Happiness set points, and how you can improve yours: Jennifer Moss

When natural disasters or catastrophic events occur in the movies, we often see the characters go into complete chaos, everyone unravels and total anarchy is the result.

But in real life, we figure it out. Scientists have learned that humans have a unique ability to habituate both to times of intense stress and increased joy. 

This is described in positive psychology as hedonic adaptation. It essentially means that each person has a happiness set point or, in scientific terms, a genetically determined predisposition for happiness.

This set point for happiness is responsible for about 50 per cent of the differences in happiness from person to person. 

According to Seph Fontane Pennoc, founder of PositivePsychology.com, the theory is based on psychologists Brickman and Campbell's original research that studied two sets of people: One was a group of people who won large lottery prizes and the other was a group of accident victims who became paralyzed. 

The research revealed that, in the long term, neither group appeared to be happier than the other. Although lottery winners and paralysis victims respectively experienced initial reactions of happiness and sadness, over time their happiness levels went back to their personal, original set point. 

Additional research found that divorce, widowhood and loss of a job all decreased happiness for a period of time, but nearly all participants returned to their pre-event well-being levels — and some actually moved beyond their happiness set-points

Can we impact our happiness set point? 

According to Dr. Ed Diener at the University of Illinois, our happiness set-point is much more nuanced and varies significantly from person to person. 

First, personality traits play a role in someone's happiness set point and well-being can also be inherited. We may be born with different personality traits that are more positive leaning. You know those people who just seem to be born happy — there is some truth to that. 

Second, we don't have a single, static baseline of happiness. Different forms of well-being can move in different directions at the same time.

As we progress through the pandemic, some of us may be experiencing massive stress in one area of our lives but not in another. For example, I feel like my time at home with the family is a big positive, but the stress of working with a full  house is challenging, too.

Third, happiness can change based on external factors. One study cited that a nation's "higher-than-average wealth" and "support for human rights" were strong predictors of the well-being of its residents.

Researchers at The Economist also reported that 85 per cent of the variance in well-being between nations can be explained by nine factors. Some of those include: gross domestic product per person, life expectancy at birth, political stability, and divorce rates.

Can we change our happiness set point?

In a longitudinal study over 17 years, researchers found that one in four participants experienced significant change in their happiness. How that occurred was through real, intentional effort. So, the lesson here is that we can be happier — and I've said this many times before — but it takes work. 

According to Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar — a lecturer at Harvard University and a leading researcher in the field of positive psychology — to increase our happiness set point we need to do the following: 

1. Accept your humanity by accepting your emotions, including fear, sadness, and anxiety. Rejecting them leads to frustration.
2. Simplify your life. Focus on one thing at a time and reduce multitasking.
3. Find meaning and pleasure. Engage in goals you want to achieve instead of what you feel obligated to do. Spend two hours per week on hobbies. Spend time with our loved ones.
4. Focus on the positive and be grateful – write down five things to be grateful for weekly. 
5. Increase the effort you put into your relationships. Go on a date with your significant other or spend more time talking to your children.
6. Reconsider our negative thoughts and focus on the present moment.

Additionally, an individual's interpretation of a threat or challenge can have a big impact on their outlook. Evaluating negative events in positive ways, such as using reframing techniques or even humour, can affect our permanent dispositions. People who practise reframing don't find things that are "wrong" about positive events, or ruminate on how things were better before. 

Benefits of a happiness set point in times of stress 

Essentially, when we experience high levels of intense positive feelings or high levels of intense negative feelings, the brain acts like a moderator and brings us back to a more neutral state. Maybe most of us don't get constant highs, but that also means we don't get the same lows. 

Further research found that resilience to suffering can decrease fear response in the amygdala (the area of the brain where emotions are given meaning, remembered, and attached to associations and responses to them) which means that we are less fearful of future stresses. 

Although there is a desire to increase happiness, I see having a set point as beneficial in times of extreme stress. It allows us to shift values, goals, attention and interpretation of a situation — we all stay a bit static. Some may think that's boring but striving for contentment over big highs is actually a much healthier way to experience life. And, it has been a particularly useful skill in a global pandemic. 

We've got this

We also need to remind ourselves that we are getting close to the post-pandemic recovery period. Marathoners consistently say that it isn't their training that keeps them focused on the race in that hardest, last leg: It's that they know their family and friends and supporters are waiting, ready to cheer them over the finish line. 

We have come this far in our pandemic journey, and relief will be felt soon. A future mindset is a key attribute to making it to this next phase.

I think that's just what we need right now — a bunch of us rallying around each other at the end of this emotional and mental marathon. To break the ribbon at this point, we could all use a few more cheers. We've got this. I promise you.