The Happiness PhD Project (Encyclopedia)

I’ve worked for several years now on capturing the essence of Happiness in a framework or theory. I present the Learned Happiness Model…

Watch as a video…

I spent 4 years researching happiness to make this model. Learned Happiness Model (LHM)

Think of just about anything in life you engage in regularly: like driving, a work role or skillset, an instrument, a sport, a hobby, or a volunteer position. How good were you when you first started?

How good are you now?

Truly reflect on this for a moment.

Whether it’s driving now versus when you were 16, your work now versus your first day, or your golf swing now versus years ago. You are probably much better now than you were before. How?

I suggest you did two things: study and practice. You acquired knowledge of how to do it: how to swing, how to drive, how to manage, etc. You may have read books, watched videos, received coursework or training, or even modeled someone more advanced. And you did it repeatedly. You got your swings in, drove around, managed people, etc. You got the reps in, you tried and failed, you executed.

Through knowing (study) and doing (practice) you learned how.

The key question: how could happiness be any different?

It’s not. Through study you understand the causes and conditions of happiness. Through practice you cultivate the causes and conditions of happiness. And happiness results.

There is an emerging thread of neuroscience and psychology that points to happiness (aka wellbeing) as a learned skillset. One such paper is The plasticity of well-being: A training-based framework for the cultivation of human flourishing by Cortland J. Dahl, Christine D. Wilson-Mendenhall, Richard J. Davidson in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

1A1. Neuroscience research shows happiness is learned: wellbeing is a skill.

Like these other examples of learning — yes, genetics and circumstances have a role in determining your disposition. It is known that 3A. Happiness is partially determined by genetics (perhaps 30-40%). It is also known that circumstances like adverse childhood experiences (ACE) predispose one to greater likelihood of suffering. But happiness is above all, a matter of learning through knowing and doing.

Importantly, appreciating that happiness is learned means first unlearning many of our inaccurate conditioned beliefs about happiness. I summarize a few in this TIDE talk.

Univ. of Alabama TIDE Talks 28 | Majoring in Happiness by Jackson Kerchis

*Note that there is a rich area of inquiry and examination into what we might call “macro-happiness” — what are the economic, political, and social conditions that lead to the greatest happiness for the greatest number? However for the purposes of this theory we will focus on the individual context.