The Significance of Happiness: A Report on Psychological Factors

This report delves into the significance of happiness in life, examining its multifaceted psychological dimensions. It analyzes the factors that influence happiness, including the role of positivity, gratitude, and mental well-being. The report references Shawn Achor's TED Talk to illustrate how happiness can be cultivated and its impact on success and overall health. It further explores concepts like positive psychology, medical school syndrome, and the science of happiness, providing insights into how individuals can train their brains to foster happiness. The report emphasizes that happiness should not be contingent on external achievements, but rather on an internal state of contentment and gratitude, and how this shift in perspective can significantly impact a person's life.

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF HAPPINESS IN LIFE
Importance of happiness in life
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note

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The video link chosen:
? https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work
Introduction:
Life is all about struggles and success, happiness and sadness, hard times and happy
times in equal shares (Uysal et al., 2014). The happiness of life should not be dependent on any
external or internal factors like success in the job or getting good marks in the exam or getting
employed or promotion. Happiness must come from within and not depend on others. This report
contains about a video by the anchor Mr. Shawn Achor (2018), who talks about human nature in
dealing with happiness and also suggests how to be happy and its good effects of being happy on
the body and mind. This report thoroughly investigates about the factors affecting the happiness
and how to positive in every situation. This report also covers some other topics like positive
psychology, medical school syndrome, the science of happiness and trends of happiness in an
individual.
Discussion:
The main target of life should be being happy and content with whatever we have. People
tend to chase their dreams of being successful in life and make the happiness dependent on the
level of success. I chose this topic as it focuses on the factors affecting the happiness of our lives
and human behaviour that tends to value success and monetary gains over happiness in life. I

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want everyone to know that happiness and satisfaction are directly related to the mental and
physical health of any individual, happier a person is, less the number of physical and mental
disorders in an individual.
Many important topics were discussed like positive psychology, normal and average or
abnormal and better individual, medical school syndrome, the science of happiness, trends of
happiness and training of the brain. According to (Ciarrochi & Kashdan (2013), being positive in
the hard and tough situations is very much important as it can result in the ease of pressure from
any individual and it also helps to be a better and confident person. Studying the positive side of
a person helps in being positive for example knowing the reason for someone's happiness and
feeling good about it can bring the positivity out of the person. Medical school syndrome is a
condition reported in the medical students mostly in the second year of their studies where they
complain about symptoms of those diseases they are studying in their curriculum. According to
Waterman & Weinman (2014), this syndrome mainly occurs due to the fear of contracting those
diseases read about.
The choice between normal and average or abnormal and better individual should be
natural for everyone. While studying a set of qualities among people, we tend to follow up the
average scheme of things between them and discard the ‘outliers,' who don't fit the average
scheme or graph. Focusing on the average qualities of the people would decrease the chances to
foster the unique and better qualities from the above average people. The trend of happiness of
the people has been a debatable topic. Most of the people’s happiness depends on the success; it
is directly proportional to the amount of success an individual is. This results in the decrease of
satisfaction between the people in search of monetary success. People who believe that happiness
comes with success are susceptible to negative and insecure life. According to (Lyubomirsky &

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Layous (2013), happiness is a self-intended ideology, if I believe that I am happy with whatever I
have with me, my body and mind would be able to react positively towards it and be happy. The
current trend shows that after achieving success, people tend to shift their goals further instead of
being happy and satisfied with what he has accomplished, makes happiness a distant feeling. For
example, a child getting good grades sets a new goal to better the score next time instead of
being content with the current marks. We should know that success depends on happiness and
not the vice versa. Training your brain to be happy by recognizing every simple and positive
thing and scenarios in life can make a difference.
Yes, I can relate to this on a personal level as it directly states the ways to be happy. I
don't need to depend on anything externally for being happy rather I should be happy with what I
have and what I have achieved till now. Many in this world will be happy to switch places with
me, so I should be grateful and happy for what I have. Watching this video, I realized that my
happiness depends upon the marks I get in my examination or the appreciation I get from the
teachers. I totally agree with the message of the video that happiness should not be confined to
the success of some goals rather happiness should be there for everything I have achieved till
date.
I believe that my philosophies and beliefs did change after watching this video because I
always believed that achieving new things in life can give happiness to me and others associated
with me. Self-expectation and expectations from my family members, relatives and friends
always have an extra burden on me to perform well and bring desired results and achieve
expected and desired goals. After watching this video, I realize that my happiness should not be
planned for future goals rather I should be happy in the present for everything I have.
Overthinking about expectations was hampering my happiness in the present. I have decided not

