- New research suggests there’s an alternate way to living a good life.
- It isn’t focused on happiness or purpose, but rather it’s a life that’s 'psychologically rich'.
- A psychologically rich life is one characterized by 'interesting experiences in which novelty and/or complexity are accompanied by profound changes in perspective'.
- Studying abroad, for example, is one way that college students often introduce psychological richness into their lives.
What does a good life look like to you? For some, the phrase may conjure up images of a close-knit family, a steady job, and a Victorian house at the end of a street arched with oak trees. Others may focus on the goal of making a difference in the world, whether by working as a nurse or teacher, volunteering, or pouring their energy into environmental activism.
According to Aristotlean theory, the first kind of life would be classified as “hedonic”—one based on pleasure, comfort, stability, and strong social relationships. The second is “eudaimonic,” primarily concerned with the sense of purpose and fulfillment one gets by contributing to the greater good. The ancient Greek philosopher outlined these ideas in his treatise Nicomachean Ethics, and the psychological sciences have pretty much stuck them ever since when discussing the possibilities of what people might want out of their time on Earth.
The psychological effect of placing such importance on affluence can be seen in microcosm in the legal profession. In 2015, the George Washington Law Review surveyed more than 6,000 lawyers and found that conventional success in the legal profession—such as high billable hours or making partner at a law firm—had zero correlation with levels of happiness and well-being reported by the lawyers themselves. In fact, public defenders, who have far lower status than corporate lawyers, seem to lead significantly happier lives. The findings are in keeping with something called self-determination theory, which holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered “intrinsic” to human happiness and far outweigh “extrinsic” values such as beauty, money, and status.
ReplyDeleteJunger, Sebastian. Tribe (pp. 21-22). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.
I've heard former lawyers attest to this. Are you one of them, Unknown?
DeleteIt may say something about human nature that a surprising number of Americans—mostly men—wound up joining Indian society rather than staying in their own. They emulated Indians, married them, were adopted by them, and on some occasions even fought alongside them. And the opposite almost never happened: Indians almost never ran away to join white society. Emigration always seemed to go from the civilized to the tribal, and it left Western thinkers flummoxed about how to explain such an apparent rejection of their society. “When an Indian child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our customs,” Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend in 1753, “[yet] if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian ramble with them, there is no persuading him ever to return.” On the other hand, Franklin continued, white captives who were liberated from the Indians were almost impossible to keep at home: “Tho’ ransomed by their friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet in a short time they become disgusted with our manner of life… and take the first good opportunity of escaping again into the woods.” Junger, Sebastian, Tribe (pp. 5-14). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition
ReplyDeleteCivilization heretofore has not been a particular boon to happiness, in other words? But on the other hand, how many of us unhappy "civilized" folk really want to renounce the clear benefits of modern life, such as medical science, extended life-span, indoor plumbing, cheap and plentiful food, mass literacy, ...? Happiness doesn't DEPEND on that form of progress, but for most of us unhappiness seems a likely result of its absence. In general, tribalism seems to me to carry more pain and deprivation than its escape offers promise of a happy alternative.
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