Editing Happiness (section)

== Causes and achievement methods ==
{{Main|Well-being contributing factors}}
Theories on how to achieve happiness include "encountering unexpected positive events",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cosmides|first1=Leda|last2=Tooby|first2=John|editor1-last=Lewis|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Haviland-Jones|editor2-first=Jeannette M.|title=Handbook of emotions|date=2000|publisher=Guilford Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1572305298|edition=2|chapter-url=http://www.cep.ucsb.edu/emotion.html|chapter=Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions|access-date=2 April 2017|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofemotio0000unse}}</ref> "seeing a significant other",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lewis|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Lewis (psychologist)|editor1-last=Barrett|editor1-first=Lisa Feldman|editor2-last=Lewis|editor2-first=Michael|editor3-last=Haviland-Jones|editor3-first=Jeannette M.|title=Handbook of Emotions|publisher=Guilford Publications|isbn=978-1462525362|page=793|edition=Fourth|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbKhDAAAQBAJ&q=Michael+Lewis+says+%22happiness+can+be+elicited+by+seeing+a+significant+other&pg=PA793|access-date=1 April 2017|language=en|chapter=Self-Conscious emotions|date=12 July 2016|archive-date=5 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805022732/https://books.google.com/books?id=cbKhDAAAQBAJ&q=Michael+Lewis+says+%22happiness+can+be+elicited+by+seeing+a+significant+other&pg=PA793#v=snippet&q=Michael%20Lewis%20says%20%22happiness%20can%20be%20elicited%20by%20seeing%20a%20significant%20other&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> and "basking in the acceptance and praise of others".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Marano|first1=Hara Estroff|title=At Last – a Rejection Detector!|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199511/last-rejection-detector?collection=10024|access-date=1 April 2017|work=Psychology Today|date=1 November 1995|language=en}}</ref>
Some others believe that happiness is not solely derived from external, momentary pleasures.<ref name=Selig>{{cite journal |last1=Seligman |first1=Martin E. P. |title=Can happiness be taught? |journal=Daedalus |date=April 2004 |volume=133 |issue=2 |pages=80–87 |doi=10.1162/001152604323049424 |s2cid=57570511 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Research on positive psychology, well-being, eudaimonia and happiness, and the theories of Diener, Ryff, Keyes, and Seligmann covers a broad range of levels and topics, including "the biological, personal, relational, institutional, cultural, and global dimensions of life."{{sfn|Seligman|Csikszentmihalyi|2000}} The psychiatrist [[George Eman Vaillant|George Vaillant]] and the director of longitudinal [[Grant Study|Study of Adult Development]] at [[Harvard University]] [[Robert J. Waldinger]] found that those who were happiest and healthier reported strong interpersonal relationships.<ref>{{Cite news|author=The Washington Post|date=17 April 2017|title=All you need is love – and funding: 79-year-old Harvard study of human happiness may lose grant money|url=https://nationalpost.com/health/researchers-say-there-is-more-to-learn-about-happiness|access-date=3 December 2020|work=The National Post|archive-date=5 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805022640/https://nationalpost.com/health/researchers-say-there-is-more-to-learn-about-happiness|url-status=live}}</ref> Research showed that adequate sleep contributes to well-being.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=American Psychological Association |date=2014 |title=More Sleep Would Make Us Happier, Healthier and Safer|url=https://www.apa.org/topics/sleep/deprivation-consequences |access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref> Good [[mental health]] and good relationships contribute more to happiness than income does.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38285223 |title=Mental health and relationships 'key to happiness' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316084200/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38285223 |archive-date=16 March 2018 |work=[[BBC News]] |url-status=live |date=12 December 2016 |access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref> In 2018, [[Laurie R. Santos]] course titled "''Psychology and the Good Life"'' became the most popular course in the history of [[Yale University]] and was made available for free online to non-Yale students.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Mara |last=Leighton|date=4 April 2019|title=Yale's most popular class ever is now available for free online – and the topic is how to be happier in your daily life|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/coursera-yale-science-of-wellbeing-free-course-review-overview|access-date=28 November 2020|website=Business Insider}}</ref>

Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |last1=Deci |first1=Edward L. |last2=Ryan |first2=Richard M. |title=Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction |journal=Journal of Happiness Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |year=2006 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1 |s2cid=145367475 }}</ref> Kahneman has said that ""When you look at what people want for themselves, how they pursue their goals, they seem more driven by the search for satisfaction than the search for happiness."<ref>{{cite web |work=[[The Times]] |date=16 January 2022 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/daniel-kahneman-on-the-power-of-slow-thinking-lc8xmp00l |title=Daniel Kahneman on the power of slow thinking |access-date=29 December 2023 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=11 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111170233/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/daniel-kahneman-on-the-power-of-slow-thinking-lc8xmp00l |url-status=live }}</ref>

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II, noticed that those who lost hope soon died, while those who held to meaning and purpose tended to live on. Frankl observed that joy and misery had more to do with a person's perspective and choice than with their surroundings. Three key sources of meaning that he highlights in his writings include the following:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frankl |first=Viktor E. |title=Man's Search for Meaning |publisher=Beacon Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8070-1427-1 |location=Boston, Massachusetts}}</ref>

# Creation of an important work, or doing a deed. 
# Love, as manifest in thoroughly encountering another person or experience. 
# Finding meaning in unavoidable suffering, such as seeing it as a sacrifice or learning opportunity.

Psychologist Robert Emmons has identified the centrality of goals in pursuing happiness. He found that when humans pursue meaningful projects and activities without primarily focusing on happiness, happiness often results as a by-product. Indicators of meaningfulness predict positive effects on life, while lack of meaning predicts negative states such as psychological distress. Emmons summarizes the four categories of meaning which have appeared throughout various studies. He proposes to call them WIST, or work, intimacy, spirituality, and transcendence.<ref>{{Citation |last=Emmons |first=Robert A. |title=Personal goals, life meaning, and virtue: Wellsprings of a positive life. |date=2003 |url=http://content.apa.org/books/10594-005 |work=Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived. |pages=105–128 |editor-last=Keyes |editor-first=Corey L. M. |access-date=7 November 2023 |place=Washington |publisher=American Psychological Association |language=en |doi=10.1037/10594-005 |isbn=978-1-55798-930-7 |editor2-last=Haidt |editor2-first=Jonathan}}</ref>

Throughout life, one's views of happiness and what brings happiness can evolve. In early and emerging adulthood many people focus on seeking happiness through friends, objects, and money. Middle aged-adults generally transition from searching for object-based happiness to looking for happiness in money and relationships. In older adulthood, people tend to focus more on personal peace and lasting relationships (ex. children, spouse, grandchildren).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mogilner |first=Cassie |date=23 August 2010 |title=The Pursuit of Happiness |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797610380696 |journal=Psychological Science |volume=21 |issue=9 |pages=1348–1354 |doi=10.1177/0956797610380696 |pmid=20732902 |s2cid=32967787 |issn=0956-7976 |access-date=5 August 2024 |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815061803/https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797610380696 |url-status=live }}</ref>  Antti Kauppinen, a Swedish philosopher and phenomenological researcher, posited that the perception of time affects the change in focus throughout life. In early adulthood, most view life optimistically, looking to the future and seeing an entire life ahead of them. Those that fall into the middle life, see that life has passed behind them as well as seeing more life ahead. Those in older adulthood often see their lives as behind them. This shift in perspective causes a shift in the pursuit of happiness from more tactile, object based happiness, to social and relational based happiness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kauppinen |first=Antti |date=2013 |title=Meaning and Happiness |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5840/philtopics20134118 |journal=Philosophical Topics |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=161–185 |doi=10.5840/philtopics20134118 |s2cid=143256544 |issn=0276-2080 |access-date=5 August 2024 |archive-date=5 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805022642/https://www.pdcnet.org/philtopics/content/philtopics_2013_0041_0001_0161_0185 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Self-fulfilment theories ===
[[File:Sweet Baby Kisses Family Love.jpg|thumb|Woman kissing a baby on the cheek]]

