The science of happiness

By Mike Rudin Series producer, The Happiness Formula
From the BBC News

We all want to be happy but the problem has always been that you can't measure happiness. Happiness has always been seen as too vague a concept, as Lord Layard, Professor of Economics at the LSE and author of "Happiness - lessons from a new science" points out. "There is a problem with the word happiness. When you use the word happy, it often has the sort of context of balloons floating up into the sky or something frivolous." Now scientists say they can actually measure happiness. Neuroscientists are measuring pleasure. They suggest that happiness is more than a vague concept or mood; it is real.

Measuring happiness
Social scientists measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are. It is argued that what a person says about their own happiness tends to tally with what friends or even strangers might say about them if asked the same question. Most people say they are fairly happy.

The leading American psychologist Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois, told The Happiness Formula that the science of happiness is based on one straightforward idea: "It may sound silly but we ask people 'How happy are you 1-7, 1-10? And the interesting thing is that produces real answers that are valid, they're not perfect but they're valid and they predict all sorts of real things in their lives."

One type of measurement even tries to record people's levels of happiness throughout the day wherever they are. Ecological momentary assessment uses hand held computers. The person being quizzed is bleeped and then taken through a questionnaire. "The measures are not perfect yet I think they are in many ways as good as the measures economists use," said Professor Diener. It is a remarkable claim.

Simply by asking people, we have a measure of happiness that is as good as the economists' measure of poverty or growth. And if true, governments could be judged by how happy they make us. An adviser to the Prime Minister, David Halpern, told us that within the next 10 years the government would be measured against how happy it made everybody.

Power of happiness
Happiness seems to have almost magical properties. We have not got proof, but the science suggests it leads to long life, health, resilience and good performance.

Scientists work by comparing people's reported happiness and a host of other factors such as age, sex, marital status, religion, health, income, unemployment and so on. In survey after survey involving huge groups of people, significant correlations between happiness and some other factors are repeated.

At the moment scientists cannot prove causation, whether for example people are healthy because they are happy, or whether people are happy because they are healthy. However, psychologists have been able to identify some very strong links.

According to Professor Diener the evidence suggests that happy people live longer than depressed people. "In one study, the difference was nine years between the happiest group and the unhappiest group, so that's a huge effect. Cigarette smoking can knock a few years off your life, three years, if you really smoke a lot, six years. So nine years for happiness is a huge effect."

Richer but no happier
Happiness researchers have been monitoring people's life satisfaction for decades.

Yet despite all the massive increase in our wealth in the last 50 years our levels of happiness have not increased. "Standard of living has increased dramatically and happiness has increased not at all, and in some cases has diminished slightly," said Professor Daniel Kahneman of the University of Princeton.

"There is a lot of evidence that being richer... isn't making us happier." The research suggests that richer countries do tend to be happier than poor ones, but once you have a home, food and clothes, then extra money does not seem to make people much happier.It seems that that level is after average incomes in a country top about £10,000 a year.

Scientists think they know the reason why we do not feel happier despite all the extra money and material things we can buy. First, it is thought we adapt to pleasure. We go for things which give us short bursts of pleasure whether it is a chocolate bar or buying a new car. But it quickly wears off.

Second, its thought that we tend to see our life as judged against other people. We compare our lot against others. Richer people do get happier when they compare themselves against poorer people, but poorer people are less happy if they compare up.

The good news is that we can choose how much and who we compare ourselves with and about what, and researchers suggest we adapt less quickly to more meaningful things such as friendship and life goals.

What makes us happy?
According to psychologist Professor Ed Diener there is no one key to happiness but a set of ingredients that are vital.

First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better. It is even suggested that friendship can ward off germs. Our brains control many of the mechanisms in our bodies which are responsible for disease. Just as stress can trigger ill health, it is thought that friendship and happiness can have a protective effect.

According to happiness research, friendship has a much bigger effect on average on happiness than a typical person's income itself. One economist, Professor Oswald at Warwick University, has a formula to work out how much extra cash we would need to make up for not having friends. The answer is £50,000. Marriage also seems to be very important. According to research the effect of marriage adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman.

The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life, a belief in something bigger than yourself - from religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life. The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable. Psychologists argue that we need to find fulfillment through having goals that are interesting to work on and which use our strengths and abilities.

Unhappiness
However, there are also many things we experience in life that can produce lasting unhappiness. Professor Ed Diener identifies two key events which can have lasting effects. After the loss of a spouse it can take several years to regain the previous level of well-being. The loss of a job can affect a person for years even they are back to work.

