Happiness is a desirable characteristic to every individual who desires to live an untroubled and settled life. As much as this happiness may be important in life, most people don’t have the slightest idea on how to acquire it. The extents that some individuals go in vain efforts to be joyful are at times amazing. Most particularly, a majority of young men and women today have got the wrong idea of happiness.
This is evidenced by their frantic efforts to look for happiness in harmful habits such as indulging in drugs, imprudent sexual activity and other popular but equally disgusting habits. This paper will illustrate that happiness in life is not found in money or any material thing. It will base its argument on E. A. Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory” to further show that true happiness is embedded in the hearts of individuals rather than what is portrayed on the their visages.
Incapability of Money to buy True Happiness
Since time immemorial, money has been considered as the ultimate solution to almost all the problems in life. It is astounding that an overwhelming number of people in the world continue to put their trust in money, even as they see it ruin the lives of several others.
Money is indeed capable of solving financial problems, but when it comes to finding true happiness in life, this becomes a different case. In fact, money can buy all the tangible things that are bound to bring happiness in one’s life, but we tend to forget that happiness comes naturally by itself.
Just the way it is impossible to make seeds grow on unfertile sandy soil, happiness cannot be planted in a heart wasted by the misery and gloom of this life. Such efforts will be to no avail. The much one can achieve in such an instance is temporary, short-lived and superficial happiness that will disappear once the individual becomes aware of the storms of life that he or she is going through.
For Richard Cory to take such a drastic measure as putting a bullet into his head, he must have been holding onto circumstances and people that hurt him in the past (Robinson 16). A more effective way of acquiring permanent happiness would be to root out all the bitterness, pain and misery that is kept in one’s heart and then refilling the gap gradually with joy.
Given that the scars caused by unbearable events and people in our hearts may take a really long time to heal, one may have to wait for even a decade or two in order to finally get the happiness he or she needs so bad.
In order to rejoice in life, it is advisable that people learn to let go of all the pain and disappointment that they have suffered at one point in their lives. Holding onto them will assuredly have an inhibitory effect on the manifestation of true happiness in their lives. This is an example of the many situations where money is totally incapable of making a smile spread on one’s face.
Effects of Obsession with Money
A good percentage of people who aren’t happy in their lives today are rich individuals. This is quite appalling, as one would think that with all the money that this people have, they certainly have access to anything that they could ever dream of. On the contrary, it should not be forgotten that money itself can be a perfect object of torment if mishandled (Layard 46). This is what happens to people who give so much extra attention to their money that they tend to overlook people that care about them and other sectors of their lives.
It is a common thing to come across a man who has toiled all his years to make a lot of money only to end up with a broken family that will cost him his happiness. A far more serious and ironical case is that of a man who strains to accumulate a lot wealth by his side and then ends up spending the better part of it trying to get back his deteriorated health.
Because money can’t buy back the health of this particular individual, he may be doomed to stay in his unhealthy condition for the remainder of his life, which will definitely siphon happiness out of his heart and the hearts of his family members.
Things Money can’t guarantee Insurance for
A lifelong study conducted on a number of healthy and initially happy men from their youth to old age has revealed that misfortunes that take away happiness in life are inevitable. As much as money can pay for the insurance against risks in life, it can’t take away the disturbance that the occurrence of such a risk will cause in a person’s heart (Seligman 132).
Life is full of uncertainties, and anything can happen to anyone at any time. Although fortune may knock once at a man’s door, misfortune does so at an unpredictable frequency. And when it does, it surely won’t leave our hearts unscathed.
A misfortune always leaves behind a trail of marks that will remind the victims of what befell them at one stage in life. The overwhelming amount of money that one may have will never be sufficient to get rid of agonizing memories and prevent the reoccurrence of the same. It is evident that money can’t guarantee happiness in one’s life due to the uncertainties that surround each one of us.
Things Money can’t get
True happiness in life comes with having trustful, honest and loving people around a person. These are people that are hard to come by, especially with today’s sophisticated world. In fact, once is considered lucky to have any such person. Money can’t buy these wonderful people. Money can’t buy a wonderful wife.
It can’t buy lovely children that are obedient to their parents. Money cannot guarantee any parent that their child will be born without a deformity. The list is endless. According to Myers, the number of things that money can’t buy is more than double those which money can buy (72). A person may have a beautiful palace for a home, a fleet of cars, a decent job and a booming business but lack good-natured people who love him who he is and not because of his money.
Shortcomings of Money’s Achievements
Nevertheless, there are also some relatively good things that money can achieve. However significant they may be, they are nothing compared to being happy in life. One of the things that one can achieve by having a lot of money is respect in society. Rich people such as Richard Cory are normally treated with high regard. This is because they have got what others don’t have; money.
A keen observer may notice that these rich people are equally lacking what other people have; happiness. Just like it was with Richard Cory, a person may be outwardly rich and doing well on the outside but dying on the inside. Prior to his death, no one would have believed that Richard Cory was leading a miserable life. All the respect that people had bestowed upon him did not count for anything. As a matter of fact, the much it could do was to mask his face with vague happiness.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is clear that although money is an important thing in everyday life, there comes a time when its purchasing power loses meaning. These are times when rich individuals yearn for genuine happiness but their money can’t bring them any. It can also be discerned from the foregoing that there is more to happiness than money.
One needs not to have money in order to be happy. Happiness comes from the heart. Moreover, they are the wonderful people and stress-free conditions that will guarantee happiness to an individual. It is also advisable not to spend a lot of time making money at the expense of happiness. Finally, prudent handling of money is necessary, as money can also be a tool that deprives people of their happiness. In summary, money does not certainly buy happiness.
Works Cited
Layard, Richard. Happiness: Lessons from a new science. New York: Penguin Press, 2005. Print.
Myers, David. The pursuit of happiness: Who is happy and why? New York: Morrow, 1992. Print.
Civil rights are what citizens in a democratic country are entitled to and they include rights such as the right to vote, right to equal treatment and opportunities, the right to life and the right to protection from any harm or violence. Civil rights are designed to guarantee the freedom of a country’s citizens, allowing them to speak, think and act without any fear of reprisals.
It is the government’s duty and responsibility to create an effective legal framework that will see these rights being enjoyed by every citizen (Paterson et al. 5).
Women’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement
The movement of civil rights in the United States was founded with the main aim of ensuring that the necessary legislation was formulated that would enable American citizens enjoy the civil rights. Past literature that focused on the civil rights movement has shown that women had multiple roles in the movement, the same as their male counterparts. Majority of the women involved in this movement were of black origin while the rest formed part of the minority groups in America (Crawford et al. xviii).
These women were fighting for their freedom from slavery and also from being colonized by the whites in a country that was believed to have exercised freedom during a period of instability around the world .A conference for women involved in the civil rights movement were convened in Atlanta, Georgia in the year 1945 to 1965. The conference brought together women activists and scholars who were fighting for the equal rights of women in America.
The main objective of the conference was to acknowledge individuals and groups of women who had actively protested and campaigned for reforms in the civil rights. These women were united with the main purpose of gaining the pursuit of happiness that was included in the Declaration of Independence (Crawford et al. xvii).
The Pursuit of Happiness
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was seen to be a first step towards creating a more liberal and democratic America. The pursuit of happiness is an important part of the Civil Rights Act that stipulates American citizens have the right to pursue lawful business in a manner that is not inconsistent and disruptive to the equality rights of other American citizens. The pursuit of happiness is meant to increase a citizen’s prosperity and enjoyment in their life or business endeavors (Licht 98).
The practice of pursuit of happiness is basically the pursuit of property even though property is deemed to be less valuable than the freedom or life of an individual citizen. Individuals view having property as having security which allows them to be free from any interference by the government or other people. The pursuit of happiness stipulates that having secure property is having secure liberty which is viewed to be a sign of security (Licht 98).
The pursuit of happiness for women today is viewed as an important right in America as more women today are fighting to be empowered and gain equality in all aspects of their lives. Women everywhere in America be they in a minority group are seeking the right to feel secure and go about their daily lives without the fear of being attacked or having their right to liberty and freedom being infringed upon.
Works Cited
Crawford, Vicki. Jacqueline, Rouse and Barbara Woods (Eds). Women in civil rights movement: trailblazers and torchbearers, 1941-1965, Bloomington, USA:
Indiana University Press, P.xviii, 1990, Licht, Robert. Old rights and new. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute. P.98. 1993
Paterson, D., Richard Griffiths and Susan Willoughby. Civil rights in the USA, 1863-1980. Oxford, London: Heinemann Educational Publishers. P. 5, 2001
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is a popular phrase among the US citizens. This phrase introduces the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. As such, the phrase guarantees every American citizen the right to liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness (Malloch & Scott 2). According to Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, every government should allow its citizens the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life entitles all Americans the abilities to pursue all the actions essential for the protection and satisfaction of their lives.
Equally, the right to liberty allows all Americans the abilities to conduct themselves, work, and think in accordance with their judgments. This implies that the government is forbidden from interfering with an individual’s life and affairs. In the same way, the right to pursue happiness ensures that all individuals are given freedom to transform the nation’s physical resources, their energy, and their knowledge into good things in life for their satisfaction. Generally, the phrase Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is the driving force behind our democratic systems of government. In this regard, this paper seeks to investigate whether the nation has achieved the goals envisioned by Jefferson.
After these words were written, American activists and citizens of that time adopted the phrase immediately. Prior to the writing of this phrase, the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness were not acknowledged by the political systems of the day. Instead, the goal of the monarchical government was to pursue happiness for those in power and to pursue unhappiness for the masses. For instance, the nation lacked economic systems that could guarantee the masses their basic needs. Similarly, during Jefferson’s time his goals as illustrated in the above phrases were only defined within the contexts of the whites. Over the last two centuries, the American societies have struggled through several wars and social upheavals with the aim of ensuring that all individuals regardless of their color, race, ethnicity, and social status enjoy these rights. Currently, these rights are not only enjoyed by all men, but also enjoyed by all women.
The right to life
The first objective of the Declaration of independence was to champion the right to life for every individual. What this means is that no government or an individual is allowed to take the lives of its people. In the current American society, Jefferson’s vision of the right to life has been achieved. Currently, Americans respect their lives and the lives of other citizens. As compared to other countries, individuals in America are free to exercise their morals and beliefs thus enhancing the right to life. Equally, the current American societies have become more diverse than during the 17th century. Currently, different individuals from different races and ethnicity live side by side without confrontation. This has been possible through the Americans’ value for life. If the right to life was not valued in the US as it is in other countries, different communities and religions living side by side could be in disputes.
