Editing Happiness (section)

== Definitions ==
"Happiness" is subject to debate on usage and meaning,<ref name="stanford">{{Cite book|chapter-url = https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/happiness/#DouAboValHap|title = The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|chapter = Happiness|year = 2020|publisher = Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date = 5 February 2021|archive-date = 9 May 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190509063031/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/happiness/#DouAboValHap|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571178.001.0001 |title=What is This Thing Called Happiness? |year=2010 |last1=Feldman |first1=Fred |isbn=978-0199571178}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Haybron |first=Dan |title=Happiness |date=2020 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/happiness/ |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |access-date=7 July 2023 |edition=Summer 2020 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |archive-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325002345/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/happiness/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://philpapers.org/rec/HAYTPP | title=Two Philosophical Problems in the Study of Happiness | access-date=13 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014091327/https://philpapers.org/rec/HAYTPP | archive-date=14 October 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=The Long Slide to Happiness |journal=Journal of Philosophy of Education |date=August 2008 |volume=42 |issue=3–4 |pages=559–573 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9752.2008.00650.x  |issn = 0309-8249}}</ref> and on possible differences in understanding by culture.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=How Universal is Happiness |first=Ruut |last=Veenhoven |editor-first1=Ed |editor-last1=Diener |editor-first2=John F. |editor-last2=Helliwell |editor-first3=Daniel |editor-last3=Kahneman |title=International Differences in Well-Being |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0199732739}}</ref><ref name="Veenhoven">{{Cite web |url=https://personal.eur.nl/veenhoven/Pub2010s/2012k-full.pdf |title=Does Happiness Differ Across Cultures? |last=Veenhoven |first=R. |access-date=10 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809140901/https://personal.eur.nl/veenhoven/Pub2010s/2012k-full.pdf |archive-date=9 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The word is mostly used in relation to two factors:<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wolff-Mann |first=Ethan |date=13 October 2015 |title=What the New Nobel Prize Winner Has to Say About Money and Happiness |url=https://money.com/angus-deaton-nobel-winner-money-happiness/ |url-status=live |magazine=Money.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429200846/https://money.com/angus-deaton-nobel-winner-money-happiness/ |archive-date=29 April 2022 |access-date=9 October 2018}}</ref>
* the current experience of the [[feeling]] of an [[affect (psychology)|emotion (affect)]] such as [[pleasure]] or [[joy]],<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=happiness |url=http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=happiness&a=*C.happiness-_*Word- |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718075432/http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=happiness&a=*C.happiness-_*Word- |archive-date=18 July 2011 |access-date=24 February 2011 |publisher=Wolfram Alpha}}</ref> or of a more general sense of 'emotional condition as a whole'.{{efn|Dan Haybron<ref>{{citation |title=Dan Haybron |url=https://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/philos/site/people/faculty/Haybron/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830115908/https://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/philos/site/people/faculty/Haybron/ |archive-date=30 August 2019 |url-status=dead |publisher=Saint Louis University }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.happinessandwellbeing.org/project-team/ |title=Project Team |website=Happiness & Well-Being |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012094438/http://www.happinessandwellbeing.org/project-team/ |archive-date=12 October 2018 }})</ref> states "I would suggest that when we talk about happiness, we are actually referring, much of the time, to a complex emotional phenomenon. Call it emotional well-being. Happiness as emotional well-being concerns your emotions and moods, more broadly your emotional condition as a whole. To be happy is to inhabit a favorable emotional state.... On this view, we can think of happiness, loosely, as the opposite of anxiety and depression. Being in good spirits, quick to laugh and slow to anger, at peace and untroubled, confident and comfortable in your own skin, engaged, energetic and full of life."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/happiness-and-its-discontents/ |title=Happiness and Its Discontents |last=Haybron |first=Daniel M. |work=The New York Times |date=13 April 2014 |access-date=29 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012094415/https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/happiness-and-its-discontents/ |archive-date=12 October 2018}}</ref> Haybron has also used the term thymic, by which he means 'overall mood state' in this context;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/HAYHAE |title=Happiness and Ethical Inquiry: An Essay in the Psychology of Well-Being |website=Philpapers.org |last=Haybron |first=Daniel Mclean |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018003005/https://philpapers.org/rec/HAYHAE |archive-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> Xavier Landes<ref name="landesbio">{{Cite web |url=https://www.sseriga.edu/landes-xavier |title=Landes Xavier &#124; Stockholm School of Economics in Riga |access-date=30 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830115908/https://www.sseriga.edu/landes-xavier |archive-date=30 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> has described a similar concept of [[Mood (psychology)|mood]].