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Tiffany meza

Mr. Powers

English 1302

8 Feb, 2023

Why are you Happy?

INTRODUCTION

When someone asks, are you happy? most would likely be offended. Of course, there is a

possibility of happiness, right? The truth is not all humans know when true happiness is acquired

and taking place. It gets the mind thinking, is the modern generation happy, or is it generated to

think that. For example, Schlegel, suggest that “people see themselves as having both and outer

layer and an inner core.” (Schlegel 473). This perspective of someone else’s life led to the

question of how a vision of life and its true meaning behind “Happiness” can be seen in a

different way. Many people try to show a side of them that they wish to aspire when they meet

someone new and create a whole different person in their own minds. In this experiment the

focus on Development of inner happiness and correlations of a meaningful life will come to an

answer and the few that partake in this research will show how this is possible.

EXPLAINING THE EXPERIMENT

In this study the truth behind happiness and the meaning of life is questioned with a series of

observations asked to fellow peers, family members, and classmates. There will be a five-day

study on students starting on a Monday and ending on a Friday. A question will be asked to the

same subjects daily asking, “are you happy?” and “why are you happy?” the results of these

questions should lead to a categorized layout of different reasons why the mood in happiness

changes whether an incident or situation approached the subject and altered a new experience.
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This sounds very exciting considering it’s a learning experience for all involved and a life

changing perspective on all readers. In hope of readers gained knowledge and view in a different

standpoint as to where they may be at a certain time in their life, and a hope of finding an inner

core and digging deeper behind the built-up wonders of making up one’s own life as it goes. This

research is meant to reach a younger audience that might not understand life as they grow older

and when in need of a refresher and safe place to subject a new meaning to life.

HYPOTHESIS

The result from this experiment will likely deal with the aspect of happiness coming from

friendships and family bonds. Most joy is reconciled with the connections between relationships

and affection received from someone, it is impossible to feel happiness when this is a main

aspect. Coming in to a close second would be happiness obtained by a new opportunity, maybe

being a new job, a new class, or even a new career path. An addition to your life comes with

great pleasure and insightful joy. These are the assumptions one can be subjected to make when

focusing on the happiness of another. Reasonably the experiment will lead to different responses,

based on the results they will later be grouped in similar categories. The inquired information

should lead to the solution of Happiness and the meaning of life that we all face every day.

METHOD

The way this Experiment took form was by creating a table with the days subjects would be

asked about their happiness. An observance of mood was noted in mind when asking these few

questions. On Day 1, subjects were asked “why are you happy?” subject 1 answered, “happy due

to family reasons and connectiveness with them.” This created a category in the table as family.

Subject 2 stated that friends made his day happier, this was later conjoined with Friendships and

relationships titled as “Friends and family.” Later in the experiment an idea of happiness coming
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from school, entertainment, and leisure came into play when a categorized answer was sufficient

for its own block. In the Table information is provided on age and gender. 2 males and 3 female

subjects participated. Youngest being 4, while oldest being 49. This age gap was used to justify

the different moods between toddlers, teens, and adults. In the second graph, a calculation of

different moods throughout the days was constructed on a scale of 1-10. This was needed for a

visual on how the subjects felt when partaking on each day. Here is the data calculated on the

following days taken place.

Day 1

SUBJECTS REASON: Age Gender

Subject 1 Friends and family 49 Female

Subject 2 Friends and family 9 Male

Subject 3 school 4 Male

Subject 4 Leisure 21 Female

Subject 5 Leisure 17 Female

Day 2

SUBJECTS REASON: Age Gender

Subject 1 Friends and family 49 Female

Subject 2 school 9 Male

Subject 3 Friends and family 4 Male

Subject 4 Friends and family 21 Female

Subject 5 Friends and family 17 Female

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Day 3

SUBJECTS REASON: Age Gender

Subject 1 Friends and family 49 Female

Subject 2 Entertainment 9 Male

Subject 3 Friends and family 4 Male

Subject 4 Leisure 20 Female

Subject 5 Leisure 16 Female

Participation

Subjects around the ages 4- 49 agreed on participating in this study. Subject 1, 49, female;

Subject 2, 9, male; Subject 3, 4, male; Subject 4, 20, female; subject 5, 16, female. These

subjects are everyday connections and easiest to reach and collect data from. A quick call,

message, and meet was the source of communication with said subjects. The decision of

choosing different age ranges rather than just one specific age was more informal when

experimenting. The study on how a child sees life is widely different from a rather much more

experienced and mature subject having more feelings and enjoyment. This fascinates the mind

and leads to a wider canvas in this research. We come to find that most share the same values no

matter what age, gender, or mind.

Effects on mood

The second part of this experiment was the obvious observation on happiness throughout the

subject’s day. The overall rate of happiness was calculated in the following graphs when asked

“how do you feel on a scale of 1- 10?” this led to a bar increase with inputted information daily.

The increase is caused mainly by enjoyment of big things happening on the day of like, a visit

from a close friend or a pleasurable experience. Even though pleasure is not categorized we
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know that “Some will demur that pleasure, our chief focus here, is irrelevant after all to true

happiness. “(Berridge 20). This allows the idea of different chances of happiness brought by

other causes and assumptions in one’s mind, thus making it much more interesting and makes it

fun to find a deeper meaning.

Happiness categories Happiness scale of 1-10

10
9
8
7
6
7%
5
27% 4
53% 3
2
13% 1
0
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Family/friends School
Leisure Entertainment subject 1 subject 2 subject 3 subject 4 subject 5
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Works Cited

Berridge, K. C., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2011). Building a neuroscience of pleasure and well-

being. Psychology of Well-being, 1(1), 1-26. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/2211-1522-1-3

Schlegel, Rebecca J, Joshua A Hicks, Jamie Arndt, and Laura A King. “Thine Own Self: True

Self-Concept Accessibility and Meaning in Life.” Journal of personality and social

psychology 96, no. 2 (2009): 473–490.