Be Good. Be Orange.

Psychologist, Dan Gilbert does an impeccable job at explaining to an audience what happiness means exactly. What Gilbert presents about the word “happy”, is very insightful. After viewing this video, I’ve learned that happiness is not as clear-cut and dry as many believe. Ultimately, we all have different definitions of what it means to be happy.

Dan Gilbert makes and argument when he says, “we synthesize happiness but we think happiness is a thing to be found.” Gilbert expresses that we have a strong belief that synthetic happiness is what we make when we don’t get what we want. He goes on to say that society has a strong belief that synthetic happiness is of an inferior kind.

There is a strong bond between happiness and ethics. Ethics are decided upon, and if you “do good”, it brings about a moral, positive result, meaning that ethics contribute to our happiness as a whole. I feel that ethical people are more satisfied with life, especially after watching “The Surprising Science of Happiness”. I also think that the other way around; happiness leads to ethical behavior. If someone is not satisfied with their life, he or she is more likely to do unethical things out of spite or cynicism, merely wanting to get back or get even with someone who appears to be happier and more content with his or her life.

I believe that while there definitely is a relationship between ethics and happiness, we all have those different definitions of happiness and we all require a variety of levels of things in life to make us happy and satisfy us. Gilbert does such an insightful job at challenging the idea that society will be unhappy if we do not get what we want. He expresses that even when we do not get what we want and things do not go as planned, we still feel genuine happiness because of how our “psychological immune system” works.

To come to a close, I do think that happiness requires ethics. I actually consider the overall goal of ethics to be happiness. Happiness is a good moral character; it means complete, ample virtue.

–Molly Amo