ipl-logo

The American Dream: The Secret To Happiness

258 Words2 Pages

The Secret To Happiness

The American Dream tells us we are free to pursue happiness, but doesn’t give us instructions. Even life-changing events such as winning the lottery have been shown (Brickman 1978) to only increase happiness in the short-term.

The secret to long term happiness is a concept that seems too sacred to be studied and dissected. However, many researchers devote themselves to this topic, and this paper by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky presents a nice theory about sustainable happiness.

This elusive goal is difficult, and may be impossible. Many past studies have shown that each person has a base level of happiness which they can only deviate from temporarily. Even more unfortunate, is that this base level of happiness is 50-80%

Show More
Related

  • DBQ Essay: The American Dream

    808 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the beginning of time in the United States, the idea of the American Dream has had a heavy influence on society. According to Document C, American Dream is defined as earning enough money to be happy, obtaining a worry-free lifestyle, and running in a high social circle. While working Americans still hold on to the hope of the American Dream, individuals from other countries often move to the United States with the hope that they too may have a piece of the pie. Despite the novelty and allure of the American Dream, it is nothing more than false hope.

    Read More

  • Daniel Gilbert Immune To Reality Analysis

    1642 Words  | 7 Pages

    Happiness is achieved when people live through reality. Every day, people are forced to make decisions about how much information they want to take in and know. Sometimes, they may choose to remain ignorant; they choose not to discover. When individuals stop to think and predict an outcome, rather than the thing they are actually doing, they can become distracted from their present happiness. Living in the moment should not require a person to have to think and evaluate a situation before making any moves, it should be a free-flowing act of life.

    Read More

  • The Profession Of Eleanor's Beginning With The American Dream

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Dream, in my eyes, is the prosperity of individual growth and success on an equal platform. From my personal experiences of battling with the idea of success, I have grown to discover that success means an achievement of one’s own goals – whether small and insignificant or large and remarkable. A statement expressed in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt is as follows: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along” (“Eleanor Roosevelt” 1).

    Read More

  • The American Dream Research Paper

    1003 Words  | 5 Pages

    The American Dream The American Dream. It's such a common term to hear, yet to each of us it has a unique meaning. The United States of America was founded as a land of freedom and opprtunity. However, that freedom did not include African-Americans and even after freedom was granted indiscriminately, racial inequality hindered the opportunities of people of color.

    Read More

  • The American Dream: The Balance

    1027 Words  | 5 Pages

    The American Dream Today many Americans have derived their own American dream, whether it be having money in the bank, or having a loving family. Today, According to “The Balance” they have decided that the American dream is, “The pursuit of happiness became the driver of entrepreneurial spirit that defines the free American market economy” (Amadeo 1). This shows their view of the American dream is to have your own business, and make your life comfortable. The question is, is it achievable by all Americans today?

    Read More

  • The American Dream Is Alive Research Paper

    1142 Words  | 5 Pages

    The American Dream Is Achievable And Is Alive To begin with, for majority of the people it is an idea that every U.S citizen should have an equal opportunity to succeed and achieve through positive outcome such as hard work, determination, and initiative. What it means to me is everybody flourishing on the dreams they have in mind and living the life they want. For instance, the author, Adam Shepard, of the book “Scratch Beginning” had succeed on the american dream through positive outcomes when facing many adversity such as living in poverty. On the other hand, there are those who do not believe the american dream is achievable.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Achieving The American Dream

    1401 Words  | 6 Pages

    To live comfortably is a wish that many people have growing up in America. We see people on television who have and have not worked harder than others to achieve this way of life. These people are able to pay their bills for the nice house saved up for, are able to provide for a decent sized family, and still have extra money in their pocket for themselves. The American Dream seems so accomplishable when looking at the people who have already achieved this, but looking up to these people, we do not realize that this dream is not a few steps ahead of us sitting on a pedestal; this dream is almost out of touch. But what is the reason that everyone cannot achieve this dream as easily as others?

    Read More

  • Can Money Buy Happiness Rhetorical Analysis

    680 Words  | 3 Pages

    People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the

    Read More

  • The American Dream: Annotated Bibliography

    517 Words  | 3 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography Cohen, M. (2014, April 26). The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream. The Guardian, p. 00. “The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream” by Michael Cohen explains the perception of Americans towards the decline of the middle class. The article details how the middle class was viewed before the elections of President Obama, and how it’s viewed after the creation of the Affordable Care Act.

    Read More

  • The American Dream: A Dream Unfulfilled

    142 Words  | 1 Pages

    The American Dream: A Dream Yet Unfulfilled In today’s society, and through the use of social media, everyone that has an opinion, gains an instant platform to disseminate information to the masses. The problem that exist with this method results in wrong information being generated over various news mediums that lack fully educated views and research driven application. How can we filter through the noise and provide reliable information to keep the dream alive?

    Read More

  • The Affects Of Egalitarianism's Effect On Human Happiness

    993 Words  | 4 Pages

    Egalitarianism is defined as the doctrine that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. Throughout history many have formed opinions on the factors that are determined through birth, ultimately shaping the way privilege is understood both intrinsically and extrinsically. Many argue that this valuing of equality has effects on other inherent qualities of a person’s life—such as happiness. An individual’s happiness is one of the many things that are unique to them, conjunctly as are the factors that make up what makes them happy.

    Read More

  • Impossible Dreams: The American Dream

    822 Words  | 4 Pages

    Impossible Dreams The meaning of the American Dream can be seen as ”A uniquely American vision of the country consisting of three central ideas. The American dream consists of a belief in America as the new Eden- a land of beauty, bounty, and unlimited promise; a feeling of optimism, created by ever expanding opportunity; and a confidence in the triumph of the individual.” Using this definition of the so called “American dream”, it seems to be a great representation of it at first, until you realize it includes everyone as the individual. From the beginning of the Civil war to the end of the War to End All Wars, the American Dream wasn’t possible due to the treatment of the Native Americans, the inequality between women and men, and the false promises given to the immigrants coming to our country in their time of need.

    Read More

  • The Definition Of The American Dream

    1016 Words  | 5 Pages

    The term, “American dream,” was first used by historian James Truslow Adams. James stated that the American dream was, “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” Although the quote states a perfect definition of the American dream, this term can be interpreted in several ways. The American dream is reaching an objective believed to be unlikely to obtain, making a decision that could improve the lifestyle of future descendants, and setting goals that you want to accomplish.

    Read More

  • The American Dream Essay

    929 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Dream is a concept that motivates people to pick up their belongings and make their way to the United States to build a new life for themselves. The American Dream is an ideal, a set of beliefs or morals, different for everyone. The American Dream has evolved throughout the years, from the creation of the notion in 1931 to now, women earned their right to vote and work, and citizens of the United States fought for equality and civil rights, just to name a few. The dream could be different between Americans and immigrants, between a teenager and a young adult, it all depends on who the person is, and what their principles are. Movements in the past have allowed anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, education, history, or age to

    Read More

  • Personal Essay: The Definition Of True Happiness

    1224 Words  | 5 Pages

    A collection of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches had attempted to define happiness and analyze its connections. Researchers have found that about 50% of people happiness depends on our genes, based on studies of identical twins, whose happiness was 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses. About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of intentional factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Studies have also found that most of us are born with a fixed “set point” of happiness that we fall in throughout our lives.

    Read More

More about The American Dream: The Secret To Happiness

Open Document