[[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]] is a pyramid depicting the levels of human needs, psychological, and physical. When a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid, [[self-actualization]] is reached.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vinney |first=Cynthia |date=2018 |title=Understanding Maslow's Theory of Self-Actualization |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/maslow-theory-self-actualization-4169662 |website=thoughtco. |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323194539/https://www.thoughtco.com/maslow-theory-self-actualization-4169662 |url-status=live }}</ref> Beyond the routine of needs fulfillment, Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience, known as [[peak experiences]], profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient, and yet a part of the world. This is similar to the [[Flow (psychology)|flow]] concept of [[Mihály Csíkszentmihályi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alexander |first1=Rebecca |last2=Aragón |first2=Oriana R. |last3=Bookwala |first3=Jamila |last4=Cherbuin |first4=Nicolas |last5=Gatt |first5=Justine M. |last6=Kahrilas |first6=Ian J. |last7=Kästner |first7=Niklas |last8=Lawrence |first8=Alistair |last9=Lowe |first9=Leroy |last10=Morrison |first10=Robert G. |last11=Mueller |first11=Sven C. |last12=Nusslock |first12=Robin |last13=Papadelis |first13=Christos |last14=Polnaszek |first14=Kelly L. |last15=Helene Richter |first15=S. |last16=Silton |first16=Rebecca L. |last17=Styliadis |first17=Charis |title=The neuroscience of positive emotions and affect: Implications for cultivating happiness and wellbeing |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |date=February 2021 |volume=121 |pages=220–249 |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.002 |pmid=33307046 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The concept of flow is the idea that after our basic needs are met we can achieve greater happiness by altering our consciousness by becoming so engaged in a task that we lose our sense of time. Our intense focus causes us to forget any other issues, which in return promotes positive emotions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flow and Happiness {{!}} Psychology Today |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/one-among-many/201502/flow-and-happiness |access-date=23 March 2022 |website=www.psychologytoday.com |language=en |archive-date=5 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805023141/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/one-among-many/201502/flow-and-happiness |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Erich Fromm]] said ''"Happiness is the indication that man has found the answer to the problem of human existence: the productive realization of his potentialities and thus, simultaneously, being one with the world and preserving the integrity of his self. In spending his energy productively he increases his powers, he „burns without being consumed.""''<ref>(Ex 3:2) ― (1947a: ''Man for Himself. An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics'', New York (Rinehart and Co.) 1947, p. 189.)</ref>

[[File:Girl of Vietnam.jpg|thumb|Smiling woman from Vietnam]]
[[Self-determination theory]] relates [[intrinsic motivation]] to three needs: [[Competence (human resources)|competence]], [[autonomy]], and [[Social relation|relatedness]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ryan |first1=R. M. |title=Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. |last2=Deci |first2=E. L. |publisher=Guilford Publishing |year=2017 |location=New York}}</ref> Competence refers to an individual's ability to be effective in their interactions with the environment, autonomy refers to a person's flexibility in choice and decision making, and relatedness is the need to establish warm, close personal relationships.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reeve |first=Johnmarshall |title=Understanding Emotion and Motivation |publisher=John Wiles and Sons, Inc. |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-119-36761-1 |location=Hoboken, NJ}}</ref>

[[Ronald Inglehart]] has traced cross-national differences in the level of happiness based on data from the [[World Values Survey]].<ref name="Inglehart2008">{{cite journal |last1=Inglehart |first1=Ronald |last2=Foa |first2=Roberto |last3=Peterson |first3=Christopher |last4=Welzel |first4=Christian |title=Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A Global Perspective (1981–2007) |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |date=July 2008 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=264–285 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00078.x|pmid=26158947 |s2cid=10046821 }}</ref> He finds that the extent to which a society allows free choice has a major impact on happiness. When [[basic needs]] are satisfied, the degree of happiness depends on economic and cultural factors that enable free choice in how people live their lives. Happiness also depends on religion in countries where free choice is constrained.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inglehart |first1=Ronald F. |title=Cultural Evolution: People's Motivations Are Changing, and Reshaping the World |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108613880 |isbn=978-1108613880}}</ref>

[[Sigmund Freud#Happiness|Sigmund Freud]] said that all humans strive after happiness, but that the possibilities of achieving it are restricted because we "are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from the [[Status quo|state of things]]."<ref>Freud, S. ''Civilization and its discontents''. Translated and edited by James Strachey, Chapter II. New York: W. W. Norton. [Originally published in 1930].{{page needed|date=November 2020}}</ref>

The idea of [[Hedonism|motivational hedonism]] is the theory that pleasure is the aim for human life.<ref>{{Citation|last=Moore|first=Andrew|title=Hedonism|date=2019|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/hedonism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Winter 2019|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=20 November 2021|archive-date=5 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805023141/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/hedonism/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Positive psychology===
Since 2000 the field of [[positive psychology]], which focuses on the study of happiness and human flourishing rather than maladjusted behavior or illness, expanded drastically in terms of scientific publications. It has produced many different views on causes of happiness, and on factors that correlate with happiness, such as positive social interactions with family and friends.<ref name=NYSciHap>{{cite magazine|last=Wallis |first=Claudia |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015902-1,00.html |title=Science of Happiness: New Research on Mood, Satisfaction |magazine=TIME |date=9 January 2005 |access-date=7 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115020515/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1015902-1%2C00.html |archive-date=15 November 2010 }}</ref>

