Currently reading “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert (one of my last few reads before I finally shift to kindle). The book was recommended by a friend a couple of years back and I finally got a copy. It isn’t self-help as the title may sound but it’s a look at how the mind works based on scientific studies – how our imagination and illusions of foresight sometimes allow us to “misconceive the future and misestimate our satisfactions”.I’ve just read a few pages but here are some interesting findings as a starter:
“When people are asked to report how much they think about the past, present, and future, they claim to think about the future the most. When researches actually count the items that float along in the average person’s stream of consciousness, they find that about 12% of our daily thoughts are about the future. “
That’s 1 hour of thinking about things that have yet to happen for every 8 hours of thinking! Why is this so? Because people find pleasure in daydreaming – just imagining possibilities like succeeding and achieving– is a source of joy. In fact, there was one study wherein people delayed their gratification for a week just to bask in anticipation. And for some, they get more pleasure from imagining than the actual experience itself! Tsk…tsk…
Another interesting finding is humans have generally a passion for control. Research suggests that if we lose control at some point, we become unhappy, helpless, hopeless, depressed and sometimes - dead.
In one study, senior residents were given a plant. Half of them were told that they were in charge of the plant’s care (high control group), the other half were told that a housing staff was in charge. Six months later, 30% of the residents in the low control group died versus 15% from the high control group. Then, the researchers arranged for student volunteers to visit the residents. Members from the high control group were given control over the schedule and duration of the students’ visits while visits to the low control group depended on the students. After 2 months, members from the high control group were healthier, happier and more active. At this point, researchers concluded the study and discontinued the visits. Several months later, a big number of residents from the high control group died. In retrospect, researchers re-concluded that gaining control can have a positive impact on one’s health and well-being, but losing control can be worse than never having had any at all. Sad though that such an experiment had somehow influenced or even expedited the demise of some people.
Anyway, I’ll try to post more learnings as I read the book. Though I’ve just read a few chapters, I could tell this is going to make it to my all-time fave books. It’s also vouched by 2 of my favorite pop culture authors – Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Levitt. Besides, understanding about the human mind would give us better control of ourselves – which I think is more important than wanting control over the future or the uncontrollable. :)