Before the abolition of slavery in the US, during the 18th century, slaves’ right to life was being violated. Masters often mistreated their slaves. Occasionally, the slaves’ lives were not given priority as compared to the settlers’ lives. This was illustrated from the disparities in their living conditions and healthcare services. However, through several struggles and movements slavery was later abolished. Over time, human rights were able to champion for the right to life for every individual in the US. Through these struggles, every individual is guaranteed the right not to be killed and to be rescued from impending danger. The fact that US government offers its citizens with favorable working conditions and the right to clothing, housing, and education, implies that it upholds the right to life.
The right to liberty
Despite of the words emphasized in the Declaration of Independence, the right to liberty in the US was a distant dream during Jefferson’s era. During this time, a few individuals were allowed to exercise the right to liberty. As such, the framers of the US constitution allowed slavery to continue during the early years. Similarly, women were also excluded from exercising their right to liberty. However, towards the end of the 18th century a new group of reformers emerged in the American societies. The groups were determined to enlarge the circle of liberty and freedom to include all Americans who had been discriminated. These reformists were determined in ensuring that all the slaves and the minorities regained their right to liberty. Out of these initiatives, the American society was divided into two groups.
During the early 19th century, the US government had extended civil rights to white males who owned no land. However, the Native Americans and the minority groups were still restricted from exercising these rights. Prior the mid 20th century, the struggle for equal treatment in the southern parts of the US had gained prominence. Even though slavery had been abolished, the minority groups were not allowed to exercise their full liberty rights. Civil rights and civil liberty activists of the mid 20th century organized peaceful campaigns and protests with the aim of enhancing equal representations within the American societies. Generally, the struggle for the right to liberty of every American resulted in an enduring revolution to minority groups in America.
Currently, the right to liberty is entitled to every American regardless of his or her race, nationality, and social background. In this regard, the current American society has achieved the liberty rights as envisioned by Jefferson. Unlike other western countries, individuals in the US enjoy excess liberty rights. For instance, in the US freedoms of speech and worship have little restrictions that some individuals suggest that they should be restrained for security purposes. Equally, with the election of Barack Obama as the first African American in the year 2009 signifies a huge transformation in the American societies. During Jefferson’s era, no one could have ever imagined that African Americans would one day be entitled equal civil rights with the whites as it is today.
The right to pursue happiness
Currently, the right to pursue happiness has become an essential part of American culture. This declaration has a strong connection with economic liberty, religious liberty, and political liberty. Regarding this, the three rights envisioned by Jefferson are interlinked and need to be understood in terms of one another (Rus 110). In this regard, liberty is necessary for happiness, and happiness is necessary for liberty.
During Jefferson’s era, the right to pursue happiness was only enjoyed by the few individuals who were in leadership positions. As such, the political leaders were allowed to use the public resources, and workers’ energy and knowledge for their satisfaction at the expenses of the poor. Over time, human rights activists championed for equal rights and liberties in the American societies. With these struggles, the slave trade, racial discriminations, social discriminations, and other forms of discriminations were abolished. These initiatives have enhanced happiness in American societies.
At the present, the US politics, economics, and culture have undergone through enormous transformations to embrace the pursuit of happiness as its central drive and value. As envisioned by Jefferson, the present American government and institutions support each individual’s definitive rights to live freely and happily. From the mid 20th century, American governments have redefined its economies, government structures, laws, and cultural expressions towards continuous improvements of human life. Currently, it is estimated that the America’s GNP per person ranges from $40000 to $50000. With these figures, America is considered one of the wealthiest nations on earth. Similarly, these figures illustrate that the pursuit of happiness among the Americans is a reality. Equally, in the US the society and the government are so favorable that all individuals are allowed to nurture their dreams or talents for their happiness.
Despite the fact that the current Americans have achieved the goals envisioned by Jefferson, we should be weary of the fact that these goals are now facing emerging ethical challenges. Notably, the right to life has raised several controversies among scholars, religious leaders, and the public. For instance, religious leaders argue that government is not supposed to take a life of a condemned criminal, as doing so implies that the criminal’s right to life would be violated. Similarly, by allowing a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy implies that the right of the unborn child to life would be violated. On the other hand, the right to pursue happiness is facing several ethical challenges. Currently, recession, disparities in wealth, war, and religious conflicts are compromising on the gains gained so far in the pursuit of happiness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we should all acknowledge the fact that Jefferson’s goal has been achieved in the US. The US constitution emphasizes that every individual is entitled to indisputable rights to life, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness. As required by the constitution, all American citizens and immigrants across the US enjoy these rights. Similarly, several countries around the world that embrace human rights have adopted and implemented these rights in their constitutions. Despite the benefits of these rights, many citizens in the US do not exploit these rights to their full potential. Instead, the rights are taken for granted by most individuals. For instance, some Americans have not learned how to pursue happiness. More often, these individuals associate happiness with material wealth rather than attainment of self-actualization.
Equally, we should acknowledge the challenges facing these inalienable rights and start working on a framework that would reduce these challenges (Moyers & Betty 45). For instance, Americans should focus on new technologies that will increase their pursuit of happiness rather than reduce it. Through this, they should explore new projects that will increase job creation, job satisfaction and wealth creation. By doing so, we would ensure that our future generations also have a chance to pursue their happiness.
Works Cited
Malloch, Theodore R., and Scott T. Massey. Renewing American culture: the pursuit of happiness . Salem, MA: M & M Scrivener, 2006. Print.
Moyers, Bill D., and Betty S. Flowers. A world of ideas : conversations with thoughtful men and women about American life today and the ideas shaping our future. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Print.
Rus, M. “Architectural Digest.” The Pursuit of Happiness 09.01 (2011): 108-119. Shatford Library. Web.
By any standards, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States can be termed as two of the most fundamental and enduring documents in the Nation’s history due to the very fact that the ideals enshrined in the documents continue to influence generations of Americans in major ways, especially in terms of rule of law, self governance and the protection of individual rights (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, 2008).
The Declaration of Independence, in particular, set forth the basic tenets that could be used to ensure a just and fair government. Although over two millennia have now passed since the documents were instituted, many Americans continue to hold these principles close to their hearts, with particular emphasis been placed on the three unalienable rights enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, and which are bestowed on us by our Creator (ARD, 2010).
The document highlighted three most basic rights, namely, “the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (ARD, 2010, para. 1). This paper purposes to assess how these unalienable rights have shaped the life of Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Price, and also the winner of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Award.
Born in 1940 in what was then known as Eastern Bengal, Yunus got himself a good education to become an economist at Chittagong University. During one of his field visits in 1974, in the company of his students, he “…interviewed a woman who made bamboo stools, and learnt that she had to borrow the equivalent of 15p to buy raw bamboo for each stool made” (Grameen Bank, 2010a, para. 2).
The woman, after repaying her loan to the shylocks at rates exceeding 10%, was left with minimal profits that could neither meet her most basic rights neither sustain her business. An idea struck Yunus that if the woman was allowed the capacity to borrow loans at more advantageous rates than what was being offered by the brokers, and without collateral, she could be able to accumulate an economic cushion that will not only raise her living standards above subsistence level, but also sustain and expand her business.
The idea led to the establishment in 1983 of what is today known as the Grameen Bank or simply the ‘village bank.” According to industry figures, the bank operates 2,564 branches in Bangladesh, and employs in excess of 19,000 employees serving an estimated 8.29 million borrowers spread across 81, 367 villages (Grameen Bank, 2010b).
Although the bank does not require collateral, its loan recovery rate stands at 97%, necessitating other countries to develop projects that revolve around the banks model to alleviate poverty among populations.
Although the idea to start the micro-finance institution may seem more economically oriented, there exist heavy political undertones in the founder’s desire to see a just society where every body is endowed with the capacity to lead a happy life. Indeed, Yunus have embraced a model that offers interventions to communities by creating economic and social progression from below.
According to the founder, lasting peace in the world will forever remain elusive unless large population groups are given the means to break out of the cocoons of poverty (Grameen Bank, 2010b). The right to liberty is synonymous to freedom, which in political perspective implies that all individuals should be free from state coercion (ARD, 2010).
Yunus, however, is of the opinion that poor people can never enjoy freedom even in the absence of state coercion due to the fact that poverty not only shackles the individual’s free will, but it also leads to stagnation of the dreams that are held so dear by people relating to leading a happy life such as getting a good education, which would guarantee a good job, thus financial stability (Yunus, 2007).
This philosophy is derived from the fact that “…economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male” (Grameen Bank, 2010b, para. 3).
This philosophy necessitated Yunus to develop the micro-credit concept through his Grameen Bank to assist millions of poor people out of poverty, therefore guaranteeing their financial and social freedom. It is a well known fact that people who are financially and materially endowed are more likely to participate in the running of government affairs, including demanding for their rights from the state (Yunus, 2007).
It is also the philosophy of Yunus that development from below through such means as availing micro-credit to the poor to uplift their living standards and achieve self-sustenance inarguably advances democracy and respect for human rights, including the right to life. According to ARC (2010), life is largely a process of self-sustenance, and the right to life implies the right for individuals to engage in self-sustaining activities.
Yunus has worked extremely hard in his life time to ensure that millions of people around the world get the right to involve themselves in self-sustaining activities through offering micro-credit that is not tied to any collateral as is the case in other financial institutions. Indeed, it is Yunus’ belief that every single person in this world has both the capability and the right to lead a happy life.
The contributions that Yunus has made to millions of people in his lifetime will certainly continue to positively impact people for generations to come.
It is imperative to note that 97% of the 8.29 million customers of Grameen Bank comprise of women who could not afford to give their children a descent education before the revolutionary thoughts of Yunus came into the fore. Today, however, these women are not only leading better lives, but their children and other generations to come will greatly benefit from the education that they have attained through this intervention (Yunus, 2007).
A prosperous nation is laid on the frameworks of enlightenment and respect for life. Yunus continues to work hard to ensure that these virtues are entrenched not only in Bangladesh, but also across the world. Future generations will benefit immensely due to the stability and foresight that has been created by people like Professor Yunus. The economist’s long-term mission of eradicating poverty in the world (Grameen Bank, 2010b), will go a long way in ensuring future generations live a life that is just, free and fair.
Reference List
Ayn Rand Center. (2010). Principles of a free society: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Web.
Grameen Bank (2010a). Biography of Dr. Mohammad Yunus. Web.
Grameen Bank. (2010b). Prof. Muhammad Yunus & Grameen Bank Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006. Web.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2008). The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Web.
Yunus, M. (2007). Banker to the People: Micro-Lending and the Battle against World Poverty. New York, NY: PublicAffairs Books.
