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When We're Happy, We Actively Sabotage Our Good Moods With Grim Tasks (arstechnica.com)
Beth Mole, writing for Ars Technica: Always keeping your house tidy and spotless may earn you the label of "neat freak" -- but "super happy" may be a more accurate tag. When people voluntarily take on unpleasant tasks such as housework, they tend to be in particularly happy states, according to a new study on hedonism. The finding challenges an old prediction by some researchers that humans can be constant pleasure-seekers. Instead, the new study suggests we might seek out fun, uplifting activities mainly when we're in bad or down moods. But when we're on the up, we're more likely to go for the dull and dreary assignments. This finding of "flexible hedonism," reported this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may seem counterintuitive because it suggests we sabotage our own high spirits. But it hints at the idea that humans tend to make sensible short-term trade-offs on happiness for long-term gains. "Although our data cannot directly tell us whether regularly engaging in unpleasant activities predicts psychological and social adjustment five or 10 years down the line, a large body of work has consistently demonstrated the importance of sleeping, employment, and living in a reasonably clean and organized home on mental and physical health," according to the study authors, led by Maxime Taquet of Harvard and Jordi Quoidbach of the University Pompeu Fabra in Spain.
This just in, shocking news, film at eleven.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ever consider that some of us just don't like to sit in filth and that having a clean house makes some people happy?
I make myself feel good.
Time for another wank, methinks.
When I am comfortable and without external pressures for a while, two things happen. One, I get bored and want to do something. Two, I'm full of positive energy and want to apply that to making something somewhere better. So I start to do things, like clean house, or work on neglected projects, or sometimes starting a new project. I'm not seeking out "grim" things to spoil my good mood. I'm seeking out good things, things that I want to have done, that I've finally got the emotional energy to do.
This result is like saying "study finds that when people have too much money, they seek to get rid of it by spending it on things, contradicting assumptions that people generally want to have more money". No, of course not. They've just finally got enough money that they can spend it on things they want to. They still want more money in the future, so that they can use it to buy other things.
Likewise, happy people doing "grim" tasks aren't trying to get rid of their "excess" happiness, they've just finally got the emotional energy to spend doing things. They still want more happiness, so they can spend that emotional energy doing more things.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Gosh, could it be that we want to take advantage of our good mood and get some shit done while it lasts? What is with this complete lack of self-awareness here? Humans are constant pleasure-seekers? Wow, that's news to the billions of humans worldwide whose horizons don't include lush grants to produce studies. "We sabotage our own high spirits"? Again, a big WTF here. Who feels bad after cleaning the house? Put this in the bin with the rest of debunked, discredited social science. I bet the results are irreproducible and thus not science at all.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Psychology is not a real science.
Your comment is completely off-topic here since the issue is about happiness and tasks .. at home, which will be unaffected.
And in fact, if universal income is a potential answer to the disappearance of jobs (replaced by -say- AI), it doesn't solve a bigger problem : can we live a happy life with no task at all ?
The answer may be no, and humans will need to find other non-remunerated tasks to keep them busy and happy.
It's a bit silly to say that people are sabotaging their own good mood. I think it instead suggests an alternate viewpoint: What we call "happiness" is not simply an end-goal, but also a resource. When we lack it, we conserve it and try to generate more. When we have enough, we expend the resource to accomplish other goals.
This in turn suggests some other ideas that some of us may have already suspected. Hedonists may be extremely unhappy people. Various behaviors that can be described as "addiction to pleasure-seeking" may be a response to suffering some kind of happiness deficiency. Depression may make people unproductive. People who are a mess may benefit from receiving some kind of help, rather than piling on various kinds of punishments.
In what universe is cleaning a "grim" task?
Do you regularly have to dispose of corpses in your dungeon or something? If you find it to be grim, maybe stop murdering people.
As for me, dusting, doing the dishes, etc. are just quick mindless things to do sometimes that maintain a general sense of well being.
Living in squaller or having to dig myself out of it would be grim. Beth Mole sounds gross.
a large body of work has consistently
demonstrated the importance of sleeping, employment
It figures.
Guess I should go read youtube comments.
My apartment is a mess because I'm depressed, and because it's such a mess, I'm depressed.
Sometimes I buy new socks just because I can't be bothered to wash my old dirty socks.