<ref name="landes">{{cite web |url=https://www.satori.lv/article/kas-ir-laime |title=Kas ir laime? |last=Landes |first=Xavier |website=Satori |date=9 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513122332/https://www.satori.lv/article/kas-ir-laime |archive-date=13 May 2019 }}</ref>}} For instance [[Daniel Kahneman]] has defined happiness as "''what I experience here and now''".<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |title=Why Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kahneman Gave Up on Happiness |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-10-07/ty-article-magazine/.premium/why-nobel-prize-winner-daniel-kahneman-gave-up-on-happiness/0000017f-e650-df5f-a17f-ffde36ed0000 |access-date=7 July 2023 |archive-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120102744/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-10-07/ty-article-magazine/.premium/why-nobel-prize-winner-daniel-kahneman-gave-up-on-happiness/0000017f-e650-df5f-a17f-ffde36ed0000 |url-status=live }}</ref> This usage is prevalent in dictionary definitions of happiness.<ref>{{cite dictionary | url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/happy | title=Happy |dictionary=Oxford Dictionaries | access-date=9 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009172148/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/happy | archive-date=9 October 2018 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary | url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/happiness | title=Happiness |dictionary=Cambridge English Dictionary | access-date=9 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211209/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/happiness | archive-date=9 October 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary | url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/happy | title=The definition of happy |dictionary=Dictionary.com | access-date=9 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009172141/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/happy | archive-date=9 October 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref>
* appraisal of [[life satisfaction]], such as of [[quality of life]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Graham|first1=Michael C.|title=Facts of Life: ten issues of contentment|date=2014|publisher=Outskirts Press|isbn=978-1478722595|pages=6–10}}</ref> For instance [[Ruut Veenhoven]] has defined happiness as "overall appreciation of one's life as-a-whole."<ref name="Veenhoven" />{{rp|2}} "'Happiness' is often used, in ordinary life, to refer to a short-lived state of a person, frequently a feeling of contentment: 'You look happy today'; 'I'm very happy for you'. Philosophically, its scope is more often wider, encompassing a whole life. And in philosophy it is possible to speak of the happiness of a person's life, or of their happy life, even if that person was in fact usually pretty miserable. The point is that some good things in their life made it a happy one, even though they lacked contentment. But this usage is uncommon, and may cause confusion.'<ref name="stanford"/> Kahneman has said that this is more important to people than current experience.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-why-nobel-prize-winner-daniel-kahneman-gave-up-on-happiness-1.6528513|title=Why Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kahneman Gave Up on Happiness|first=Amir|last=Mandel|date=7 October 2018|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=8 October 2018|archive-date=8 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008135016/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-why-nobel-prize-winner-daniel-kahneman-gave-up-on-happiness-1.6528513|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/1503207/a-nobel-prize-winning-psychologist-defines-happiness-versus-satisfaction/|title=A Nobel Prize-winning psychologist says most people don't really want to be happy|first=Ephrat|last=Livni|website=Quartz|date=21 December 2018|access-date=20 November 2021|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417094658/https://qz.com/1503207/a-nobel-prize-winning-psychologist-defines-happiness-versus-satisfaction/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some usages can include both of these factors. [[Subjective well-being]] (swb){{efn|e.g. 'Can Happiness be Measured', [[Action for Happiness]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.actionforhappiness.org/why-happiness |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018181844/http://www.actionforhappiness.org/why-happiness |publisher=Action for Happiness |title=About Us |archive-date=18 October 2018 }}</ref>}} includes measures of current experience (emotions, [[Mood (psychology)|moods]], and feelings) and of [[life satisfaction]].{{efn|See [[Subjective well-being#Components of SWB]]}} For instance [[Sonja Lyubomirsky]] has described happiness as "''the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.''"<ref>The How of Happiness, Lyubomirsky, 2007</ref> [[Eudaimonia]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kashdan |first1=Todd B. |last2=Biswas-Diener |first2=Robert |last3=King |first3=Laura A. |title=Reconsidering happiness: the costs of distinguishing between hedonics and eudaimonia |journal=The Journal of Positive Psychology |date=October 2008 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=219–233 |doi=10.1080/17439760802303044 |s2cid=17056199 }}</ref> is a Greek term variously translated as happiness, welfare, [[flourishing]], and blessedness. Xavier Landes<ref name="landesbio"/> has proposed that happiness include measures of subjective well-being, [[mood (psychology)|mood]] and eudaimonia.<ref name="landes"/>

