Everyone wants to live happily. Can science help?
When Gillian Leithman, BSc 00, MSc 05, PhD 16, was an undergraduate student in Concordia’s Department of Psychology, she spent much of her time learning about mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
“That’s really important material to study, because the more we know about it, the better we might be able to treat and help people who are suffering,” she says. “But when I became acquainted with the positive-psychology movement, I found it exciting. We know a lot about illness; we don’t know as much about health.”
Developed in the 1990s, positive psychology examines the factors that help people do and feel well. Concordia researchers and alumni are among those who are moving the field forward and encouraging others to apply its findings.
Leithman, now an adjunct professor in the Department of Management at the John Molson School of Business, teaches her students about cultivating happiness, among other crucial soft skills. She also leads a seminar called “The Art and Science of Happiness” through one of her training companies, Life Skills Toolbox.
“We should never discount life’s difficulties, but if coping with them is our sole focus, that limits our vision of what life could be,” she argues. “What about flourishing?
Creating a foundation for growth
The first challenge in studying happiness is that it means different things to different people. In fact, it’s such a slippery word that positive psychologists tend to use other, more precise terms instead.
One of these concepts, subjective well-being (SWB), has three main components: high levels of pleasant emotions, low levels of negative emotions and overall satisfaction with life. Researchers use questionnaires to measure it.
“SWB is a bit meatier than happiness, partly because it leaves a place for negative emotions,” says Julie Hanck, BSc 04, who teaches in the psychology department at John Abbott College in the Montreal suburb of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. After receiving her bachelor’s from Concordia, Hanck earned a PhD in neuroscience from McGill University.
Another way of breaking down happiness into components is known as the PERMA model, developed by the positive-psychology pioneer Martin Seligman. Its name is an acronym that stands for Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment.
Like SWB, PERMA extends beyond pure pleasure-seeking. Staying up all night to comfort a crying baby may not necessarily evoke immediate positive emotions, for example, but it can hold profound significance and meaning for a parent. Both Hanck and Leithman find PERMA to be a useful framework.
“When I walk into a classroom, I’ll say, ‘Okay, write down 10 things that make you happy,’” Leithman says. “And then we’ll see if people have listed something that speaks to each of the five categories. If not, that’s fine: That’s where you are. Maybe the exercise could help you think about which aspects of happiness you’re not currently tending to.”
No matter how we define happiness, it’s not entirely within our control, emphasizes Hanck.
Genetics play a role, as does our environment, including social systems. Some people, as a result, face a lot more stress and hardship than others.
“I don’t want to tell vulnerable people that they’re solely responsible for their own unhappiness,” says Hanck. “And I don’t want to oversell the interventions I teach, either, because they’re not always life-changing. I just want to empower people to better understand themselves and provide them with the direction they can take to grow.”
Continue reading in Concordia University Magazine.
Photo by Eduardo Barrios on Unsplash