I have a lot of socks.
I played video games all day then felt odd like I got nothing accomplished. Then the next day I felt I should clean some to balance it out
They're called hobbies. I have many and I enjoy my time off when I get it.
Workaholics who have none need to adapt if they don't want to be miserable in their retirement or a future with UBI. My father is learning this lesson.
"Most theories of motivation propose that our daily choices of activities aim to maximize positive affective states but fail to explain when people decide to engage in unpleasant yet necessary activities."
If you don't always have the emotional energy to do unpleasant but necessary tasks, you'll either do them when you do have it (it's muc easier to cycle up a hill when you have momentum to start with) or wait until such time as the added misery involved in doing the task is outweighed by the increasing unhappiness from not doing it (see eg. washing up in Withnail and I). The definition of "necessary" beyond air, food and water depends on person and circumstance.
sing a song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU
I do the chores when I'm in a good mood because that's when I've got the energy and motivation. Similarly, after a terrible day, forget it.
Also, your better than normal mood won't last even if you don't do anything with it - you'll return to equilibrium. I've tried! It's not sabotaging a good mood, it's making good use of it.
In the unlikely event I am ever happy I just read Slashdot and that adequately sabotages my mood every time.
See, Peter Thiel, the SJW who used his money and power to take down a website, just because they called him a homo.
The answer to speech you don't like is more speech, but Peter Thiel thinks the power of the government should be used to silence people.
Isn't this just a case of it being better to do shitty things when you're happy than when you're depressed? If you're depressed, it'll just make feel even lower. If you're going to do something that'll lower your mood, don't do it when you're already low.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I suppose this is the difference between clinical depression and sadness. When I feel particularly bad, I am often incapable of enjoying things. I don't seek out activities I enjoy as much, because they seem like too much effort for too little gain. I wind up in a rest mode that persists until the melancholy passes or some idea or event jolts me into productivity somehow. This productivity then makes me feel better about things, and when I feel better, it's time to relax and celebrate. I can enjoy things, so I'd better do it while I still can!
:/
Knowing that happiness is temporary, and not something you can sustain by doing the stuff you want, is not necessarily conducive to health.
When you are almost depressed? Anything to take your mind off it.
When you are giddy? You can take on the WORLD! "That'll show 'em all!"
Somehow this observation is presented as a counter-intuitive result from examining new data. We ALL love counter-intuitive results. Comprehending them makes us feel intelligent.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
[_] There's plenty for humans to do.
[_] There's plenty for humans to do that's marketable for Our Betters.
Only one of these is going to die out. And if we use BUI when (not if, when) it does, some (if not most) of those tasks that we'll pick-up in place will have positive effects on others/society, maybe even causing a upwards spiral effect.
We might not be disagreeing. Maybe I'm just nonplussed by the idea of people doing unrenumerated things. If you look past the billboards and flashing lights, the internet is actually chock full of that. A few are even mine.
This is the kind of crap you get.
when we are affluent, we sabotage our good account with large expenses.
I mean, what better time than when you can?
"When We're Happy, We Actively Sabotage Our Good Moods With Grim Tasks"
Not me. When I'm happy I wallow in it, and the last thing I'll do is think up some "grim task" that needs to be done.
What a load of horseshit.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
They're called hobbies. I have many and I enjoy my time off when I get it.
If it's a hobby then it's not a "task" in the classical sense. Or, it may be a "task", but it's one you enjoy and willingly participate in.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
can we live a happy life with no task at all ?
For most people, no.
It doesn't hold true for everyone but most people have a need to be doing something, whether it's done for pay or prestige or out of a sense of altruism or to better mankind, or whatever....but most people aren't happy sitting around doing nothing.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Peter Thiel is an anagram for lithe peter.
Even with Universal Basic Income you still have tasks to do - shopping for your food, cooking your food, cleaning your house, maintaining your yard, taking a bath (well, maybe not in your case). There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done.
This is a wonderful example of what happens to probably so many science reports. Even the the original article admits "The researchers say they need to do more work to parse the connection. For instance, it may be that moods affect energy levels and focus, thus altering a person's interests or abilities to do certain tasks." The headline is nothing but pure speculation and an attempt to grab eyeballs. But the headline is certainly what anybody is going to remember about this. Even without looking at the original research, I can be almost certain that it doesn't say anything like "people actively sabotage good moods by seeking out tasks that aren't fun."