It is quite curious to observe the way parents are teaching their children to be kind and good to others and right after the lesson they express quite negative feelings to a family member who called in an inappropriate time. Ironically, adults are the ones who need to be taught to behave and interact with others. You may ask why it is that important. The answer is simple. Proper social interaction translates into your personal happiness. So, if you feel unhappy or the whole world seems dull, you should follow simple tips for being happy.
It is possible to identify three major aspects: family relations, social interactions and “altruism” (Carter n.p.). Even though you may sometimes think that you had enough with your relatives in your childhood, it is a very wrong position. Your family members are the team of your major supporters and it is essential to keep a strong bond with them. Apart from family relations, it is crucial to be able to interact with peers (friends, colleagues, neighbors, and so on). Communication and support is what people need. The contemporary society has numerous opportunities to be actively integrated. Of course, altruism is the basis of your happiness. Some people may think that others do not deserve their empathy or even attention. However, this leads to isolation and you will soon feel neglected. It is important to be kind and polite just as you keep saying to your small children. Remember that to err is human and people are different so we all may need different things.
Those who got bored while reading the information provided are likely to pass on to the ending. Especially for such people: do remember about the impact of extreme isolation. Extreme isolation leads to various mental issues and the suffering of Russell Crowe in A beautiful Mind (2001) will seem a nice journey for those who will (voluntary or involuntary) become isolated.
Works Cited
Carter, Christine. Happiness Is Being Socially Connected. 2008. Web.
Many difficult life situations occur day by day. Some people become lose their loved ones, some become bankrupt, but all of them are embraced by one similar factor: they can start building their new life. Eventually, those who succeed become happy, and those who failed — fall into depression and completely ruin their lives. However, the main essence of nursing is to give people a detailed self-portrait and fix their life position in the past, at present, and build a plan for future recovery.
To begin with, when a doctor starts interacting with a client, it is important to create a client’s physical and mental profile. Following this, patients will see their macro world picture. Eventually, this will help to make the right diagnosis and prescription. In the beginning, I disclosed these details to make the woman’s physical portrait. “She averages one meal per day”: The woman has a great risk of problems with gastritis due to the lack of vitamins and other factors that give us energy for the day. “She smokes up to 2 packages of cigarettes daily”: an increased potential of heart attack, low blood pressure, and decreased motivation during the day (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). “She rummages through the trash”: a great number of germs begin living right on her palms and arms and, therefore, takes to the organism through the mouth when touching it by hands. “She takes drugs”: she has unstable brain activity periods and decreased level of appetite. Consequently, during the interview, I made a list to question myself.
Firstly, what is the reason for eating only once a day unless the client is not homeless and affords herself to buy 40 cigarettes a day? Secondly, what is the life-purposes of this person because it is hard to pass the whole day by rummaging in the trash in pursuit of food instead of finding a job? Thirdly, what is the reason for lack of energy and a bad temper for weeks? To answer these questions, let us make a psychological portrait of the client. The woman is 21 years old, so that she is not studying at the university. She is single and does not possess a close person who will take care of her without any questions. The woman is in a strong depression as she does not have an appetite, and she is ready to receive a strange substance from a stranger just because she thinks it is a drug. Based on the nursing practice, I will sum up recovery strategies in the complex form that affects both her physical and psychological life. Eventually, I made up my mind and answered these questions.
In the beginning, she has a lack of eating due to the absence of appetite. Hence, as the absence of hunger is the consequence of eating drugs and being in a strong depression, she must resolve these two problems by entering a free club of drug and smoke addicts. This will normalize her pressure, give the appetite back and, possibly, take her out of depression (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2015). Secondly, the client should avoid rummaging in the rubbish with the help of subscribing to the local unemployment center. Here, she may attend a specialist in consulting people’s career possibilities. After a couple of days, she may find a job to gain a stable income and avoid the high risk of becoming heavily ill. Last but not least, after a couple of weeks of providing the strategies into real life, she may visit me again to fix her new health conditions and start tracing progress in all spheres of life.
To conclude, I examined an important aspect of nursing by recovering people from difficult life situations. Firstly, I made a physical and psychological portrait of my client to provide clarity in her state. Secondly, I asked myself a question about her past and present living conditions. Finally, I offered the best possible help as a nurse by building a viable strategic model of a patient’s recreation from these difficult circumstances.
Reference
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2016). Public health nursing (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Many societies believe that money does not buy happiness. However, others affirm the contrary belief by saying that income levels affect people’s happiness. Before delving into the details of these perceptions, it is important to understand that happiness is an emotional or mental state where people experience more positive than negative feelings. These feelings outline how people interact with different stimuli, such as income, to influence their happiness. People experience different emotional effects through such stimuli. The positive and negative effect refers to the effects that varying income levels have on people’s feelings and emotions. In detail, a positive effect refers to the extent that a person experiences positive moods (such as joy and interest), while negative affect refers to negative emotions (such as anxiety, sadness, and depression) that most people experience from varying income levels.
Using the above definitions, happiness, and emotional outcomes, Kesebir and Diener (117) say unsurprisingly different researchers have investigated the relationship between happiness and money. Indeed, many societies believe that life is not about (merely) living, but living a fulfilling and happy life (quality life). This realization has caused many philosophers to explore different ways of rising above the mere existence of life to a more fulfilling purpose of living.
Comprehending the motivations for pursuing money and happiness is the key to understanding this correlation. In this paper, I argue that wealthy and poor societies have different relationships between money and happiness. In detail, after exploring different types of correlation between the two variables, I explain that the relationship between both variables is strong in low-income societies, but it gradually weakens as income increases (especially in wealthy societies). Based on this understanding, money affects happiness to a limited extent. Indeed, beyond the satisfaction of basic human needs, other non-monetary factors, such as social relationships, have a more significant correlation with happiness than money does.
Positive Correlation between Happiness and Money
The positive correlation between money and happiness mainly exists in low-income societies. The utilitarian philosophies of the modern era affirm this relationship (Kesebir and Diener 117). However, their influences stem from common beliefs in the 19th century (and beyond), which equaled happiness to utility (utility refers to the ability of material possessions to satisfy human needs and wants). Using the relationship between happiness and utility, many medieval societies believed the latter was equal to human pleasure (Kesebir and Diener 117). Jeremy Bentham and Aristotle (among other philosophers) supported this view by saying that most people should strive to experience more pleasure than pain (as a measure of their happiness) (Kesebir and Diener 117). They also argued that different societies should use this basis for understanding morality and legislation (Kesebir and Diener 117).
As many societies embraced this idea, the medieval conception of happiness, as a function of virtue and perfection, disappeared (Kesebir and Diener 117). People started to see material possessions as more important than gaining respect from society (by practicing good morals and virtues). Similarly, this ideological shift made it uncommon for many people to focus on issues of human well-being (human well-being closely associates with happiness because it refers to a state of health or prosperity) (Kesebir and Diener 117). Therefore, their focus shifted to material possessions as a measure of happiness.
In line with the above argument, Aristotle argued that wealth was an important requirement for happiness. Easterlin (3) shared the same view by explaining America’s perception of happiness. He said many US citizens perceived happiness through “material” lenses. The Easterlin (3) paradox summed this view by showing that income had a direct correlation with happiness. It based this argument on several cross-national studies, which showed that rich people were happier than poor people were. For example, in a 1970 American study, Easterlin (4) found out that less than one-quarter of low-income people believed they were “happy” people. Comparatively, about double this number of respondents (in the high-income group) said they were happy. The same findings appeared in more than 30 similar researches conducted in other parts of the world. Although the same study established a correlation between happiness and education, health, and family relationships, income emerged as having the strongest and most consistent relationship with happiness (Easterlin 4).
Although Easterlin (3) used the above findings to support the correlation between income and happiness, he said increasing everybody’s income weakened the correlation between both variables. Therefore, income variations affected people’s perceptions of happiness (people always judge their happiness based on what their peers think of them). Lane (57) supported these views when he said that most people often adjusted to a new standard of measuring their happiness whenever they increased their income levels (the desire for money tapers off as income increases). Using this analogy, Easterlin (5) believed that wealthy nations were no happier than poor nations. Based on the same logic, he said that people’s subjective perceptions of happiness depended on their welfare perceptions (Easterlin 5).
Therefore, as opposed to perceiving their happiness through “material” lenses, they did so by understanding how it compared to their social norms. Consequently, people who are above the “norm” feel happier than those who are below it (how people perceive the social norm depends on the economic well-being of the society).
Although Easterlin (5) argued that happiness was subjective to the national income (as shown above), researchers who have conducted studies that are more recently told that the correlation between happiness and well-being was stronger than his paradox showed. Consequently, they revised this model by saying that increased national income affected the overall sense of individual well-being in a country. Unlike the data relied on Easterlin (4), researchers established the above fact, using findings that are more reliable. For example, Lane (56) quoted the findings of a 1976 transnational study, which showed that a nation’s poverty index affected the well-being of its citizens (such as people’s attitudes, feelings, and perceptions). These studies showed that personal satisfaction increased with increased levels of economic development (money “bought” happiness).
Insignificant Correlation between Happiness and Money
Money has an insignificant correlation with happiness in wealthy societies. This is an old view of this relationship because philosophers from ancient Greece started exploring this insignificant correlation in 370 BC (Kesebir and Diener 118). They said material wealth had an indirect correlation with happiness. Based on this understanding, they believed that a man’s mind defined his level of happiness. Similarly, they believed it was difficult for people to be happy if they lacked morals and virtues (money was not a priority). Democritus and Epicurus (two ancient Greek philosophers) mainly advanced this view (Kesebir and Diener 118).
Similarly, other ancient Greek philosophers, such as Socrates and his student, Plato, refuted the claim that happiness depended on the “enjoyment” of beautiful and good things. They believed that all people needed to show prudence and honor to be happy (Kesebir and Diener 118). Lane (56) has also reported the same findings after analyzing the relationship between money and happiness in a contextual approach. Like, Easterlin (3), he said in many developed countries, money did not increase happiness levels. Frank Andrews and Stephen Withey (cited in Lane 58) also supported these findings when they said that different socioeconomic groups showed small differences in people’s well-being. They also said that income levels had an insignificant impact on life as a whole.
Analysis
The above findings show the different correlations between income and happiness. However, I believe this limited correlation mainly emerges in wealthy societies, as opposed to low-income societies. For example, non-monetary issues have a strong correlation with happiness in wealthy societies. Economists also affirm this fact through the Maslow hierarchy of needs because they say people crave for higher-level needs, such as love, social relationships, and recognition after they have met their primary needs such as food, shelter, sex, and clothing. Since many people in wealthy societies do not struggle to meet basic human needs, the insignificant correlation between happiness and money applies to this group of people.
