The Right Amount of Happiness

Question 1

Name four misconceptions about happiness.

Answer 1

1. Happiness means having all of your personal needs met really quickly
2. Being satisfied every moment with how things are going
3. Feeling pleasure all the time when in fact that’s not really what happiness amounts to
4. Ever feeling negative emotions, like pain and sadness or even anger

Question 2

As for the dark side of happiness, what are four ways in which happiness can be bad for you?

Answer 2

1. Too much happiness can make you less creative—and less safe.
2. Happiness is not suited to every situation.
3. Not all types of happiness are good for you.
4. Pursuing happiness may actually make you unhappy.

Question 3

Give an example how too much happiness can make you less creative –and less safe.

Answer 3

Too much positive emotion—and too little negative emotion—makes people inflexible in the face of new challenges (Fredrickson).

Question 4

How can happiness lead to psychological harm?

Answer 4

When we experience happiness, our attention turns toward exciting and positive things in our lives to help sustain the good feeling.
When feeling happy, we also tend to feel less inhibited and more likely to explore new possibilities and take risks.

Question 5

How can happiness hurt us in competition?

Answer 5

Positive emotions like happiness signal to us that our goals are being fulfilled, which enables us to slow down, step back, and mentally coast.