently the research bears out the theory, at least at this stage, that whatever fortune or misfortune may befall us, it is likely that we will return to our particular or specific baseline of happiness sooner or later.

And while our present level of happiness may not strike us as a river of seamless ecstasy, for most individuals, happiness is relative and barring some type of intervention, generally suffices to maintain an acceptable status quo. Confirming similar findings in the cognitive dissonance field, Gilbert presents evidence showing that once we make a choice, we assign to it a higher value and satisfaction rating (a rationalization of sorts), and less to the discarded alternatives. So wherever we are, we are likely to find reasons or devise justifications to believe that our decisions are accurate and in our best interests. Of course, this makes sense given that we would forever question every decision were this not the case. Gilbert nails the point with a quite funny presentation of an unfortunate string of tales of a man unjustly incarcerated, a political career gone sour, a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity lost, and would-be rock stardom elusive forever. The ‘losers’, however, judge themselves lucky and consider themselves happy, and better off for their current situation. Most people reach the realization that had A and B never occurred (unpleasant as they may have been at the time) a different path in life would not have resulted in the situation in which the individual finds themselves at the present moment in time. How often has someone been fired, divorced, even experienced cancer only to say that they wouldn’t have changed the past given the experiences and lessons learned. As the saying goes, we make our bed and lie in it: but once we do, research indicates that we will come to appreciate it, whatever the “it” may be.

Not quite so likable are the implications of one of Gilbert’s studies in which subjects were given a chance to make a long-considered thoughtful choice which they had the opportunity to retract, and in juxtaposition, a snap choice which they were unable to change. Time and again those making the more constricted snap choice reported themselves happier with their choice. Those able to assess both choices in depth were better able to see the weaknesses in the option ultimately selected, and the virtues in the option finally rejected. The truer view was the more emotionally difficult, and the less satisfying one. The implication — that thoughtless choices and fewer options make people happier — was noted earlier by Joseph Goebbels in his asides on crafting Nazi propaganda. If true, one should sound a warning, and Gilbert, to his credit, does.

But overall though grim subjects were discussed, the outcome is both surprising and heartening. More choices and more time to make such choices is not necessarily in our best interests. “Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we wanted,” says Gilbert, “and synthetic happiness is what we make when we don’t get what we wanted.” And since we can and generally do “synthesize” happiness and extract it from whatever situations we may face, however daunting, we find some degree of happiness either way. Gilbert quotes Sir Thomas Browne, who wrote in 1642, “I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity.” We are all that man, says Gilbert. We all can achieve this transformative cognitive shift if we allow ourselves to do so—lemonade can indeed be derived from lemons, even after enduring the most seemingly difficult of experiences and transitions.

Dan Gilbert web site: http://www.danielgilbert.com/

Dan Gilbert blog: http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/gilbert/blog/

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