I don't have time to read it right now (but yeah, I'm on /., go figure), but based on the abstract, I'd bet the paper *only* draws a correlation between peoples moods and the type of tasks they perform - and no causation or specific relations.
I clap my hands. That assumes, of course, that I know I'm happy.
Which classics?
Which classics?
Anna Karenina, The Odyssey, The Old Man And The Sea, The Brothers Karamazov. Also anything by Beethoven or Schubert.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
UBI should typically not cover having a yard.
It's basic income. Anyone who wants more from life than just survive would typically have to work. (Unless they are born rich.)
It should be thought of as a more efficient way to manage a social security system, not as a way to provide free stuff for everyone because that isn't likely to work.
When people voluntarily take on unpleasant tasks such as housework, they tend to be in particularly happy states,... /quote.
Why would housework necessarily be unpleasant? I have some personal experience that seems to contracdict the assumption:
- When I was student in a previous aeon, I had to work mornings as a cleaner. Not the most glamorous of jobs, not all that attractive; but I got to really like parts of it, believe it or not. There is something very satisfying and almost therapeutical about washing an enormous stone floor with soft soap, a brush on a stick and a cloth.
- Gardening; how attractive is it to put on a pair of wellies, get out in the middle of winter and dig ditches because your allotment is flooded? I spent my entire Christmas last year doing that for 5 days: 6 - 8 hours of digging down until the ground wather stood some 1.5 feet deep, then carting woodchips to fill up the ditches. It was the best Christmas I've had for a long time. Hard, physical work has been clinically proven to help with depression, whereas overindulgence works the opposite way. (In case you wonder why I would dig ditches only to fill them up, here's the explanation: the fundamental problems in my garden are lack of drainage and the fact that the plot is low-lying. I threw soil, I dug out, on top of the beds of my plot, which raised the ground a bit, and the ditches ran across the plot, so when they were filled with woodchips, they became neat foot paths. The woodchips form a very open structure, initially, which allows for drainage, and because the wood wicks the water up to the surface, it also helps the water evaporate faster. After 3 - 5 years it will have rooted down, so I can repeat the process, raise the ground level and improve the soil).
But enough rambling - I thnik what this reasearch actually shows is that doing physically hard work improves your mood, which probably has at least three contributing causes: one thing is, it feels good to create a desirable outcome; two, doing a 'mindless' task allows you mind to relax and wander for a while, and three, the physical activity in itself tends to lift your mood, as I said earlier. Rather than only doing 'unpleasant' tasks when you have an excess of 'happiness', doing it is what makes you happy.
UBI should typically not cover having a yard.
That would depend on where you live. In some places the cost of living will actually be lower if you take out a mortgage and buy a house than if you rent. Rural northern Sweden is a great example of this, locally the population is decreasing so if you want to buy a house you can find one for peanuts (I've seen decent-sized houses in good condition going for less than SEK 200k) while renting a studio apartment will still set you back SEK 4500 or so per month.
manner? Without being economists or sociopaths?? Weird.
Even with Universal Basic Income you still have tasks to do - shopping for your food, cooking your food, cleaning your house, maintaining your yard, taking a bath (well, maybe not in your case). There is ALWAYS something that needs to be done.
However, judging by some of my roommates in college, there will still be plenty of people that won't do them.
Worthless research
I have sex with her all the time...
They're called hobbies. I have many and I enjoy my time off when I get it.
"On my planet, "to rest" is to rest, to cease using energy. To me it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass USING energy instead of saving it." - Mr. Spock, TOS ep. 15, "Shore Leave"
Could be another explanation.
I tend to take a joint before cleaning the house, for example. :).
To compensate for the horror I've got to go through
Why do you think not being forced to spend one's time doing senseless work wouldn't affect households? It would give us more time to do what matters to us. If for you that is "nothing", you have a problem. In fact I think it's alienated-work addicts like you seem to be that are the problem.
I figured since you've a six-digit ID that you'd know not to feed the trolls.
Back to topic... I can see this study's findings could hold some truth --I've read about other studies that say depressed people watch more TV and movies.
No sig for you! Come back one year!