Some philosophers maintain a “middle ground” by supporting the limited influence of money on happiness. Epicureans also supported this view because they said wealth was important to people’s happiness, to the extent that it gave people their basic needs, like shelter and clothing (Kesebir and Diener 118). However, beyond this threshold, it had an insignificant relationship with happiness. This analysis affirms the different correlations between happiness and income across poor and wealthy nations. Indeed, Kesebir and Diener 117) say there is a strong correlation between happiness and income in low-income countries, while wealthy economies experience an insignificant correlation between the two variables. A comparative study conducted in America revealed that the wealthiest Americans (profiled in Forbes) were only modestly happier than middle-income and low-income control groups that lived with them in the same location (Lane 58).
Based on the above analysis, income is not the only variable that affects happiness. Non-monetary issues affect happiness too. Lane (58) supports this argument by highlighting the need to distinguish individual pleasures from human well-being issues. Individual pleasures may depend on income, but people’s well-being is subjective. Therefore, besides income, other factors affect people’s happiness. To support this view, Lane (58) cited a 1982 study (conducted by Gallup), which asked Americans what made them happy (Lane 58). The respondents said family relationships made them happier than money did. Other things that made them happy included television, friends, reading books (and other pleasures) that most people from low-income families could afford (Lane 57).
Therefore, income does not solely define happiness. This analysis shows that although most people need to have adequate money to be happy, money, in isolation, is not sufficient to guarantee happiness, beyond providing basic needs. In the book, Happy People, Jonathan Freedman (cited in Lane 57) affirmed the above fact by saying that rich and poor people have different perceptions of the role of wealth in increasing people’s happiness levels. Overall, while many rich people understand that wealth does not automatically guarantee happiness, people from low-income societies believe it does. This was similarly true for their perceptions of well-being. Therefore, when a person is extremely poor, money looks like a “savior” of some sort, but as income increases, this idea disappears. This analogy has stronger merit than the general perception that money “buys” happiness. Indeed, not all happy people are rich. In this regard, many human societies have focused so much on material wealth that they have forgotten. It does not guarantee happiness.
Conclusion
After weighing the findings of this paper, easily, a person could affirm an indirect relationship between happiness and income. Some researchers say money has a direct relationship with happiness, while others do not affirm this relationship. This inconsistency stems from the contextual appeal of income and wealth to human societies. For example, income has a weak correlation with happiness in wealthy societies. However, this relationship is stronger in low-income societies. Evidence also shows that there was a weak correlation between income and happiness in medieval societies because many people believed adhering to human virtues made people happy (this was the medieval standard for happiness).
However, the modern era changed this perception and shifted the societal focus from virtues and morals to material wealth. Now, people attach more value to income and similar “material” factors. However, as changes to the Easterlin (3) paradox suggest, wealth increases happiness to a limited extent. Overall, this paper shows that income and happiness have a “contextual” relationship. For example, if there is a broad increase in income across a nation, this correlation weakens (the Easterlin (3) paradox mainly supports this view); however, as income levels decrease, the correlation strengthens. Consequently, there is a strong correlation between money and happiness in low-income societies. In wealthy societies, non-monetary factors like health and the quality of family relationships have a stronger impact on happiness than money does.
Kesebir, Pelin and Ed Deiner. “In pursuit of happiness: Empirical Answers to Philosophical Questions.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 3.2 (2008): 117-123. Print.
Self-happiness refers to having a high regard for one’s own well-being and contentment. It is taking care of one’s own needs and not sacrificing them to please others. It always results in thinking highly of oneself, which attracts the same from partners. In general, self-happiness leads to success at both love and work. According to Fok and Check (2018), self-happiness plays a considerable role in relationships with romantic partners. Being happy from within fosters an appreciative spirit, which is a good trait in a relationship. Self-happiness is as essential as maintaining the other partner’s happiness. Many partners have separated due to issues regarding self-love, which underscores the importance of self-happiness in relationships.
People imitate how a person treats themselves, and this is usually witnessed in romantic relationships. Self-happiness is a product of self-love, which makes an individual set high standards for themselves. They treat themselves with respect and love and demand the same from others. This sends a signal to their partners and makes them comprehend what the person expects from them. For instance, if a person’s love language is receiving gifts, they should buy these gifts for themselves as an act of self-love (Chapman & Campbell, 2016). Consequently, their partner will demonstrate their love by buying presents for them. Self-happiness and self-fulfillment is a way of communicating to one’s partner on how better they can be loved. This strengthens the relationship between the two and cements it with respect and love.
Loving oneself and maintaining that happiness helps one to reflect more on how to love their partner. This is usually because, partners who have mustered the art of self-love find it easy to show love to others in the same manner. It is hard for an individual to love someone who is not contented with themselves. A person who does not have self-happiness tends to be critical of themselves and can deflect love shown to them by others. When a person learns to love and be happy with themselves despite innate flaws and mistakes, it makes it easier for partners to love them and look past their flaws. This results in a solid bond between the two partners, which is a success in any relationship.
No one can make one happy except for themselves because only a person can truly understand what contributes to their happiness. In romantic relationships, this is an important concept because many people expect to derive all their happiness from their partners. This places excessive pressure on one’s party and could result in an unhealthy relationship (Norona et al. 2017). Depending on someone else for happiness results in an unhealthy relationship. In as much as the love languages are ways that other people express their love, a person should also strive to perform these languages for themselves (Chapman & Campbell, 2016). For instance, words of affirmation and appreciation can emanate from oneself. This boosts self-happiness and contributes to the general success of a romantic relationship. In making one happy, a partner is likely to learn how to make the other happy. Filling oneself with love and happiness will result in an overflow of love happiness towards other people
In summary, a successful relationship necessitates self-love and self-happiness. The five love languages teaches people how to express love. It is also a lesson on how people experience love. Therefore, practicing these love languages on oneself can help increase self-happiness, which leads to meaningful romantic connections. Love thrives where the partners draw happiness not just from each other but also from within. Self-happiness is vital in maintaining relationships and the overall connection between partners for relationship success.
Fok, H. K. & Cheng, S. T. (2018). Intimate relationships and happiness in Asia: A critical review. In M. Demir & N. Sümer (Eds.), Close relationships and happiness across cultures, (pp. 55-67).
There are different views on everything. This research is conducted to determine whether working moms or stay home moms are happier. In a general opinion, people think it is not suitable for us to make any comments on issues like this. They believe that every family unit is different from the others and that it is way too private to make any statements about it.
In a broader perspective, any literate person would say that as long as the woman can handle the work pressure then it is absolutely okay. However, if she cannot manage that then she should be well aware of when and how to manage things, rather than affecting her personal and family life by taking out her frustration on kids or by taking extra pressure to keep things bottled up inside.
Current researches are now showing that working women are not harming the family, as it is mostly thought of the eastern countries, it is actually helping themselves, their families and most of all their children. Over the course of the research, I came across a number of people all of whom had different perspectives on the issue. In some parts of the world, it’s considered well that a woman is working, but mostly in eastern countries, women are preferred to stay at home at look after their houses and children.
As time is changing the world is getting more competitive, and so are the views of many people. The following research organizes and summarizes some classic research, that helps us to understand how this is so.
Significance of the Research
The way women should live has been a question f doubt in different societies. Everybody has his own say, and mostly men enforce their opinions and decisions on women in the ethnic eastern societies. In the west comparatively, women are more independent.
Lack of education and free will leads to a lot of mishandling of women’s issues. This research is based on an analysis of the impacts a women’s work-life can have on her family. In short a determination of whether or not it’s worth it that women work or not. This research is not a concluding remark on this issue. It is only a belief that will be outlined in the light of the responses of the respondents and the already carried out research studies regarding the topic. Women are the support of a dwelling. A good wife or a good mother makes a house a home. That’s the only reason women’s choice of career is given so much consideration and thought.
This research will summarize a number of points of view obtained from research all over the world. It will show people how this issue is understood by the general public and how this grave situation can be handled properly so that it does not affect the women themselves or their families.
Statement of the Problem
“Do Stay Home Moms Exhibit more Indicators of Happiness than full-time working Mother?”
The prime focus will be on how is the happiness of a family determined and how do we measure it.
Women should stay at home and be house moms completely.
Women should work and utilize their education, without affecting the family’s importance and lead a happy life.
All the data collected from primary and secondary sources will be used to justify the above-mentioned hypothesis. The effects on the families will also be highlighted.
Research Questions
I have used two different questionnaires for stay home moms, and for working women. The queries are:
For Stay-home Moms
How many do children do you have?
Are you single, living with a partner, or married mom?
Why stay at home?
What do you do all day while staying home with your child?
How do you manage the funds for it?
What will you do for adult interaction yourself?
For the child, what will you do to interact with other children?
Housework is the responsibility of whom?
Have you thought about working part-time outside the home?
What is the importance of home-based work for you?
Are you confident on your decisions?
What would you suggest to the new mother?
For Working Housewives
How many do children do you have?
Are you single, living with a partner or married mom?
Why do you choose to work outside the home while nursing a child?
Where do you keep your child while you work?
Do you pay for your childcare while you work?
What will you do for mother-child interaction?
For the child what precaution do you take in avoiding contracting contagious diseases?
Who does the housework while you are away at work?
Have you thought about working part-time instead of full-time?
Have you considered working from home or starting up a home business?
Do you have any worries?
What advice do you have for new mothers and mothers-to-be?
Literature Review
Demographic data depicts that key variations have been taking place in the daily routine lives of many families. This change is more noticeable over the last generation. A greater section of mothers of young children is choosing to work these days. This change has been seen due to the rise in economic instability of many countries and the increasing awareness of the importance of education and work. It is now being considered equally important to work for women as it was once for men.
Mothers and Patterns of Work
While comparing women’s and men’s work lives, one can see a startling difference. On one hand, the working style of a man shows a linear course of action, while a woman’s life includes interruptions, stops, starts and re-routings as they try to adjust themselves according to others’ lives they are living (VanKatwy, n.d).
Women take time off from all-time obligations to the compensated employees. In turn, they end up losing some ground in their relationships, and their work abilities. Though the women try to improve the work-life balance by employing them in work, it sometimes goes against them. It has been seen that women love multi-tasking. It never appears to be a problem for women to work with kids; it’s never a source of psychological stress for them.
Surprisingly it has been seen that taking maternity leaves or staying back home to take care of the family caused some sort of psychological stress for women. The change from these roles to official recruitment has been seen to improve women’s mental health (Stuchell & Barrette, n.d).
