Will Misenheimer

Deby Jizi
UWRT 1102-028
21 February 2016

Double Entry Journal

Citation:
Gilbert, Dan. The Surprising Science of Happiness. TED.com. Sep 2006. Web. 21 February
2016.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

2- Human beings have this marvelous

adaptation that they can actually have
experiences in their heads before they try
them out in real life.

This is really interesting! I feel like I do have

the capability to simulate certain experiences
and situations inside of my head. I believe
this is shown in daily conversation. For
example, before and even during baseball
games, I would get in my zone and simulate
real game feeling before the situations
became present. This would help me to feel
more comfortable once the game and certain
in-game situations occurred.

2- Here's two different futures that I invite

you to contemplate. You can try to simulate
them and tell me which one you think you
might prefer. One of them is winning the
lottery. This is about 314 million dollars. And
the other is becoming paraplegic.

This would be a very easy decision to make

for most people. I would bet my money that
almost everyone said that they would prefer
to be a 300+ million dollar lottery winner
rather than endure the terrible ordeal of
becoming a paraplegic.

3- Because the fact is that a year after

losing the use of their legs, and a year after
winning the lotto, lottery winners and
paraplegics are equally happy with their
lives.

I would certainly believe this. While at first

glance one may think that this is a ridiculous
statistic, I believe that it could be true
because of the amount of time the subject
has had to transition into his or her new life.
After a year, the paraplegic and lottery winner
would both be equally as transitioned and
accustomed to their new lives.

4- Moreese Bickham uttered these words

upon being released. He was 78 years old.

This is amazing to me. I love his perspective

and healthy mindset. It is really interesting

He'd spent 37 years in a Louisiana State

Penitentiary for a crime he didn't commit.
[He was ultimately released for good
behavior halfway through his sentence.]
What did he say about his experience? "I
don't have one minute's regret. It was a
glorious experience."

that he was able to be falsely prosecuted,

deprived of 37 years, and still managed to
love it and not regret a single minute. Mr.
Bickham certainly has a very positive
perspective.

5- Natural happiness is what we get when

we get what we wanted, and synthetic
happiness is what we make when we don't
get what we wanted.

I agree with Dan Gilbert that not getting what

we want can make us just as happy as
getting something we want. I believe that this
is because when we get what we want, we no
longer have something to look forward to, but
when we do not get what we want, it
sometimes seems to fuel our feelings of
positivity that we still have something to look
forward to.

7- Here's what normal controls do: they

synthesize happiness. Right? This is the
change in liking score, the change from the
first time they ranked to the second time
they ranked.

I certainly believe this statistic. I think that

ever since our mine stage as young
children, we have naturally grown to love the
stuff that is ours. I think that this may possibly
affect the reason that some of the subjects
changed their minds to the ones to prefer the
prints that they were given.

8- Both right before the swap and five days

later, people who are stuck with that picture,
who have no choice, who can never change
their mind, like it a lot! And people who are
deliberating -- "Should I return it? Have I
gotten the right one? Maybe this isn't the
good one? Maybe I left the good one?" -have killed themselves.

I agree because I have definitely experienced

this before. I have found that once a decision
is made for me, it is much easier for me to
come to peace with it; however, if I am given
a choice, I will constantly be on the fence and
questioning myself about which is the best
choice.

9- " Duh! 66 percent of the students, twothirds, prefer to be in the course where they
have the opportunity to change their mind.
Hello? 66 percent of the students choose to
be in the course in which they will ultimately
be deeply dissatisfied with the picture.
Because they do not know the conditions
under which synthetic happiness grows.

This is really interesting! This really inspires

me to learn more about synthetic happiness
and how I can use it to my advantage. If I can
take the pain of making a decision and
understand that I can be just as happy with
the alternative, then I think that I can increase
my level of happiness.

10- 'Tis nothing good or bad / But thinking

makes it so."

This is really interesting. My high school

chemistry teacher told me one time that she
has seen students change their answers on
multiple choice tests simply because theyve
had over 3 of the previous letters in a row. For
example, a student may have had 3 Cs in a

row, therefore, he or she changed his or her

answer because he or she believed that it
was unlikely that the 4th C would be correct.
If I am given the chance to think, I will
sometimes over-think.
11- "The great source of both the misery
and disorders of human life seems to arise
from overrating the difference between one
permanent situation and another -- Some of
these situations may, no doubt, deserve to
be preferred to others, but none of them can
deserve to be pursued with that passionate
ardor which drives us to violate the rules
either of prudence or of justice, or to corrupt
the future tranquility of our minds, either by
shame from the remembrance of our own
folly, or by remorse for the horror of our own
injustice."

I agree with this statement, In a short and

sweet manner, I believe that Adam Smith is
saying that when we think that what we are
getting will surely make us happy, we may not
receive as much happiness as the alternative,
which we falsely perceived to not give us any
happiness. Be optimistic. We can surely find
happiness in most circumstances.