The Happiness Hypothesis: Book Review & Summary
Dive into 'The Happiness Hypothesis' with our insightful review and chapter-wise summary. Explore Jonathan Haidt's profound insights on joy & meaning.
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Introduction: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world's philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn't kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.
This is a book about ten great ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations - to question it scientifically and to extract from it the lessons that apply to our modern lives. Jonathan Haidt skillfully combines two genres#151; philosophical wisdom and scientific research#151; delighting the reader with surprising insights.
He explains, for example, why we have such difficulty controlling ourselves and sticking to our plans; why no achievement brings lasting happiness, yet a few changes in your life can have profound effects, and why even confirmed atheists experience spiritual elevation. In a stunning final chapter, Haidt addresses the grand question "How can I live a meaningful life?" offering an original answer that draws on the rich inspiration of both philosophy and science.
About the Author: Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business.
He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and then did post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and in Orissa, India.
He taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years, where he conducted the research reported in The Righteous Mind.
Excerpts from the original text
The widely accepted view is that once income reaches a certain level (about $70,000 a year in the US), money can't buy happiness. However, some researchers are now finding that the correlation between happiness and income is larger than we used to think. Although the absolute level of income is not very important, the increase in prestige and the respect that radiates in the eyes of others is important, and so is success, whether it brings you wealth or not. Finally, wealth itself has multiple conflicting effects: it sometimes destroys relationships, while those who earn wealth through hard work (as opposed to winning the lottery) gain respect from those around them, which leads to greater happiness. -- Quoted from page 1
Book: The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
- Author Jonathan Haidt
- Genre Psychology
- Publisher Basic Books
- Publication date 2006
- Pages 320
Summary of “The Happiness Hypothesis”
I love truth and like to read books of various disciplines, science, philosophy, and religion, and can think and absorb nutrients from different perspectives.
I came across this book at a time when I had probably explored various fields. After reading it, I feel that, compared with the excellent books I have read before, this book has complex contents and unclear viewpoints. The author just collected a little knowledge of different disciplines and did not form his own unique opinion. Let me sort it out below.
In the first chapter, the split self,
The author mentions Plato and Freud, which draws out the thinking about "I" from the previous philosophical level.
Then start turning to science.
Begin to give an example of human physiology, and how nerves affect us. Split-brain people, perceptual and rational brain mechanisms - frontal cortex, people with brain damage and loss of emotions, control, and automation, why it is difficult for us to persuade others.
These examples are mainly meant to illustrate - we are brain-controlled creatures.
Tucao: There are so many examples, but no clear arguments, arguments, and arguments. Just like when we were writing essays when we were young, we found a bunch of examples to make up an essay. I now understand how the teacher felt when he changed his composition. . .
Regarding the knowledge of neuroscience and brain science, it will be clearer to read other related books, such as "Why Gorillas are Smarter than Experts", this book is very similar to the content of this book, but the explanation is clearer than this book.
The second chapter, Emotional Style,
mainly analyzes why people are affected by negative emotions and trains the correct way of thinking.
Like the Scale - Instinct to distinguish the good from the bad
Negative bias - a negative effect is five times the positive effect
How to change your emotional style
Cognitive-behavioral therapy:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is so successful because it teaches riders how to train elephants, rather than just reasoning with them and defeating them. Over time, the patient learns several psychological skills: questioning the original automatic thinking process and going out to buy a newspaper when he can't make up his mind, instead of lying in bed all day long thinking. This can be considered homework, to be done every day. Only by changing the process of automated thinking bit by bit can you change your emotional style in the process. (Practice)
Prozac:
’s lifelong habit disappeared overnight (after taking Prozac for 5 weeks)
This part of the content actually uses cognitive psychology to explain the emotional style. point of view, but the explanation is not clear enough, it is recommended to read "Analysis of Emotions". At the operational level, three methods are introduced, which are not detailed. Those who are interested can read books on meditation and books on cognitive behavioral therapy.
Chapter 3, The Instinct of Reciprocity
This part is actually the point of view of evolutionary psychology. There are also a lot of examples there, mixed with some evolutionary neural mechanisms.
Chapter fourth,
It is recommended to read the fourth chapter of "Evolutionary Psychology". I think it is a bunch of examples + Buddhist viewpoints (no distinction).
When it comes to Buddhism, every chapter in this book will introduce a little bit of Buddhism, but the author doesn't know much about Buddhism. biased.
For the cause of our self-righteous faults, I recommend Who Will Admit It Wrong.
Chapter 5,
Happiness is where positive psychology comes in.
Happiness Equation: H=S+C+V
(H=the happiness we really feel, S=hereditary, C=living conditions, V=spontaneous activities we engage in) Competent, extremely challenging job. This is what people call "inside the realm", "flow of the heart".
Pleasure Hypothesis - Becomes the Equation: Pleasure comes from the inside as well as from the outside. To live a life of yin and yang harmony, we need guidance. With regard to yin, the Buddha has given the most insightful guidance: the Buddha constantly and gently reminds us of the importance of yin, the introspective practice.