The Real Challenge: How a Working Mom Creates the Balance in Personal Life
It’s the most sacred task of all for working moms – to find and maintain a happy balance between their families and work lives. This issue has recently gathered a lot of media attention, probably because there are too many cases of successful women in our surroundings nowadays. Many firms have been taking a keen interest on these issues and considering several new policies and work rules that have been introduced, like time flexibility, reduced working hours, and most of all telecommunicating options have opened all new doors for families with working moms. But as it is hard to accept, in reality, any sort of such simple formulas are difficult to be implied in real-time workplace situations.
Rachel Emma Silverman, a columnist in “The Wall Street Journal”, wrote a column recently, “The Juggle”. In this article, she wrote about this topic. As per her views employees should sort out their priorities or tasks which require their attention like family, and take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the employers to come up with decisions or policies benefitting them (O’Kelly, 2011).
Approaches to Women’s Roles
In the early years, women were always considered to look after the family and stay at home. Over the last few decades, this view has been changing over time. Researches from 1969 onwards depict different views and results regarding women’s work and family functions. A great deal of focus has been there on this subject from varied aspects of research specifically, psychology, sociology and organizational behavior.
Focusing in the gender viewpoint, the research papers on women’s work and family lives can be split into three classes; “The Expansion of Women’s Responsibility” (Journal of Anthropological Research); Multiple Competitive Responsibilities and a Work-Family Convergence stage.
The Spreading out Women’s Responsibility
From 1975 to 1986, there has been a visible increase in the women workforce. The percentage of women working with children under 18 years has increased from 43.71% in 1975 to 62.1% in 1986. Similarly, there’s a massive increase in working women with children under 6 years of age, from 38.8% to 53.5%.
Women’s shift toward work raised a number of questions in the early years. This raised concerns regarding their traditional responsibilities, towards their children, family and spouses. This was initially talked about as a transgression of women’s role in male realm.
Research began keeping a close watch on women’s activities looking at how they were balancing their new expanding roles without affecting their basic responsibilities. It was seen how they remain happy with their children and husbands. Results from many studies showed, that preschool-age children were at no added risk if they went to daycares or some alternative care other than parents for some part of the day.
Multiple Competitive Responsibilities
Moving forward in time, women’s choice of working was termed as “their right” and “their choice”. Slowly and gradually, the percentage of working women increased. The earlier concepts of the expansion of women’s responsibilities changed to “sharing partners”. Women started helping in the household finances. With the increasing economic instabilities, this concept was welcomed more and more. Now, most of literate women work to support their families.
Despite all this the women’s choice of working on one hand is viewed as normative but is also viewed as a cause of conflicts in family life and a lot of compromises and sacrifices towards the family. Researchers have been focusing more on women rather than on men even partially on the basis that women are psychologically more vulnerable, and because work and family issues are more of women’s issues.
Another view that researchers have is that work and family are in competition. Families need to adjust to working schedules and demands. One conclusion from all the research says that women have this aspect of personal choice. Most of the women are ready to give up their personal choices and careers for having a family because that is what they want the most. Even today women are seen in very compromising roles compared to men.
Work-Family Convergence
Employment is now considered to be a normative and healthy decision for both men and women, in fact in America only 3% family’s fall into the category of stay-home mothers. Dual-earning couples make up around 60% of couples. Employed women report better physical and psychological health than stay home moms. Most women who are employed give equal importance to their work and families.
Researches also suggest that men’s participation in household chores has also increased considerably recognizing the increase of women in the workforce. Parenting and household chores go about 50:50% in dual-earning households. This is a positive shift from men supporting their wives to work and supporting the family financially as well (Unger, 2001).
Daycares and Everything Else
It is a fact that women mostly opt for daycares or other care centers for their young children if they’re working. There can be many impacts of leaving children at daycares etc.
Normally women are lucky enough and the employees are courteous enough to give them maternity leaves. But soon after that, they have to join back to work. Some women are not even lucky in this matter, as their job requirements don’t permit leaves.
When a woman chooses to work, she has to make an immediate sacrifice and decide what’s more important to her. “Which sacrifices can they live within peace?”
It requires a lot of painstaking decisions to continue working. Women are seen to be short-tempered with children after work. They are mostly distracted by official phone calls and emails. Thus the time spent at home is never quality time. This happens mostly in long-hour jobs, or even in the normal 9 to 5 jobs (Cho, 2010).
Working Moms are Healthier than Stay Home Moms, but they have to Pay the Mommy Tax
In old times, our grandmothers used to stay home moms. Then they used to do all the household chores, be it washing clothes or dishes, or cleaning the house, looking after children, or even cooking. Women used to do everything from scratch themselves. Nowadays technology has made things so much easier. No doubt these were in themselves tough jobs, but today’s women are ready and willingly able to not only work full time but also look after the house. This surprisingly has a great unexpected impact on women’s health!
For a very long time, working and taking care of the house, was more or less playing with a women’s health and was increasing the risks of health issues. A weeklong work schedule, followed by laundry and cooking and looking after children is really stressful and very difficult at times. Not to mention it leaves no time for them. A researcher at the University of Pennsylvania found out that working woman is not only healthier than other but mentally or psychologically more sound.
Staying occupied with work and a sense of achievement can do wonders for health. But this takes a turnaround when even working women are not satisfied. Women with children in the workforce do have to pay a “mommy tax”. In successful organizations where pay scales are higher, the jobs are more competitive. Normally firms avoid hiring women with children because the jobs require very competitive skills and long working hours. Not to mention they are not very fond of giving leaves as well, and working mothers have lots of family issues always. Not getting jobs and remuneration as per their qualifications leaves every working mom dissatisfied, which in turn has an impact on their personal lives. Irritating behavior and short-tempered attitudes are visible in women due to discontentment at work.
The traditional female jobs like nurses, teachers, and administrative jobs, though have flexible time schedules but are paid very low. Hence the overall work satisfaction for highly qualified moms is zero. Such jobs are only suitable for moms with acceptable levels of education and a need to support their families (GWMCHstudents, 2010).
What’s Happening To Women’s Glee?
This is a survey that includes a representative section of men and women of all ages, education ranks, income status, and whether or not they are married, with nearly 50,000 people. It gives us a self-explanatory trustworthy view of what’s happening to men’s and women’s happiness trends over the last few years or decades.
Such a big survey produces a number of findings. Let’s go through the two most important findings of this survey. First; Women’s level of happiness has been going down since 1972. It’s actually going down with respect to where it actually was 40 years back and as compared to how men’s happiness figures are evolving. Whether these women have kids or not, how many kids they have, how much is there monthly income, how is their health, what kind of job they are doing, whether they are married, single or divorced, what’s their age and what race and ethnicity they belong to, none of this makes any difference on the results. No matter who is there in the sample the results consistently show that women are getting unhappier with every passing year.
Gloomy Everywhere
In the previous little time, the consequences from six chief studies of contentment have been shared:
The US General Social Survey included 46,000 individuals from 1972-2007
The Virginia Slims Survey of American Women included 26,000 individuals from 1972-2000
The Monitoring the Future survey included 430,000 individuals from 1976-2005
The British Household Panel Study included (121,000 individuals from 1991-2004
The Euro barometer analysis included (636,000 individuals from 1973-2002
The International Social Survey Program included (97,462 individuals from 1991-2001
Around more than 1.3 million men and women participated in the last 40 years, both in the U.S. and in additional urbanized countries all over the world. The researchers have gone everywhere they could to find out and collect reliable data, but everywhere they concluded the same. Good educational, political, and employment opportunities are less for women as compared to men.
“According to Stevenson and Wolfers, if you presume a strong connection between being unhappy and being without a job, which there is…the longer you’re out of work, the more depressed you become, the decline in women’s happiness is as if women’s joblessness has risen from 10% to 18%” (Buckingham, 2009). Buckingham explains Happy Girl to Sadder Woman as:
“Happy Girl to Sadder Woman
The second finding: although women are more content than men in the beginning of their lives, as they grow older, they slowly become less happy. Men, on the other hand, get happier as they get older” (Buckingham, 2009).
Source: What’s happening to Women’s Happiness (Buckingham, 2009)
In the light of this research, we can clearly see what impacts can things like this have on women with kids and families. Being in content in her own life, a working mom takes out her frustrations on her child. If a woman grows unhappier with age, her family will be the first one to get affected by it. In a situation of economic crisis like these days, certainly, the burden goes on increasing. This not only has a bad impact on women’s health but also on their personal roles. But the research states that women are getting unhappier no matter if they are employed or not. That means even stay-home moms are becoming discontent every year. That is maybe due to their added responsibilities (Harris, 2009).
Work-Family Conflicts
Work-family conflict is a type of inter-role conflict in which the position strains originating from a point are unsuited to positional functions originating from a point.
Kahn, Wolfe, Snoek, and Rosenthal have quoted that, functions are the effect of the hopes of others regarding suitable manners in a certain point. Role divergence is portrayed as the psychosomatic anxiety that is provoked by inconsistent responsibility demands. Role hypothesis puts forward that a clash happens when those involved take on several responsibilities that are unable to coexist.
Work-family disagreements can be timely, tension-based, or behavioral. Timely differences occur when responsibility stress originating from the two dissimilar spheres of influence struggle for the person’s time, for example, having the need of human resources to work late with little or no prior announcements might make it hard for workers to meet family commitments. Tension-based disagreement arises when the strain experienced in one functional sphere hinders efficient performance in the other sphere. Behavioral conflicts are called as clashes stemming from ill-assorted behaviors required by opposing parts. Time-based conflicts are the most often found type of work-family clashes. This theory suggests that the amount of personal vigor is flat and that numerous responsibilities unavoidably lessen the time and energy on hand to meet all responsibilities (Hammer & Thompson, 2003).
Children of working moms are 3 times more likely to get ill
Recently new research was conducted in London which shows that the children of working moms are more likely to get ill compared to those of stay-home moms.
Amongst 90,000 school children who were a part of this research, the ones whose mothers worked were found to have been to the hospital more than the other kids. They were more likely to be diagnosed of asthma or to have had broken bones and even poisoning. The reason of all these problems with the kids was thought to be a lack of administration (ANI, 2011).
Mom’s Still the Family Pillars
Nowadays, fathers are working very hard at home and are getting more involved with their kids. Whether or not this attention from the fathers is enough to knock down the moms from the top pedestal of the family can only be known after the coming 20 to 30 years. Surveys today of adult children show that they are closer to their moms than their fathers. Children normally feel closer to the parent towards whom they turn for advice. A Pew Research Center survey, conducted in 2005, depicts that 61% of adults with both parents alive said that they are more in contact with their mothers. Only 18% said they were more in contact with their fathers.
