Informative speech De La Rosa

HNRS-2175G
Purpose: to inform my audience about what happiness is and the history behind what this is.

Happiness
I. Introduction
a. “And of course, the good life always ends in death.” (Waldinger, Schulz, 2023, p.
3)
b. In the existence of human life, many questions have been made, and each of these
questions has prompted humanity to look for answers, obtaining this knowledge
through experiments, research, and a lot of thinking, one of these questions has
been, what is happiness?
c. My intention with this speech is to share what has been the meaning of happiness
for the human history and how this term has an interdependence with other factors
of our lives.
Transition sentence: there are many definitions for the word happiness, and to acknowledge how
its meaning has changed, it is important to know what directly affects its meaning.
II. Body
a. Happiness is a word that everyone has heard at some point in their life, whether to
explain a situation, a feeling or even have been discussed as a specific topic, like
in this case.
b. The psychology Professor Laura Madson explains in her book “Psychology for
everyday life” that in order to define happiness there are three varied factors that
we need to acknowledge.
i. Doctor Madson explains that to define happiness it is important to know if
does the person’s immediate, moment-to-moment feelings is reflecting the
person’s general satisfaction with life? We can simplify this question to, Is
the person happy in that specific moment thanks to a particular reason or
in general happy? When we think about defining happiness, we need to
decide which of the cases will be the one that will be taken into account.
(Madson, 2023, p. 21)
ii. The second factor that the doctor argues is if it is going to be an objective
or abstract determination of whether a person is happy, this factor implies
that we will need to decide if someone is happy based by the point of view
of an outsider or by that same person. (Madson, 2023, p. 21)
iii. Lastly, the author mentions how it is vital to differentiate happiness from
other similar feelings such as contentment. (Madson, 2023, p. 21)
iv. The range of emotions a human being can feel is wide and complex,
depending on the investigator will be the number of emotions a human
being can feel, so the study and the situation will always have the
possibility to define happiness with a unique perspective but remaining the
essence of this particular emotion
Informative speech De La Rosa

Transition sentence: With that in mind, it is not difficult to imagine that there have been different
interpretations of what happiness is over the years.
c. One of the very first historical approaches that humanity has with this question
and its answers was made by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who wrote
about diverse topics, and to these days we use his texts to argue about those
topics.
i. Aristotle defined happiness as “Happiness is the maximum aspiration of
all human beings,” humans will reach this emotional state through the
virtue, with this Aristotle considered that in order to acknowledge that
state each individual will need to cultivate the best virtues that they
possess, they will be able to be happy.
ii. He also argued that happiness is not an emotion but a lifestyle, in this
lifestyle the person will constantly take action in order to put in practice
those virtues.
d. Different philosophers defined happiness as different concepts.
e. "Nothing is enough who for enough is little" Epicurus.
i. If we ask the Greek philosopher Epicurus what will make someone happy,
he defined this answer by how if someone practice balance and
temperance will be able to acknowledge happiness (Sánchez, 2022).
ii. This concept was explained by him with the maxim mentioned above.
f. This concept of happiness changed with time, the German philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche who has been another important influence on today’s philosophers, he
had different opinions that in his time were controversial because they represented
a change in the existent ideas (Magnus, 2024).
i. It is argued in various articles that Nietzche had a particular perspective
about what is happiness, he considered that happiness is not related to
bliss, in fact those two things are opposites.
ii. Nietzche defined happiness as the vital force an individual can have to
struggle against the obstacles that life can give.
iii. “To be happy, then, is to be able to test the vital force, by overcoming
adversity and creating original ways of living.” Sanches 2022.
g. History has proven that the life events that someone has lived give them a
perspective of happiness, but studies have also given interesting definitions to this
feeling.
Transition sentence: “... all day long we’re bombarded with messages about what will make us
happy” (Waldinger, Schulz, 2023, p. 1)
h. The questions about what happiness is have led researchers to find what helps us
to live a happier life.
i. When a study has a periodic monitoring in which the complete evolution of large
data samples can be seen, the information obtained, if it is well processed, will
show meaningful results to the progress of that investigation.
Informative speech De La Rosa

j. One particular experiment that was made by Harvard University that is eighty-
five years long and is still collecting data, has shown how the improvement of
certain aspects of our lives can make us live a happier life.
i. The study started in 1983, with 724 participants from all over the globe,
who will be asked detailed questions about their lives in intervals of two
years (Schulz & Waldinger, 2023).
ii. And this particular study shown something unexpected, besides all the
beliefs and facts we know around what makes us happy, which can be to
eat certain foods such as chocolate that will lead our brain to produce
serotonin, or to do exercise which makes our brain to release
neurotransmitters that helps us to improve our mood.
iii. Relationships can have more impact than we expect, having meaningful
relationships leads to improvements in the physical and mental health of
the individual (Schulz & Waldinger, 2023).
iv. The Harvard study revealed with the recompilation of the experiences of
the participants showed how participants that held good relationships with
their beloved ones had better health in general than those who did not.
v. The experiment explains how having a strong network of support will help
the individual deal with situations that can make them experience big
distress because experiencing this type of interaction makes the brain
release substances that help to release the pain, improve the mood, help
with memory, suppress risky behaviors, such as dopamine, serotonin,
endorphins, anandamide and acetylcholine (Waldinger, Schulz, 2023, p.
85) .
Transition sentence: in the process of finding what happiness is has come from a long path that
will keep evolving as society advances.
III. Conclusion:
a. As society we have come from a long path in which it has been find what
happiness is, happiness depends on different factors, history is also one of them,
in each period of time a definition of happiness has come, but the study and
process of understanding what is happiness has had great examples that shows
factors that lead us to live a better life.
References:
 Apellido, Iniciales. (Año). Título del libro (Iniciales del editor/traductor, Apellido, Ed. o
Trans.) (Edición). Editor.
 Waldinger, R.J., Schulz, M. (2023). The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest
Scientific Study of Happiness (1st).
 Madson, L. (2023). Psychology for everyday life (K.H., Hunt) (5th).
 Sánchez, E. (2022, 5 octubre). Cómo definen la felicidad 11 filósofos famosos. La Mente
Es Maravillosa. https://lamenteesmaravillosa.com/definen-la-felicidad-5-filosofos-
famosos/
Informative speech De La Rosa

 Magnus, B. (2024, 13 febrero). Friedrich Nietzsche | Biography, Books, & Facts.

Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Nietzsche
 Schulz, M., & Waldinger, R. (2023, 10 febrero). An 85-year Harvard study found the No.
1 thing that makes us happy in life: It helps us «live longer». CNBC.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/85-year-harvard-study-found-the-secret-to-a-long-
happy-and-successful-life.html