Honors Blog #5

The Happiness Hypothesis

Part 1:

The Happiness Hypothesis is a book regarding how to psychologically improve your happiness through simple tips with a scientific explanation to how and why that works.  The Happiness Hypothesis merely suggests what you can do in order to make yourself feel better each day, feeling productive and contributing to your society for the greater good. The book begins with discussing “The Divided Self.” The chapter focuses on the different parts the mind is divided, arguing it is divided in 4 ways, and they all seem to conflict each other. The first part is the Mind vs. Body section of our mind, where he goes over the autonomic nervous system and the way in which it controls our bodily functions every day.  The next part he discusses is the Left vs Right, where he simply discusses the two hemispheres of the brain, left and right, their connection through the corpus callosum, and the various different function each hemisphere has. Then he talks about the Old vs. New brain parts and functions, and how the new parts like the frontal cortex plays a role in establishing our function of thinking and processing the way in which we do.  The last part is the Controlled vs. Automatic, where consciousness is limited to one task at a time usually and automatic processes involve no conscious awareness most of the time and are done without trying to do. This book begins in way I didn’t really expect it to and sort of made me feel less interested. I wasn’t looking for a psychology and biology lesson but I guess it is necessary to understand the different parts of the brain and their functions before trying to understand the possible actions that could be taken in order to improve one’s happiness with life. Hopefully as the book continues, I’ll have new and useful information that I could use to attack certain situations in the best way possible. The Happiness Hypothesis may merely be a hypothesis, but the thought and outcome is worth the try and worth the research as nothing is more fulfilling than happiness in this world.