Source: Being Dad May Be Tougher These Days, But Working Moms are Among Their Biggest Fans (Parker, 2007)
Mom vs. Mom
Until now, it was a battle of genders, now it’s a battle between the moms.
Motherhood has always been one of the most well-documented joys of the world. It has now become a topic of envy and guilt of who’s a better mom. “One and all resist, and everyone envies what the other has,” says the stay home mom of a 7 and a 15-year-old kid. A functioning mom will wish she has more time to be with her child. On the other hand, a stay home mother would be always hopeful to achieve uniqueness as a human being, a brand name that she is original and talented.
The concern gets hardest, or at least radically, on working moms. On the other hand, it’s not as if stay home mothers are totally certain of the preferences they’ve made, either. Those who have selected to make motherhood their job will always speculate whether the dazzling life that was swinging as their legacy is flying-by-night pass them. On the contrary, many of those who are managing the world agonize they’re forfeiting their families on the altar of their own aspirations.
Shapiro remembers the conspicuous bitterness she used to come across from stay home mothers when she went to pick up her son and his nanny from a local Brooklyn playground. Many of these women gave up their professions.
The showground where these opposite base camps most often snarl is their kids’ schools. What specially irritates the working mothers is their idea, right or wrong, that the schools are on sides with the stay home mothers.
Not any of it will issue if the conferences are restricted to picking door awards. But what worries some working mothers is that while they’re off in Phoenix or Palo Alto trying to soothe a difficult client, the stay-at-home moms are fixing the system in their kids’ favor.
If the working moms detect an annoying level of smugness and a lack of self-examination among some of their nonworking sisters, perhaps it’s because most stay-at-home mothers don’t think of themselves as unemployed. Many have part-time jobs in careers such as real estate, public relations, and interior decorating. Besides, rare is the New York woman these days that didn’t once have a job, and probably a rather stressful, responsible job, before she decided to make motherhood her career. In her mind, she’s simply on an extended sabbatical from the 9-to-5 world.
What Do The Youngsters Consider?
The Mom Logic polls blew away all the results. They showed that 89% of stay-home mothers think their children would be better off if they were working. On the other hand, only 46% of the working mothers think their kids will be better off if they chose to stay at home.
It’s not a plan or decision; all of us know that women drive themselves crazy to choose a suitable standard of living. What impacts will their lifestyle have on their kids is a woman’s biggest concern. Working mothers are always stressed out. They think and realize that they are not capable to be with their kids more often, on missing out the important moments in their lives and attending them every time they come back from school.
Moving on to stay home mothers it’s a totally dissimilar account. They will always be unsure if their children will ever get to know how talented they are as women. Or will they only remember their mothers as a housewife taking care of household chores? Will they ever understand what their mothers have given up and chosen a family life?
Well, its high time moms that you actually stop guessing and taking up all the stress in the world. It’s time for the questions to be answered. Why should women just sit around and think of all the possible impacts their choices will have on their kids? The Mom Logic survey took up to find the answers to these questions resting in the minds of millions and millions of mothers all over the world. A cluster of uptown teens were approached and questioned about how they think of their mothers, whether working or staying at home. Their responses will surprise any individual.
Let’s begin with the working mothers; well it’s high time they actually take the weight off their feet for a while. Teens were very exuberant talking about their mothers. They acknowledged their mother’s professional attributes which made the children become more independent and responsible. Though they wished their mothers could be around a little more than they were yet they highly praised them. They cherished and respected them for not only fostering their careers but their children as well.
Moving on to stay-at-home moms, everyone knows they’re certainly more than a take. Well luckily the kids also think alike! They can actually see how hard they are working and taking up one of the toughest jobs around. Furthermore, the kids did love having their mothers around and keeping their lunch ready when they come back from school, but many of the teens were of the view that as soon as they start attending high school they are craving for a little independence, which they can only get if their mothers and they themselves get their due space (MomLogic, 2008).
Outlook crack broadens between working and stay home mothers
Just when people’s attention started to drift away from the mother wars, new studies and research coming in show that the crack between the stay home and working mothers has widened even further. With time passing the differences seem to be growing more and more.
A recent study though shows interesting results depicting that both parties now think of working full time as a less pleasing option than it used to be earlier. This might be due to the increased work pressures and changes in the way of living.
Jayson identified “The investigative research was carried out via telephone, courtesy of Pew Research Center. It puts side by side the replies of 414 moms with children 18 years and below against 457 mothers interviewed by the same research center back in 1997” (Jayson, 2007).
60% of the working moms say that part-time work is ideal compared to only 48% in 1997. On the other hand, 48% of stay-home mothers say staying at home is the most superlative situation compared to 39% in 1997.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006 data, shows only 24% of working mothers work part-time.
Pew conducted a survey of 2,020 men and women in 2007 about the communal impact of ever-increasing figures of mothers of juvenile kids working; 41% think it was an awful decision, 32% said it made no differentiation, and 22% said it was an excellent decision.
About ten years back, 38% of stay home mothers and 39% of working mothers said it was a terrible inclination. At the present, 44% of stay-home mothers consider it’s bad, while working mothers who judge it’s a good development increased from 19% in 1997 to 34% today. But 34% of working mothers at a halt consider it’s ghastly.
Rachel Hamman is the writer of Bye-Bye Boardroom published in 2006. The book was about the alternative to stay at home. In the book she says that so many fingers are being pointed at the issue which actually is connected with people themselves being guilty conscious or it’s an act of self-explanation towards the choices that the individuals make.
She further says that working mothers and stay home mothers are both trying to stand their ground. Whether you work at home or take up a professional job they both ask for sacrifices.
Examiners say an amalgamation of comparatively new aspects has strengthened the crack, together with the inclination in the direction of “concentrated parenting” at a similar instance companies are demanding additional personnel.
All of this stuff is placing women into a sort of all-or-nothing state of affairs. “It’s a type of forcing a division according to Pamela Stone, an associate professor of sociology at Hunter College in NY” (Jayson, 2007). She is also an author of “Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home” (Stone, 2008). The book is based on dialogues with women who quit their place of work; it advises they had slight options but to depart because of the ever-increasing workload and strategies that were not contributing to relations.
Mary James established MOMS Club in 1983, a grouping for stay home moms. She says the manner in which mothers describe themselves means there’s a little space for overlap in the research’s reactions. For example, she says she well thought out herself a stay-home mother, although the whole time at home I was working in some aptitude.
Joanne Brundage originator of Mothers & More says the Pew research is a photograph of the moment in time, noting that women will be inclined to shift in and out of the place of work at dissimilar eras. Her association began for mothers who quit their jobs to stay at home, but over the years have moved. Brundage says around 55% of its 6,000 affiliates are stayed home mothers, with the others operational in some capability.
She further says what has not altered, regrettably, is the place of work. The general public is asking all mothers to do it all and do it improved and superior and they have their hands fixed behind their backs.
Source: Attitude gap widens between working, stay-at-home moms (Jayson, 2007)
Pros & Con for mothers who work and those who stay at home
Approximately three-quarters of all mothers are in the workforce. Let’s go through their pros and cons.
Pros
Toddlers who get an adequate amount of notice and fondness from an affectionate grown-up right from the beginning are most probable to accomplish something communally and psychologically.
Kids who are in daycare beginning from one month on will have improved verbal communication and cognitive aptitude than family at home.
Offspring with working moms tend to have a superior understanding score than children of mothers who stay home.
Cons
It is hazardous for toddlers to be away from their mothers for more than twenty hours per week.
Psychologists declare offspring that are on bad terms from their mothers might turn out to be disturbed afterward in living, more probable to act out in school, and have deprived relations as grown-ups.
With no hurdle, toddlers are probable to nurture up to be distressed and phobic, and they might even undergo grave personality turmoil leading to depression in many cases.
Kids of stay-home mothers turn out to be more forceful when they come into pre-school playgroups because mothers who are at home may be less violent than those who are working (Mother as Labor, 2002).
“Stay at Home Moms vs. Working Moms”, (Gilbert, 2010)
Gilbert stated, “One of the moms quoted that when she had a 3-year-old and a newborn, she gave her husband a photo gift for his birthday” (Gilbert, 2010). She put together 2 photos, each of them with their children and in the center, she put a color photocopy of a beautiful saying,
“One hundred years from now, it won’t matter what kind of car you drive, the kind of house you lived in, or what is in your bank account. But the world may be a better place because you were important in the life of a child (The Best of Wisdom, 2002)”
She was stubbornly a stay home mom. As per Gilbert, “She couldn’t see how anybody could drop off an infant at daycare” (Gilbert, 2010). Often ladies tend to save rather than spending much. And they did. No babysitters – She understood in connection parenting. No going out dating and no restaurants, no movies and no house-cleaning assistance. They were stuck to buy all what they found on sale. Clothes from the 2nd hand store.
Now she knows that a number of families totally need double earnings just to get by and some mothers can’t put up with parting their offspring in daycare when there is no other way out for them. However, in 1995, she was the only mother at the recreational area. All the other women were Spanish nannies. Looks as if like no one else but only she wanted to be a stay home mother back then. There were by no means any other children or mothers on the block whichever. It was a without a friend in the world, first little years in anticipation when she set up my associates. No more than they could comprehend her and her connection parenting method.
At the moment though, in Santa Cruz, she can actually find many stay home mothers with their children at the recreational area. The tendency has twisted and more mothers want to stay at home with their children. But she speculates, whether they are happy?
There are disadvantages to staying back at home. The principal is that you by no means get a lunch break, or time off. Connection parenting is attractive and significant. She now believes her children are doing so fine because of the openhanded quantity of time they have had with their parents so accessible to them. But the sacrifices that she has made for them actually let her down.
When she lastly started working for a second time after a 10-year break, she acknowledged how strong and demanding it had been to by no means have her own earnings. Being back to a line of business was also enormously rewarding to her logic of self-importance. She actually started wondering about what her connection to such close-up parenting took away from her kids as far as her position representation of a fit, protected mom.
Throughout the women’s pressure group an option was complete among lobbying to obtain more hold up monetarily and or else for the stay home mom vs. lobbying to obtain women equivalent pay for equivalent labor.
Mothers require some time off to renovate and revitalize. Connection parenting can take account of that if you see that it’s also a significant requirement for your kids. Gilbert illustrates that “You can take an hour or two off for oneself once or twice a week while an important person you love and somebody the children love can watch over them. Even if it’s only to go out for grocery shopping may be” (Gilbert, 2010). But then you can use up time in many other ways as well (Gilbert, 2010).