But I believe that the pursuit of action, struggle, and passion in the West is not as wrong as the Buddha said. What we need is to find the balance (Eastern wisdom), to find a clear direction of struggle (modern psychology). Recommend Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology.
The sixth chapter
of "True Happiness", which talks about love and attachment a lot. In short, it is the attachment theory in developmental psychology.
Then discussed love.
- From the perspective of biology and sociology to analyze the origin of human love,
- From the philosophical point of view to sublimate the concept of love.
- The importance of relationships is illustrated by suicide theory.
In this part, there is a psychological theory about love, which is relatively systematic - Sternberg's love triangle theory.
Chapter 7,
The Best Times of Adversity and Adversity sums it up well.
To maximize the benefits of adversity in life:
- Adversity must occur at the right time (as early as adulthood)
- The object must also be right (with enough social and psychological volunteers, can you face challenges and benefit from them)
- Just the right degree (not severe enough to cause "post-traumatic stress disorder")
Chapter 8,
Virtue, This is where I get the dizziest.
The reason is that there have been countless discussions on virtue since ancient times, and there is no unified answer to this topic in the philosophical world. I didn't come up with my own opinion.
As for the latter, the religious and scientific circles are mixed. . . Can you analyze section by section from an angle??
Also, what is the final conclusion? Where does virtue come from? Why do we seek virtue? Is there a scientific basis for virtue?
On this topic, ethics, sociology, religion, or the latest research results in cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology.
In the ninth chapter,
the holy, beginning of the "Flat Earth" example is quite interesting.
However, later have to impose the example of "disgusting" to demonstrate the sacred? Are the people in the slums not holy? There is a story in Buddhism. Some people call the Zen master a piece of shit. The Zen master says that what is in your heart is what the outside world is. Obviously, the author's Taoism is not much higher than this scolding person. It takes so much space to talk about it and the argumentation process is very nonsense. . .
Later, when I talked about the sense of improvement and mysterious experience, I quoted neurology and brain science, so that people can understand what the author is talking about.
The ego is a great obstacle to spiritual advancement. The conclusion is that there is, however, the argumentation process is equally ambiguous. It is recommended to read Krishnamurti's book, although his book is also subjective truth, it is very enlightening. If you want to know what the "self" is, it is recommended to read the explanation given by cognitive neuroscience.
Chapter Ten,
The Meaning of Life
1. Where do people come from?
2. How can we find meaning in life?
3. Feel the love and work of life itself
The author's conclusion is to fully engage and experience flow.
God made us become a hive religion, which reduces the influence of individual selection theory and strengthens the power of group selection theory.
To sum up, the author wants to say that the meaning of life is to live happily, how can we live happily? To "forget me". How to "forget me"? One, religion, and two, devotion to love and work.
To sum up, the golden mean
is to find the wisdom of life, regardless of past or present, east or west, conservative and free, to find the happiness, satisfaction, and meaning of life.
After reading this book, I didn't gain much. I may have read a lot of books, and this book is mixed and shallow. The above is my reading guide for you, I hope it helps.
Book Review of The Happiness Hypothesis
Inspirational aphorisms are straightforward, "truth-like nonsense," and they're just adjectives. It stifles diverse values, regards "success" as the only purpose, and ignores the existence of human nature.
This book, on the other hand, presents a new perspective on the relationship between emotion and reason. If we don't know the reason, most of us can't tame the elephant in our hearts. Because you did not make "friends" with it, nor did you understand its temperament.
So, it's a setback again and again. Because it is the "elephant" who is really leading a person forward! You can only cooperate and move in the right direction when it listens to you.
1. When part of the hypothalamus is stimulated, mammals will become gluttonous, gobble or have a high libido, and the limbic system will hide many basic animal instincts. On the contrary, when a person's frontal lobe is injured, a person's sexual desire and aggressive behavior will be significantly enhanced, because the frontal cortex is the key to resisting impulsive responses.
2. Reason and emotion must work together for intelligent behavior, but emotion (elephant) still does most of the work. It wasn't until a new cerebral cortex appeared in the brain that the elephant rider became active, and the elephant became more intelligent.
3. Controlling the process of automation Most mental process happens automatically, without our conscious attention or control. Most automated processes are completely unconscious, although some parts appear to be conscious. In contrast to the automated process, the controlled processing process is quite laborious. Everything has to be done step by step, so it often takes up most of our consciousness.
Also, while controlled processing has its limitations, we can only consciously think about one thing at a time, automated processing can multi-track and handle many tasks at once.
The automated system created by natural selection allows for quick, reliable action responses, the parts of the brain that make us feel pleasure and pain (such as the orbital prefrontal cortex), and the parts of the brain that activate presence-related Mechanisms (the hypothalamus) are all included in the automated system. Automated systems can be called dopamine-activated buttons.
Instead, the controlled system is like a rider on the elephant's back, helping the elephant make better choices.
