{"id":646,"date":"2025-05-05T09:45:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T13:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=646"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:45:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T13:45:49","slug":"reprising-howards-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=646","title":{"rendered":"Reprising Howard&#8217;s End"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>\u2018So what\u2019s on top today?\u2019 <\/i>One of multiple \u2018openers\u2019 to appointments that I\u2019ve test-driven over the years. All, in one way or another, attempts at cutting to the chase, skipping over the usual ice breakers of weather, the most recent episode of ________ (fill in the blank, depending on decade), news headlines. . . etc. After a thoughtful pause, the responses are often a variation on \u2018<i>been a tough week\u2019<\/i>. \u2018<i>Could you say a bit more about. . .\u2019 <\/i>an effort at putting a bit more flesh on these bones. As frequently as not, this summons up a statement of general malaise \u2014 aka, <b><i>unhappiness<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>With the release of the 2025 World Happiness report in recent weeks, I wasn\u2019t surprised to see a number of op eds focussed on the topic. Now, without looking, of the 147 countries tapped, who would you expect to top the polls? Yep, once again from the 2024 data, those bastions of ice, snow, and reduced hours of daily sunlight, occupy 5 of the top 10 spots. Finland (darkest of all??) bumps that perennial home to the smiley face emoji (Denmark) down to number 2 \u2014 but hot on its heels (as it were) were Iceland, Sweden, and Norway.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Recognizing that happiness is both an ephemeral and complex concept, the Report uses a deceptively simple strategy (Cantril\u2019s Ladder):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><i><\/i>Imagine a ladder with 10 rungs<\/li>\n<li><i><\/i>The top rung represents the best possible life for you; the bottom step, the worst possible life<\/li>\n<li><i><\/i>On which step of the ladder would you say your personally feel stand at this time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From the 150,000 or so annual responses and over its dozen years of study, the Report has generated six determinants of happiness that account for most (75%) of the variance \u2014 which is just an (overly complicated) way of saying: <i>Here\u2019s what matters most!<\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Having someone to count on<\/li>\n<li>GDP per capita<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Healthy Life Expectancy<\/li>\n<li>Freedom to make life choices<\/li>\n<li>Generosity<\/li>\n<li>Freedom from corruption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i>Ipso<\/i> <i>facto<\/i>, our Nordic quintette ticks many of these underpinning boxes.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Report has spotlighted a particular obsession of mine (and not just because of the title!): <i>Connection. <\/i>E.M. Forster\u2019s classic, <i>Howard\u2019s End <\/i>has as the book\u2019s epithet <i>Only Connect.<\/i> Whether an imperative, life-advice, or just a friendly suggestion to Henry Wilcox to \u2018chill\u2019, this appears to be high up on the list of happiness correlates. Vivek Murthy, Obama\u2019s Surgeon General, made, as a key element in his term, addressing loneliness and isolation. His book, <i>Together<\/i> made the point in it\u2019s subtitle: \u2018The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Report\u2019s chapter titles pretty much capture it all:<\/p>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">Caring and sharing: Global analysis<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Sharing meals with others (social connection)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">Living with others (family bonds)<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Connecting with others<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">Supporting others<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">Trusting others<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">Giving to others<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Closer to the psychological barn, Martin Seligman proposes the following as the \u2018happiness equation\u2019 (in <i>Authentic Happiness<\/i>)<\/p>\n<p><b>H = S + C + V<\/b><\/p>\n<p>where H (enduring happiness) depends on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>factors out of our control (S) \u2014 about 50% of the result<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>external circumstances (C) \u2014 contributing about 10-15%\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>living in a democracy vs. a dictatorship \/ autocracy<\/li>\n<li>being married or in a stable relationship<\/li>\n<li>having a robust social network<\/li>\n<li>avoiding negative events \/ emotions<\/li>\n<li>having a religious connection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>voluntary, controllable factors (V) \u2014 about 40%\n<ul>\n<li>positive emotions about the past (satisfaction, contentment, fulfillment, serenity)<\/li>\n<li>positive emotions about the future (optimism, hope, faith, trust)<\/li>\n<li>positive emotions about the present (calm, pleasure, flow).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So in a polarized, partisan, pugnacious culture, it may make some sense to focus on the C\u2019s (best we can) and the V\u2019s \u2014 or, at least, sitting in a sauna with a happy Finn.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018So what\u2019s on top today?\u2019 One of multiple \u2018openers\u2019 to appointments that I\u2019ve test-driven over the years. All, in one way or another, attempts at cutting to the chase, skipping over the usual ice breakers of weather, the most recent episode of ________ (fill in the blank, depending on decade), news headlines. . . etc. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}