How does one measure happiness? (no, I don't mean Happyness, although that was a good movie). In the embedded TEDtalk below, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioural economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy and our own self-awareness.
[ted id=779]
Interesting eh? I found the final example to be most interesting. Specifically the results of the Gallop poll which looked at the correlation between happiness and financial income. The result was that, in the USA, a threshold of $60,000.00 exists. Below $60,000.00 income is highly correlated to happiness, but beyond that value, it's flat. BUT that only holds true for the experiencing self. The remembering self likes money, and wants to have lots of it.
So, to quote Daniel:
Below 60,000 dollars a year, people are unhappy, and they get progressively unhappier the poorer thy get. Above that, we get an absolutely flat line. I mean I've rarely seen lines so flat. Clearly what is happening is money does not buy you experiential happiness, but lack of money certainly buys you misery, and we can measure that misery very, very clearly. In terms of the other self, the remembering self, you get a different story. The more money you earn the more satisfied you are. That does not hold for emotions.
So then the question becomes, how can I get $60,000 to experience right now?! :P
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