Happiness according to Myers and Diener - Essay Example

Happiness According To David G. Myers and Ed Diener In recent times, there have been variant definitions of happiness. Additionally, many studies andresearches try to explicitly define, explain, list the components and causes, and evaluate all factors relating to happiness. David Myers who is psychological researcher defined happiness as a life experience characterized by an overwhelming positive emotion (Myers, 2007). On the other hand, Ed Diener defines happiness as a condition of pleasure, positive emotions, life contentment, or satisfaction (Diener, 2012).

They both agreed on the association of a genetic trait in defining happiness from one individual to another. According to them, a person is happy if she or he experiences life satisfaction and frequent joy. A person is unhappy if they experiences frequent unpleasant emotions such as sadness and anger. Happy people have high self-esteem, are more confident and more likely to succeed than the unhappy people are (Myers and Diener, 1995).They found out that Psychological wealth that generates happiness is more than money and although all seek this wealth, nobody is actually happy all the time.

They also found out that happiness feels good, is beneficial to our daily lives, and relies on our thinking. They also found out that richer people are happier than poorer people up to a certain level are. They also found out that happiness is independent of gender and age. This is because different sexes at different ages have defined stressful moments (Myers and Diener, 1995). I agree with their findings about happiness. Although money cannot define happiness, lack of it generates misery, which leads to unhappiness.

Additionally, while teens get stress from their studies and choices on life, other different things stress the old. As such, there is no happier stage in life. However, these findings cannot apply absolutely because happiness varies from one individual to another. ReferencesDiener, E. (2012). The pursuit of happiness Retrieved from http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/ed-diener/Myers, D, and Diener, E. (1995) who is happy Retrieved from http://education.ucsb.edu/janeconoley/ed197/documents/myerswhoishappy.

pdfMyers, D. (2007). Psychology of happiness Retrieved from http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Psychology_of_happiness