Research Methodology
Research Design
The research is designed around the hypothesis mentioned earlier. It will be an investigative study. We will try to get as much information as possible with due consideration to the de-limitations observed during the research. The purpose of the study will be to justify the hypothesis in light of the information gathered from both primary and secondary data sources. The research objectives will hence be achieved. Primary data for the research will be gathered through questionnaires which will include both open ended and close ended questions, while the secondary data will be gathered from all sources ranging from magazines, newspapers, the internet, research journals, research articles and books.
Respondents of the Study
Respondents of the questionnaire will be chosen randomly. Since there is no effective way in which ideal candidates can be chosen they will be picked out randomly but we will try to get respondents from all areas and aspects of life, which will include mothers with toddlers and grown-up children. We can also include the responses of the spouses and the offspring to get their views about their mothers and what they think is right and not. It will consist of stay-home moms and working moms ten each.
Data Collection
Sources of Data
Research papers from institutes all across the world, books published on related topics, public discussion forums and articles on the subject and other sources from the internet. The major source of information will be through the internet where all sorts of research papers and varied articles can be accessed but libraries will also be approached for literature on the respected topics.
Instruments Used
There are three tools for the data collection, primary and secondary. The research tools can vary as per the research topics and the availability or the need of the subject. In this case, we need to get due information and statistical records from the already conducted research studies and further on we also required references of varied individuals from one-to-one interaction.
Primary Research Tools
Questionnaires. Secondary Research Tools:
Magazines
Newspapers
Internet
Research Journals
Research articles
Books
Treatment of Data
The data gathered through primary and secondary sources will be analyzed by quantitative and qualitative methods. The literature review provides a detailed analysis on the quantitative aspect whereas the questionnaires filled out by individuals will be used for the quantitative analysis.
Subjects
In the last few years, there have been major changes in the work trends of women and their approaches to life. The old family-style living has changed a lot. For the purpose of having concrete information regarding these subjects, the primary research will be done.
Sampling Method: The sampling method that we will use for this research will be non-probability sampling method i-e the convenience sampling method.
Sample Size:
10 stay home moms
10 working moms
Data Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
After going through all the research papers and articles we can get to a fair conclusion.
Rewards and Disadvantages of Professional vs. Nonworking Moms
If a mother can watch her child grow up that gives her great contentment
The extent and quality of time spent with children gets even better if their moms are at home
Children’s principles and ethics can be guided
Children can be more closely controlled
Children normally feel safer when their moms are with them and are not working
Advantages for Working Moms
Working mothers earn themselves which is beneficial to both their children and their families
Children with working moms are likely to be more practical, mature and independent than children with stay home moms
As discussed earlier, working is better for not only a woman’s psychological but personal health as well
The feeling of working and earning, the feeling of being independent satisfies the working moms, it makes them happier which has a good impact on their kids
Conflicts for Working Moms
The sadness of wanting to be with their children and knowing they can’t
Missing out on an important event in the child’s life
Anxiety and worry of if their children are adequately cared for
Neglecting the child’s emotional needs
Overall, working moms as a person are more satisfied and content in life. Though they do try and manage their household chores pretty well with their jobs and are mentally and physically stronger, but they partially miss out in their interaction with the kids. A lot of major aspects of the child’s life are missed because their moms are not with them.
On the other hand, stay home moms are though extremely successful in their house lives but are more prone to frustrations and health issues. Stay home moms are normally there for their children but their own health and preferences are compromised.
Method of Verification
Quantitative Analysis
We took a sample of 10, stay home moms and working moms.
While interviewing stay home moms we observed a consistent pattern. Nearly all of them were married moms, staying completely at home. Their daily work patterns were also pretty much similar. Males were the sole bread earners of all these families, and all of the moms appeared to be doing pretty good with that. Around 60% of them had maids to do all household chores except cooking, while the other 40% did partial work on their own and partially got maids. Nearly 70% strongly disagreed to have any thoughts about working part-time or of having any business. They didn’t have time away from household responsibilities to consider such things. Probing them a little more we got to know that their self-esteem was nowhere to be found. They were so lost in their household worlds that they had absolutely forgotten about their own aspirations and goals.
Moving on to working moms it was a totally different scenario. They gave as much time at home as possible. Around 20% of them agreed that their children were neglected a lot many times. A few of them around 30% were considering beginning a home-based business. Overall they were more content with their lives. They were satisfied with who they were.
Delimitations
The de-limitations encountered during the making of this research report include:
Sample-based on non-probability sampling due to time constraints.
The sample considered as populations gives us approximate opinions.
Non accessibility of current information.
Summary & Conclusion
Deciding whether to stay at home with your kids or to join the workforce and be an ambitious professional can be a very tough choice. There is no exact reply to this query. Normally researchers encourage women to make choices that bring them nearer to the fulfillment of their hopes and aspirations.
In today’s world and in the ways the economic stress is increasing day after day it is becoming necessary for both the partners to work to get sufficient earning for leading a happy successful life. Most of the single handed running families are experiencing lots of stress and financial issues. In such times it becomes extremely difficult for women to decide her area of importance or in other words her priorities. New born kids or toddlers require immense attention which can be seriously affected in the case of working mothers.
As research says that it has been damaging for parents to stay away for more than some hours a day. Study has established that early on connection among toddlers and preschool children is the foundation of all subsequent behavioral development.
Dr. Phil argues that there is no testimony to support this statement. He says kids who are going to superior day cares have boosted in cognitive ability, cleverness, societal talent and calm.
In the hold up of mothers who chose to work, a researcher says that women wish to have a successful career and be a good mother at the same time. They often become depressed when they are stuck in only one role of their life. According to Dr. Phil, if the kid is taken care of by a parent who is feeling irritated and down in the dumps that is not an excellent thing (Dr. Phill, n.d).
No matter what is the decision of the women there are a few things every woman should consider before taking up any actions or decisions whether or not to work? Some of the factors include financial conditions, spouses interest or point of view, children needs etc. Before taking any vital decisions whether it is to stay back home or start working it should be a mutual decision of the spouses since it directly affects the family. Everything should be considered and all aspects should be highlighted.
If one were to stroll in the region of the park, one may hear stay home mothers passing judgments on their working mother peers for “preferring occupation over their kids and families”, while on the other hand working mothers are passing judgments on the stay home mothers for “letting go off their aspirations and dreams and proceeds for an apron and a dish washer”. Both of these condemnations can’t be more than the fact.
In order for stay home mothers and working mothers to get along well with each other, we have got to first be aware of each other and have understanding. Just for the reason that a mother is working doesn’t mean she has selected her occupation over her children and family, and only for the reason that a mother chooses to stay at home doesn’t mean she has deserted her aspirations and thoughts. The reality is lots of working mothers desire they could make the adjustment to stay home, and lots of stay at home mothers desire they could go to work.
So from now if you happen to go to the recreational area, and any of your peers makes a sarcastic observation about the mother living down the street, you should stand up for her. Nobody can pass any judgments about someone without knowing the families state of affairs; and what’s precise for anyone at all is not essentially correct for somebody else. When we disapprove of other women for their preferences, we pass judgments on ourselves as women.
References
ANI. (2011). Kids of working mums ‘are up to 3 times more likely to be ill’. Web.
Even though happiness is an essential component of human life, there is no clear definition of what it is and what a person can do to achieve it. Different theories suggest a whole number of approaches that converge in some points and diverge in others. However, it is commonly accepted that an individual is likely to become happier and release negative feelings through an act of kindness towards another person (Della Porta, 2012; Buchanan & Bardi, 2010). An act of kindness is understood as a generous deed (benefiting certain people) that requires some effort on behalf of an agent but does not bring him/her any profit (Layous & Lyubomirsky, 2014).
The research at hand is aimed to prove that, to boost happiness through receiving positive emotions, a person should commit more actions that can be referred to as acts of kindness.
Research Methods
The present paper is based on the extensive literature review of the sources investigating the issue of happiness as well as various activities that help enhance personal satisfaction. These studies are analyzed to answer the following research questions: 1) How are acts of kindness related to happiness? 2) Which of them are the most happiness-boosting and what mechanisms do they use? 3) How can acts of kindness be applied to everyday life and treatment?
Chapter 1. Importance of Acts of Kindness for Happiness
Happiness is rather a vague notion having a lot of subjective definitions. Some researchers regard it as “experiences of frequent positive emotions and relatively infrequent negative emotions” (Della Porta, 2012, p. 1), while others define it as “a skill that can be cultivated” through the development of such important human qualities as benevolence, altruistic love, and compassion (Richard, 2011, p. 275). For the convenience of research, it will be understood as a state of mind characterized by a person’s total satisfaction with his/her current well-being, which makes him/her adopt an optimistic way of thinking (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2011).
According to the construal approach to happiness, this condition is not self-regulated and can be achieved through positive emotions and cognition as well as various acts of kindness that are defined as positive behaviors. According to Richard (2011), such kindness-oriented behaviors are primarily based on the creation of appropriate inner conditions that allow diminishing self-centeredness and increase altruistic intentions in individuals. It is worth mentioning that such acts have to be neither random and spontaneous nor classified into a particular category (e.g. an anonymous act of charity). Kindness is rather a continual and intrinsic orientation towards ethical and human values that makes people more emphatic and stimulates them for the engagement in “prosocial, generous behaviors that promote goodwill and the well-being of others” (Richard, 2011, p. 277).
The most important and sole condition of kindness is that “the giver” must be selfless in his/her intention to do good to “the recipient” (Rudd, Aaker, & Norton, 2014). However, to enhance the effectiveness of acts of kindness, a person should try to engage in different activities instead of repeating the same actions regularly. For example, Lyubomirsky and Dickerhoof (2014) observe in one of their studies that when a person performs different acts of kindness throughout an enduring period, e.g., “do a new household chore one week, surprise their pet with a treat another week,” he/she attains a greater level of well-being than those people who continuously perform similar acts of kindness (p. 13). Therefore, it is possible to say that when kindness is expressed spontaneously and is triggered by intrinsic motivation rather than prompted by the external situations, it leads to more positive outcomes including happiness and promotion of both individual and common welfare.
From the Buddhist perspective, happiness is not given to a person as a gift but must come as a result of a particular behavior (Richard, 2011). From the perspective of positive psychology, happiness is directly linked to individual positive emotions, behaviors, and perceptions which can be formed either by the external life events and circumstances (the “bottom-up perspective”) or by a person’s biological and temperamental factors (the “top-down theory”) (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2010, p. 230). In this way, based on the bottom-up principles of positive psychology, happiness can be achieved through performing pleasant activities (e.g. communicating with a company of close friends). However, from the Buddhist perspective, the satisfaction derived from such actions is incomparable to the condition achieved by committing a selfless act of kindness. Thus, happiness is understood as an active process rather than a final result. Active happiness implies that a person can contribute to shaping his/her well-being through various actions including meditative practices (Ricard, 2011), expression of gratitude (Della Porta, 2012), and development of optimistic thinking (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2010).