These factors include six key virtues:

1. Wisdom and knowledge, which includes creativity, curiosity, love of learning and open-mindedness.

2. Courage, which includes bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality.

3. Humanity, which includes love, kindness, and social intelligence.

4. Justice, which includes leadership, fairness, and loyalty.

5. Temperance, which includes self-regulation, prudence, forgiveness, humility, patience <ref>Perison, Abel Lawrence (1830). Address on Temperance, Delivered in the South Meeting House, Salem, 14 January 1830. Boston: Perkins & Marvin. p. 31</ref> and modesty.

6. Transcendence, which includes religious/spirituality, hope, gratitude, appreciation of beauty and excellence, and humor.

In order for a virtue to be considered a key strength in the field of positive psychology it must meet the demands of 12 criteria, namely ubiquity (cross-cultural), fulfilling, morally valued, does not diminish others, be a nonfelicitous opposite (have a clear antonym that is negative), traitlike, measurable, distinct, have paragons (distinctly show up in individuals' behaviors), have prodigies (show up in youth), be selectively absent (distinctly does not show up in some individuals), and is supported by some institutions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watkins |first=Philip C. |title=Positive Psychology 101 |publisher=Springer Publishing Company |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8261-2697-9 |location=New York, NY}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lopez |first1=Shane J. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology |last2=Snyder |first2=C. R. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-518724-3 |edition=2nd |location=New York, NY |pages=27–28}}</ref>

Numerous short-term self-help interventions have been developed and demonstrated to improve happiness.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bolier|first1=Linda|last2=Haverman|first2=Merel|last3=Westerhof|first3=Gerben J|last4=Riper|first4=Heleen|last5=Smit|first5=Filip|last6=Bohlmeijer|first6=Ernst|title=Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies|journal=BMC Public Health|date=8 February 2013|volume=13|issue=1|page=119|doi=10.1186/1471-2458-13-119|pmid=23390882|pmc=3599475 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.psysci.co/40-scientifically-proven-ways-happier/ |title=40 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Happier |access-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311190556/http://www.psysci.co/40-scientifically-proven-ways-happier/ |archive-date=11 March 2016 |url-status=live |date=19 February 2015 }}</ref>

[[Yale University|Yale]] researcher Emma Seppälä has emphasized the importance of compassion for others, balanced with self-compassion.  Compassion for others may involve service and volunteering, or simply reaching out to connect, show gratitude, or draw others together.<ref name="d813">{{cite web |last=Burns |first=Holly |date=2024-12-26 |title=Why Your New Year's Resolutions Should Involve Your Interpersonal Relationships |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/style/new-years-resolutions-relationships-loved-ones.html |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>

=== Spillover ===
A person's level of subjective well-being is determined by many different factors and social influences prove to be a strong one. Results from the famous [[Framingham Heart Study]] indicate that friends three [[degrees of separation]] away (that is, friends of friends of friends) can affect a person's happiness. From abstract: "A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fowler |first=J. H |author2=Christakis, N. A |date=4 December 2008 |title=Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study |journal=BMJ |volume=337 |issue=dec04 2 |pages=a2338 |doi=10.1136/bmj.a2338 |pmc=2600606 |pmid=19056788}}</ref>

===Indirect approaches===
Various writers, including [[Camus]] and [[Eckhart Tolle|Tolle]], have written that the act of searching or seeking for happiness is incompatible with being happy.<ref>"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." Albert Camus, in "Intuitions" (October 1932), published in Youthful Writings (1976)</ref><ref>"Don't Seek Happiness. If you seek it, you won't find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness" Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose</ref><ref>"Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service." Henry Ford</ref><ref>Frank Crane wrote that "nobody who pursued happiness ever found it" (Adventures in Common Sense, 1920, [https://archive.org/details/adventuresincom00crangoog/page/n52/mode/2up?q=happiness p49])</ref>