So if you are born grumpy are you always going to be grumpy? The question of whether we can actually use our knowledge of what makes us happy to lift our levels of happiness permanently is hotly debated by psychologists. According to the positive psychologist Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania it is possible to lift our biological set range of happiness, at least to some extent if we work at it. "The best you can do with positive emotion is you can get people to live at the top of their set range. So I think you've got about 10 to 15% leverage but you can't take a grouch and make him giggle all the time."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4783836.stm

Analysis of Journalistic Texts

Version 1: Rats Bite Infant
An infant left sleeping in his crib was bitten repeatedly by rats while his 16-year-old mother went to cash her welfare check. A neighbor responded to the cries of the infant and brought the child to Central Hospital where he was treated and released in his mother’s custody. The mother, Angie Burns of the South End, explained softly, “I was only gone five minutes. I left the door open so my neighbor would hear him if he woke up. I never thought this would happen in the daylight.”

Version 2: Rats Bite Infant: Landlord, Tenants Dispute Blame
An eight-month-old South End boy was treated and released from Central Hospital yesterday after being bitten by rats while he was sleeping in his crib. Tenants said that repeated requests for extermination had been ignored by the landlord, Henry Brown. Brown claimed that the problem lay with tenants’ improper disposal of garbage. “I spend half my time cleaning up after them. They throw garbage out the window into the back alley and their kids steal the garbage can covers for sliding in the snow.”

Version 3: Rat Bites Rising in City’s ‘Zone of death’
Rats bit eight-month-old Michael Burns five times yesterday as he napped in his crib. Burns is the latest victim of a rat epidemic plaguing inner-city neighborhoods labeled the “Zone of Death.” Health officials say infant mortality rates in these neighborhoods approach those in many third world countries. A Public Health Department spokesperson explained that federal and state cutbacks forced short-staffing at rat control and housing inspection programs. The result, noted Joaquin Nunez, MD, a pediatrician at Central Hospital, is a five-fold increase in rat bites. He added, “The irony is that Michael lives within walking distance of some of the world’s best medical centers.”

New Year and the Story Goes On

I.E.S. Lola Mora – English Department
English Language IV - 2008
Mg. Carlos Lizárraga,
calizar@arnet.com.ar

Schedule
Tuesday 8:20-10:30pm
Thursday 9:10-11:20pm

Overview of class
This is an annual language class for prospective teachers of EFL/ESL whose main objective is to enable you to hone your linguistic skills in English up to a native or near native speaker’s level of proficiency. By the end of the year, you will have acquired a level of fluency and precision that will allow you to excel as a teaching professional.

By going through the process, you will be able to empathize with the experience of your future students acquiring a second or foreign language. Furthermore, you will need not only to reach a [near] native level this year but also to acquire a solid foundation of academic skills every educator needs to develop. For this reason, this class has a strong emphasis on reading, writing and global awareness.

Objectives
By the end of this year you should:

• Read with ease virtually all forms of the written language, including abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialized articles and literary works.
• Have no difficulty in understanding any kind of spoken language, whether live or broadcast, even when delivered at fast native speed, provided you have had some time to get familiar with the accent.
• Take part effortlessly in any conversation or discussion and have a good familiarity with idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms.
• Express yourself fluently and convey finer shades of meaning precisely. If you do have a problem you can backtrack and restructure around the difficulty so smoothly that other people are hardly aware of it.
• Present a clear, smoothly-flowing description or argument in a style appropriate to the context and with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points.
• Write clear, smoothly-flowing text in an appropriate style.
• Write complex letters, reports or articles which present a case with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points.
• Write essays, summaries and reviews of professional or literary works.

Source: C2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages,
which equals the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English examination.

General expectations
The basic tenets of this class are respect, honesty, work ethic, and curiosity. As a prospective teacher, you should develop the qualities that you will expect from your own students. A love of learning, hard work and empathy toward others are the characteristics that will ensure you will be a successful student and teacher.

As part of your training to become a teacher, you are expected to achieve a high level of proficiency. Therefore you should plan to devote a minimum of two hours in preparation for every class period you attend. This includes reading and writing on a daily basis.
You are expected to read every day. Being informed of the latest news in town, the province, the nation and the world is a good way to build a solid knowledge foundation. Also, articles from respectable publications and literary works available online are a valuable option. Your daily reading is a formal component of your grade for this class.

You are expected to write your morning pages every day. You should plan to devote between 25 and 30 min. to your creative journal writing. Extensive practice in expressing yourself freely is indispensable for you to become accustomed to articulating your ideas coherently and cohesively. This writing should be collected in a journal that is also required to pass this class.
If you are not already, you are expected to acquire some basic computer literacy. Part of the assignments will be available only online, and their completion will be online as well. Therefore you should expect to become adept at using the Internet, email, and computer-produced texts.
Attendance and involvement are expected in every class. You should get to class on time, have your material and assignments ready, use only English throughout the entire period, and strive to excel in every activity. In a word, you should be a good language learner.