These differing uses can give different results.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Joshanloo |first1=Mohsen |title=Lay Conceptions of Happiness: Associations With Reported Well-Being, Personality Traits, and Materialism |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=18 October 2019 |volume=10 |pages=2377 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02377 |pmid=31681129 |pmc=6813919 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Whereas Nordic countries often score highest on [[World Happiness Report#2019 World Happiness Report|swb surveys]], South American countries score higher on affect-based surveys of current positive life experiencing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/182843/happiest-people-world-swiss-latin-americans.aspx|title=Who Are the Happiest People in the World? The Swiss or Latin Americans?|first=Jon|last=Clifton|date=24 April 2015|website=Gallup |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231206115150/https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/182843/happiest-people-world-swiss-latin-americans.aspx |archive-date= 6 December 2023 }}</ref>

The implied meaning of the word may vary depending on context,<ref>{{cite report |last1=Helliwell |first1=John |last2=Yang |first2=Shun |author1-link=John Helliwell | title="World Happiness Report 2012" | year=2012 |url=http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2012/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718204801/http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2012/ |archive-date=18 July 2016 |page=11 |quote=How does happiness come into this classification? For better or worse, it enters in three ways. It is sometimes used as a current emotional report – "How happy are you now?," sometimes as a remembered emotion, as in "How happy were you yesterday?," and very often as a form of life evaluation, as in "How happy are you with your life as a whole these days?" People answer these three types of happiness question differently, so it is important to keep track of what is being asked. The good news is that the answers differ in ways that suggest that people understand what they are being asked, and answer appropriately}}</ref> qualifying happiness as a [[Polysemy|polyseme]] and a [[fuzzy concept]].

A further issue is when measurement is made; appraisal of a level of happiness at the time of the experience may be different from appraisal via memory at a later date.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chernoff |first1=Naina N. |title=Memory Vs. Experience: Happiness is Relative |url=https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/memory-vs-experience-happiness-is-relative#:~:text=The%20contrast%20between%20remembered%20and,gets%20to%20keep%20the%20memories |access-date=10 November 2021 |work=Observer |publisher=Association for Psychological Science |date=6 May 2002 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414040808/https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/memory-vs-experience-happiness-is-relative#:~:text=The%20contrast%20between%20remembered%20and,gets%20to%20keep%20the%20memories |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Inge | first=W.R. | title=Lay Thoughts of a Dean | publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC | year=1926 | isbn=978-1379053095 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-50twEACAAJ | quote=Looking back, I think I can separate the years when I was happy and those when I was unhappy. But perhaps at the time I should have judged differently. | access-date=17 November 2021 | archive-date=5 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805022647/https://books.google.com/books?id=e-50twEACAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Some users accept these issues, but continue to use the word because of its convening power.<ref>{{cite report |last1=Helliwell |first1=John |author1-link=John F. Helliwell | title=World Happiness Report 2015 |display-authors=et al | quote=Some have argued that it is misleading to use 'happiness' as a generic term to cover subjective well-being more generally. While 'subjective well-being' is more precise, it simply does not have the convening power of 'happiness'. The main linguistic argument for using happiness in a broader generic role is that happiness plays two important roles within the science of well-being, appearing once as a prototypical positive emotion and again as part of a cognitive life evaluation question. This double use has sometimes been used to argue that there is no coherent structure to happiness responses. The converse argument made in the World Happiness Reports is that this double usage helps to justify using happiness in a generic role, as long as the alternative meanings are clearly understood and credibly related. Evidence from a growing number of large scale surveys shows that the answers to questions asking about the emotion of happiness differ from answers to judgmental questions asking about a person's happiness with life as a whole in exactly the ways that theory would suggest. Answers to questions about the emotion of happiness relate well to what is happening at the moment. Evaluative answers, in response to questions about life as a whole, are supported by positive emotions, as noted above, but also driven much more, than are answers to questions about emotions, by a variety of life circumstances, including income, health and social trust.}} quoted in {{cite journal | last=Helliwell | first=John F. | title=What's Special About Happiness as a Social Indicator? | journal=Social Indicators Research | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=135 | issue=3 | date=25 February 2017 | issn=0303-8300 | doi=10.1007/s11205-017-1549-9 | pages=965–968| s2cid=151828351 }}</ref>

===Happiness vs joy===
German philosophy professor Michela Summa says that the distinction between joy and happiness is that "joy accompanies the process through and through, whereas happiness seems to be more strictly tied to the moment of achievement of the process... joy is not only a direct emotional response to an event that is embedded in our life-concerns but is also tightly bound to the present moment, whereas happiness presupposes an evaluative stance concerning one period of one's life or one's own life as a whole."<ref>{{Citation |last=Summa |first=Michela |title=Joy and happiness |date=2020 |work=The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Emotion |pages=416–426 |editor-last=Szanto |editor-first=Thomas |editor-last2=Landweer |editor-first2=Hilge |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315180786-40 |access-date=21 January 2024 |series=Routledge handbooks in philosophy |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315180786-40 |isbn=978-1-315-18078-6 |s2cid=219100174 |archive-date=5 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805022642/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315180786-40/joy-happiness-michela-summa |url-status=live }}</ref>