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to be over think about others expectations of me instead enjoy my study and score good marks
for my own sake. Doing things for the sake of others won't be an issue for me now.
Yes I found the message powerful and challenging due to the instances are given by the
speaker for example, when his sister went to sleep thinking that she was a unicorn, this made me
realize that I can be happy and satisfied if I positively change my thinking. There is a proverb
"half glass empty or half glass full” which means it is our choice that we consider a half-filled
glass as half full or half empty. The mentioned proverb means that it is our choice that we
consider the positive things in life which is there or we consider those things which are not
present in life and be negative and sad about that. The message and suggestion from the speaker
Mr. Shawn Achor compelled me to take the challenge of noting down three things that I am
grateful in life for 21 consecutive days and expect a positive change in mind.
Conclusion:
Happiness should come from within and should not depend on many factors. It does not
have any terms and conditions, and everyone has the right to be happy. Being positive is a great
way to be happy in life. Positivity has a significant advantage over the mental and physical
health of an individual, and every individual should try to be positive in every situation of life.
Having positive psychology within can bring positivity and enhance a positive behaviour in the
individual. The medical syndrome is just an assumption where medical students think about the
symptoms of a disease they are studying in their curriculum can be avoided by thinking rational
and being positive. Most of the problems in life can be solved by being positive and finding
happiness in everything, be it small or big. Happiness is directly related to the mental and
physical health of an individual and also helps in gaining success in life.

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References:
Achor, S. (2018). The happy secret to better work. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work#t-3029
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Aaker, J. L., & Garbinsky, E. N. (2013). Some key differences
between a happy life and a meaningful life. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(6),
505-516.
Caprara, G. V., & Steca, P. (2005). Affective and social self-regulatory efficacy beliefs as
determinants of positive thinking and happiness. European Psychologist, 10(4), 275-286.
Ciarrochi, J., & Kashdan, T. B. (2013). Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology.
In The foundations of flourishing (pp. 1-29). New Harbinger Publications Oakland.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase well-
being?. Current directions in psychological science, 22(1), 57-62.
Probst, T., Lambert, M. J., Loew, T. H., Dahlbender, R. W., & Tritt, K. (2015). Extreme
deviations from expected recovery curves and their associations with therapeutic alliance,
social support, motivation, and life events in psychosomatic in-patient
therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 25(6), 714-723.
Sirgy, M. J., Gurel-Atay, E., Webb, D., Cicic, M., Husic-Mehmedovic, M., Ekici, A., ... & Johar,
J. S. (2013). Is materialism all that bad? Effects on satisfaction with material life, life
satisfaction, and economic motivation. Social indicators research, 110(1), 349-366.

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Thomsen, D. K., Olesen, M. H., Schnieber, A., & Tønnesvang, J. (2014). The emotional content
of life stories: Positivity bias and relation to personality. Cognition & emotion, 28(2),
260-277.
Uysal, R., Satici, S. A., Satici, B., & Akin, A. (2014). Subjective Vitality as Mediator and
Moderator of the Relationship between Life Satisfaction and Subjective
Happiness. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14(2), 489-497.
Waterman, L., & Weinman, J. (2014). Medical student syndrome: fact or fiction? A cross-
sectional study.