The good language learner
… is highly motivated to learn the language. He is willing to practice the new language. He actively seeks opportunities to use the new language and communicates with it whenever possible.
… wants to communicate with native speakers of the language. She empathizes with them and is interested in their ideas, experiences, attitudes and customs.
…is relaxed about his new language and can live with uncertainty. He is willing to abandon his first language reference system and to think in the second language.
… tolerates difficulties and frustrations. She is not afraid to make mistakes and learns from errors.
… is self-critical, adventuresome, independent, open, outgoing and friendly.
…understands that language is arbitrary and makes inferences about the language he is learning. He constantly searches for meaning.
… has an aptitude for learning languages. She can distinguish different sounds in a second language and understands the grammatical functions of different kinds of language elements.
… relates new things to those previously learned and can convert passive knowledge into active knowledge.
… is systematic about language learning and uses specific techniques of effective study. He can adapt to almost any learning condition.
… accepts responsibility for her own learning and sets her own goals.

Source unknown

Evaluation
The evaluation consists of parciales, prácticos and attendance. The grade for the class is determined by outstanding class performance or by your performance in the final exam.
There will be three parciales: two written term tests and the presentation of your portfolio. Prácticos include essays, unit tests on textbook and literary works, journal, reading logs (article summaries and reactions), oral presentations, class involvement and participation, etc. If you cannot be present to any of these evaluation instances, it is your responsibility to let your instructor know ahead of time. If you do not or cannot, you will be excused only if you provide written proof of the reason for your absence. If you fail to do so, you will get a grade of 0 on that particular instance. In any case, alternative arrangements are at the discretion of your instructor.
There are two ways to pass this course. One is through class performance (promoción), and the other by taking a final exam.

Class performance (promoción)
Students who fulfill the following requirements will be exempt from the final exam:
a) a passing mark in at least 75% of prácticos – with no make-up opportunities;
b) a passing mark in all three parciales with an average of at least 70% - you will get a chance of taking a make-up exam for each written parcial;
c) 75% class attendance.

Final exam
At the end of the year, there will be two types of final exam, one for students in good standing (alumnos regulares), and another one for auditing students (alumnos irregulares)

Final exam for students in good standing (regulares)
Students who fulfill the requirements listed below will be considered ‘in good standing’ (regulares) and will take a final exam consisting of a written and an oral component. For the oral section, students are required to present their Portfolio.
Requirements:
a) a passing mark in at least 50% of prácticos;
b) a passing mark in all parciales with an average below 7
c) 50% attendance

Final exam for auditing students (alumnos irregulares)
Students who do not fulfill these requirements will need a take a final that may include any content from prácticos. This means that the exam is likely to be longer. Also, the instructor will require the presentation of a portfolio with all of the contents listed below, such as journal entries, reading log, essays, etc. The exam will be written and oral, and a passing mark in both is demanded.

Assignments
Portfolio
It should include the following artifacts:

• Your research on a current topic or a collection of articles on current issues. It will include:
  Summary of articles, or extracts from books, etc. – cite source and date of publication.
  Reaction paper.
• General longer essay or report on topic of choice based on a set of articles – due at end of the process.
• Reflection piece on your learning with each topic.
• Essays assigned in class. You should include
  - Corrected drafts if applicable and/or correction of a graded essay
  - Analysis of your own strengths and weaknesses on each corrected essay with improvement goals you set for your next writing assignment
  - Personal reflection on any content from class, any current or philosophical issue.
• A selection of your best journal entries.

Creative Journal/blog writing:
Three weekly entries of about 20/30 min each. Handwritten or online.

Oral presentations
On topics of your interest based on your research for your portfolio or specifically assigned by your instructor.

Required texts
Evans, Virginia & Jenny Dooley (2002). Upstream Proficiency. Newbury, Berkshire, UK: Express Publishing.
Evans, Virginia & Jenny Dooley (2002). Upstream Proficiency Workbook. Newbury, Berkshire, UK: Express Publishing.
Golding, William (1954). The Lord of the Flies.
Guilford, Chuck. Paradigm Online Writing Assistant at http://www.powa.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Hosseini, Khaled (2003). The Kite Runner.
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass.

Recommended texts
Vince, Michael. English Advanced Practice. (You should plan to complete all of the exercises in this book as preparation for the final exam)