[[John Stuart Mill]] believed that for the great majority of people happiness is best achieved en passant, rather than striving for it directly. This meant no self-consciousness, scrutiny, self-interrogation, dwelling on, thinking about, imagining or questioning on one's happiness. Then, if otherwise fortunately circumstanced, one would "inhale happiness with the air you breathe."{{efn|"The enjoyments of life (such was now my theory) are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing, when they are taken en passant, without being made a principal object. Once make them so, and they are immediately felt to be insufficient. They will not bear a scrutinizing examination. Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so. The only chance is to treat, not happiness, but some end external to it, as the purpose of life. Let your self-consciousness, your scrutiny, your self-interrogation, exhaust themselves on that; and if otherwise fortunately circumstanced you will inhale happiness with the air you breathe, without dwelling on it or thinking about it, without either forestalling it in imagination, or putting it to flight by fatal questioning. This theory now became the basis of my philosophy of life. And I still hold to it as the best theory for all those who have but a moderate degree of sensibility and of capacity for enjoyment; that is, for the great majority of mankind.<ref>{{cite book |title=Autobiography |chapter=Crisis in My Mental History, One Stage Onward |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10378/10378-h/10378-h.htm#link2H_NOTE |last=Mill |first=John Stuart |author-link=John Stuart Mill |via=Project Gutenberg |access-date=29 September 2020 |archive-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530133823/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10378/10378-h/10378-h.htm#link2H_NOTE |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.laits.utexas.edu/poltheory/mill/auto/auto.c05.html |title=Autobiography |chapter=Crisis in My Mental History, One Stage Onward |last=Mill |first=John Stuart |author-link=John Stuart Mill |via=University of Texas |access-date=29 September 2020 |archive-date=29 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329140937/https://www.laits.utexas.edu/poltheory/mill/auto/auto.c05.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

[[William Inge (priest, born 1860)|William Inge]] said that "on the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except the fact that they are so."<ref>Essay entitled 'Happy People', dated 1921, included in {{cite book | last=Inge | first=W.R. | title=Lay Thoughts of a Dean | publisher=Garden City Publishing Company | year=1926 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hpw8KEtO7NkC | page=211 | access-date=17 November 2021 | archive-date=5 August 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805023250/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hpw8KEtO7NkC | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Orison Swett Marden]] said that "some people are born happy."{{efn|"Some people are born happy. No matter what their circumstances are they are joyous, content and satisfied with everything. They carry a perpetual holiday in their eye and see joy and beauty everywhere. When we meet them they impress us as just having met with some good luck, or that they have some good news to tell you. Like the bees that extract honey from every flower, they have a happy alchemy which transmutes even gloom into sunshine."<ref>{{cite book |title=How To Succeed or Stepping-Stones to Fame and Fortune. |date=1896 |last=Marden |first=Orison Swett |publisher=The Christian Herald |location=New York |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20513/20513-h/20513-h.htm |via=Project Gutenberg |access-date=14 December 2020 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028194942/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20513/20513-h/20513-h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

=== Cognitive behavioral therapy ===
[[Cognitive behavioral therapy]] is a popular therapeutic method used to change habits by changing thoughts and problematic behaviors. It focuses on emotional regulation and uses a lot of positive psychology practices. It is often used for people with depression, anxiety, or addictions and works towards how to lead a happier life.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Simple Ways To Increase Happiness And Emotional Health |url=https://thinkaplus.com/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-simple-ways-to-increase-happiness-and-emotional-health/ |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=thinkaplus.com |archive-date=25 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625074027/https://thinkaplus.com/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-simple-ways-to-increase-happiness-and-emotional-health/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Common processes in cognitive behavioral therapy are reframing thoughts from problematic thinking patterns by replacing them with beneficial or supportive ones, roleplaying, finding beneficial coping skills, and choosing new activities that support desired behaviors and avoid negative behaviors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hauswirth |first=Katherine |date=2022 |title=Cognitive-behavioral therapy for addictions and substance abuse. |journal=Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health}}</ref>

=== Synthetic happiness ===
Coined by Harvard professor of psychology and author of "Stumbling on Happiness", [[Daniel Gilbert (psychologist)|Daniel Gilbert]], synthetic happiness is the happiness we make for ourselves. In his TedTalk titled, the surprising science of happiness, Gilbert explains that everyone possesses a "psychological immune system" that helps to regulate our emotional reactions.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gilbert |first=Dan |title=The surprising science of happiness |date=26 September 2006 |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_the_surprising_science_of_happiness |access-date=2 December 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202231022/https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_the_surprising_science_of_happiness |url-status=live }}</ref> Through research that he studied and held, he and his team found that personal happiness is largely based on personal perception. Synthetic happiness as an idea has become more popular as people attempt to define happiness as a journey instead of a destination.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}