Acts of kindness have no negative side effects. Besides, it has been proven by research that, in comparison to other activities enhancing happiness, they give the most impressive results. Acts of kindness manage to increase satisfaction by reducing negative feelings and are likely to give the person who performs them with a sense of achievement and self-significance (Della Porta, 2012). But Della Porta (2012) identifies an important factor that defines a positive effect of different acts of kindness on personal well-being – it is intrinsic motivation and the autonomy-supported environment. His findings are also supported by ideas outlined in Richard’s (2011) article which refers to “the enhancement of intrinsic values” (p. 278). It is possible to say that the improvement of individual inherent values can be encouraged by different social and religious actors, but, to increase the effectiveness of acts of kindness, people should not be forced to perform them but should rather be provided with the environment in which their orientation towards the performance of good and kind deeds will be increased.
Despite the evident advantage of acts of kindness, there exists an opposing point of view. A lot of people tend to believe that virtuous behavior is particularly hard to practice because some improvement activities may require additional expenses, time, and development of skills; moreover, many people tend to believe that happiness practices may be “of little use” as their results are not evident and, in most cases, rather questionable (Della Porta, 2012, p. 4). However, this vision of kindness is deluding virtue does not lack its rewards and benefits, both short- and long-term (Sandstrom & Dunn, 2011).
Chapter 2. How Acts of Kindness Promote Happiness
Though it is evident that acts of kindness contribute to the level of personal happiness, the ways of promoting it are not quite clear. A series of experiments were conducted to identify what mechanisms underlie an act of kindness and which of them are the most effective.
In one of such experimental studies, participants were asked to write a letter expressing gratitude. Their emotional reaction to this simple act was analyzed afterward. The results of the research showed that the more letters people wrote – the greater emotional gains they received. Therefore, gratitude as a particular act of kindness turned out to be a powerful tool in enhancing happiness and life satisfaction. Besides, it was assumed that expressive letter-writing might help people struggle with symptoms of depression (however, it is difficult to say whether acts of kindness are effective in eliminating the causes of depression) (Toepfer, Cichy, & Peters, 2012).
Although the study mentioned above proves the positive cumulative effect of acts of kindness, it does not manage to answer how such acts should be designed to ensure happiness boosting. Another study on the topic involved a series of laboratory experiments with the purpose to trace the dynamics of performing acts of kindness. It found out that those people who were given a more particularly-framed prosocial goal (e.g. were assigned to make another person laugh by telling a joke) felt much more content with performing their actions and achieving positive results than those who were given an abstract task contiguous in its function (e.g. to make a person feel happy) (Rudd et al., 2014). Such outcomes are explained by the discrepancy between reality and the participants’ expectations. Unlike the second group, those who had a concrete task could see the actual result of their performance, which matched their expectations (Rudd et al., 2014). Thus, to enhance happiness, an act of kindness must be designed in such a way that its outcomes are predictable and observable. When a person planning to perform an act of kindness is more or less sure what results are going to be obtained and what emotions the receiver will get, he/she feels sure that no side consequences will emerge to spoil good intentions (Rudd et al., 2014). Thus, the giver feels happier through the development of higher self-confidence.
Besides the immediate effect of satisfaction from a good deed, an act of kindness has long-term benefits. The concept of “pay it forward” suggests the idea of achieving happiness by starting a chain of acts of kindness (Pressman, Kraft, & Cross, 2015, p.2 ). The point is that the agent receives more positive emotions if his/her action manages to foster the altruistic behavior of the recipient making him/her repeat a similar act to other people rather than simply repay the giver. The results of the study by Pressman et al. (2015) contradict the findings obtained by Della Porta (2012) who claim that autonomous motivation is a necessity for gaining psychological benefits of an act of kindness because the pay-it-forward activity is a forced kindness intervention. As mentioned by the researchers, the study participants who performed a forced pay-it-forward activity reported increased “optimism, gratitude, life satisfaction, and joviality” (Pressman et al., 2015). However, the positive effects were rather short-term than stable. Either way, the findings make it clear that an act of kindness can encourage further positive behaviors (Pressman et al., 2015).
Chapter 3. Use of Acts of Kindness in Everyday Life and Treatment
Acts of kindness are capable of boosting happiness not only as a temporary context-dependent condition but also as overall life-satisfaction. An experiment carried out by Buchanan and Bardi (2010) aimed to prove that conducting new acts of kindness every day for a certain period (10 days) is capable of increasing the total life satisfaction of people regardless of their gender or age. A control group consisting of 38 males and 48 females aged from 18 to 60 was randomly selected, and they were asked to perform either an act of kindness, an act of novelty or restrain from any actions towards other people whatsoever (Buchanan & Bardi, 2010). Before and after this intervention, their life satisfaction was measured. The results demonstrated that life satisfaction increases in cases of experimental conditions and remains unchanged when the action was controlled or refrained from (Buchanan & Bardi, 2010). Thus, the experiment allows concluding that novelty is a pivotal component in happiness-boosting activities. Layous and Lyubomirsky (2014) express a similar viewpoint in their study stating that “people instructed to perform different acts of kindness each week (e.g., do a new household chore one week, surprise their pet with a treat another week) showed larger gains in well-being than those instructed to perform the same acts of kindness (e.g., do new household chores each week)” (p. 479).
The importance of variety in doing acts of kindness has already been mentioned: a person who performs the same act for a long period gets used to it as to a part of his/her routine and fails to derive any satisfaction from it after a while. On the contrary, varying acts of kindness (doing something new every day trying not to repeat the same action in sequence) gives a cumulative effect and boosts happiness much more effectively (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2011). However, no matter how diverse acts of kindness might be, it is highly important to commit them regularly as the effect they produce should constantly be reinforced and enhanced for the agent to feel satisfaction (Layous, Nelson, Kurtz, & Lyubomirsky, 2016).
Thus, an act of kindness that can be classified as happiness-boosting is not merely an action of a certain sort but a part of a long-lasting habit. According to Lyubomirsky and Della Porta (2010), individuals who regularly express optimism frequently report “experiencing more positive events that linger with them;” moreover, it is found that the positive experiences provoked by optimistic behaviors increase happiness (p. 18). For instance, people who perform such acts regularly receive gratitude from the recipients, which makes them happier. It is also observed that a habit of conducting acts of kindness can even produce situations in which new friendships are likely to emerge (Lyubomirsky & Della Porta, 2010).
Acts of kindness apply not only to everyday experience but also as a tool used in conjunction with various therapies that aim to mitigate the consequences of psychological disorders. Healthy people naturally use adaptive strategies that help them cope with symptoms of depression and apathy: they try to avoid pessimistic thinking, interpret upsetting circumstances in a positive light, etc. (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2011). At the same time, Toepfer et al. (2012) observe that unlike healthy individuals, people with affective disorders are unable to adapt to the changing reality and tend to feel unhappy every time things go wrong. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that a pessimistic predisposition can be alleviated not only in healthy individuals going through a hard period of life but also in people suffering from various disorders such as depression or generalized anxiety.
However, “practicing positive, intentional activities may directly combat the effects of negative construals (which characterize generally unhappy people), while simultaneously promoting the effects of positive construals” (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2011, p. 236). These findings are consistent with observations made by Toepfer et al. (2012) who suggest that the acts mentioned above of kindness (expressing gratitude, showing generosity, prompting others to act kindly, etc.) may help depressed individuals enhance self-satisfaction and feel happier. Social connections that are established in the process of performing a good deed assist perfectly in treating social anxiety decreasing negative emotions provoked by the idea of communicating with new people. As far as depression is concerned, acts of kindness help shift attention from introspection to other people’s problems and concerns. When a person gets distracted, he/she is more likely to recover from this condition (Lyubomirsky & Dickerhoof, 2011). Thus, targeting positive patterns of behavior can assist in the process of eliminating and preventing maladaptive self-perception as well as the perception of the environment.
Conclusion
The research at hand was aimed to explore acts of kindness as an effective method to enhance happiness. It focused on the ways personal satisfaction, positive emotions, a life-asserting perception of the world, and general well-being can be attained through performing particular actions and developing habits. Understanding the significance of acts of kindness (especially in their relation to happiness) is useful and can be applied not only to everyday life but also as a complementary therapy for treating social and affective disorders.
The research has shown that a person should produce as many acts of kindness as the circumstances allow, trying to diversify them as much as possible since novelty contributes to happiness derived from a good deed. The mechanisms that foster happiness through acts of kindness – emotional response, observation of positive results, and involvement in chains of good deeds – have been investigated and explained.
The conclusion that is to be made is that the applications of the acts of kindness techniques prove to be effective no matter what domain is chosen for action and what goals (short- or long-term) is to be achieved.
References
Buchanan, K. E., & Bardi, A. (2010). Acts of kindness and acts of novelty affect life satisfaction. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(3), 235-237.
Layous, K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2014). The how, why, what, when, and who of happiness: Mechanisms underlying the success of positive activity interventions. In J. Gruber & J. Moscowitz (Eds.), The light and dark side of positive emotions (pp. 473-495). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Layous, K., Nelson, S. K., Kurtz, J. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2016). What triggers prosocial effort? A positive feedback loop between positive activities, kindness, and well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(1), 1-14.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Della Porta, M. D. (2010). Boosting happiness, buttressing resilience. In J. W. Reich, A. J. Zautra, & J. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of adult resilience: Concepts, methods, and applications (pp. 450-464). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Dickerhoof, R. (2011). A construal approach to increasing happiness. In J. E. Maddux & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Social psychological foundations of clinical psychology (pp. 229-244). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Pressman, S. D., Kraft, T. L., & Cross, M. P. (2015). It’s good to do good and receive good: The impact of a ‘pay it forward’ style kindness intervention on giver and receiver well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(4), 293-302.
Ricard, M. (2011). The Dalai Lama: Happiness through wisdom and compassion. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1(2), 274-290.
Rudd, M., Aaker, J., & Norton, M. I. (2014). Getting the most out of giving: Concretely framing a prosocial goal maximizes happiness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54(1), 11-69.
Sandstrom, G. M., & Dunn, E. W. (2011). The virtue blind spot: do affective forecasting errors undermine virtuous behavior? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(10), 720-733.
Toepfer, S. M., Cichy, K., & Peters, P. (2012). Letters of gratitude: Further evidence for author benefits. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(1), 187-201.