4. The Rider plays the role of an advisor and a servant. Riders are what Gazzaniga calls "interpretive modules," conscious, controlled thinking. On the contrary, the elephant is everything but the rider. Elephants contain our inner senses, instinctive responses, emotions, and intuitions, which are all building blocks of automated systems. Elephants and riders have their own ingenuity, and as long as they work together well, they can create outstanding human beings.
5. Controlled systems can hardly beat automated systems by willpower alone. The control system, like a muscle that tires when it tightens, quickly becomes weak. But automated systems operate automatically, 24/7 without any effort. Once you understand the power of stimulus control, you can alter stimuli in your environment to avoid annoying sources of stimuli.
6. Moral judgment is like aesthetic judgment. When we see a painting, we usually know immediately whether we like it or not. When disputes over ethics are endless, it is the elephant who controls the reins and guides the rider, and it is the elephant who decides what is right and what is wrong, what is beautiful and what is ugly.
Inner feelings, intuitions, and immediate judgments all happen automatically and spontaneously, but only elephants can piece together sentences and tell the other party the reasons for their reputation. When making moral judgments, the rider is not just an adviser to the elephant, he has transformed himself into an eloquent lawyer in court, desperately trying to convince the elephant to accept his point of view.
7. When we feel unexplained impulses, hopes, and temptations, we are greatly surprised. We have made a lot of declarations, and vows, and made countless resolutions, only to find ourselves surprised at how weak our will is to carry out. Sometimes we think we are fighting our subconscious, id, or animal instincts, but it's actually part of our whole psyche.
8. What happens in this world affects us only through our own interpretation of events, so as long as we can control our own interpretation of events, we can control our own world.
9. Nothing is miserable unless you feel miserable; in the same way, nothing makes you happy unless you are content.
10. Only determined to change, the rider cannot command the elephant to stride forward towards a new goal. The only way for the change to last is to retrain the elephants, which is very difficult. Psychology courses have been successful in helping many people regain control of their lives, not just because of the distraction, but also because of figuring out ways to change people's behavior later on. As long as the class is long enough, the elephants can be retrained.
11. In the language of elephants, the most important words are "like" or "dislike", "approach" or "leave".
12. The Negative Bias Principle responds more strongly to bad things than to good things. Animals respond to threats and dislikes faster, more intensely, and with more difficulty than they respond to opportunities and likes. The human psyche also responds faster, stronger, and longer to bad things than to good things. The human mind actively searches for and responds to threats, aggression, and frustration, so we can't force ourselves to see things in a good light.
13. Our behavior is governed by two opposing motivational systems: the approach system, which triggers the following emotional responses that make people want to approach certain things, and the avoidance system, which triggers negative Emotional responses that make people want to withdraw or avoid certain things. The two systems are on standby at all times, constantly monitoring their surroundings, and both systems are at the same time in oppositely motivated states (which we are when we have conflicting feelings), but the final balance is determined by your next action.
14. The amygdala connects not only down the brain stem, which initiates responses to danger but also up the frontal cortex, which changes our thinking. It turns the entire brain into a retreat-oriented one. There is a two-way pathway between our emotions and our thoughts: thoughts generate emotions, emotions generate thoughts, and emotions are mainly processed through mental filters for subsequent information processing.
15. An individual's usual level of happiness refers to an individual's "emotional style" (emotion is what emotion is felt or experienced). Personal emotional style refers to the balance between the personal approach system and the avoidance system, which is marked on your forehead. Personality is more "approach-oriented" emotional style, on average, the cortical activity of the left hemisphere of the forehead is more active; while more belongs to the "escape-oriented" emotional style, on average, the cortical activity of the right hemisphere of the forehead is more active.
16. How to change your emotional style?
- 1) Meditation. Consciously control your thoughts, focus, and let your mind go. Meditation is all about changing the automatic thought process and taming the elephant in you. When you release the attachment in your heart, it means that you tame the elephant in your heart. For the Buddha, psychological attachment is like gambling on a roulette wheel, in which someone else is spinning the wheel: the more you indulge in it, the worse you lose. The only way to win is to leave the table. The only way to get off the gaming table and not care about life's ups and downs is to meditate and tame the restless mind. When you give up the joy of winning, you also let go of the pain of losing, and the latter is definitely higher than the former.
- 2) Cognitive therapy. Depressed people have three perceptions, namely "I am a bad person", "My world is dark", and "My future is hopeless". The automatic thinking in a depressed and depressed person's mind is often full of unconstructive gray thoughts, especially when things go wrong. The most important thing in cognitive therapy is to train patients to master their own thoughts, write down their thoughts, point out distortions, and then find alternatives and more correct ways of thinking. The success of cognitive therapy is that it teaches the rider how to train the elephant, rather than just reasoning with the elephant and defeating it. You can only change your emotional style in the process by changing your automated thought process bit by bit. In fact, many psychotherapists have combined the techniques advocated by cognitive therapy and behaviorism to create what we now call "cognitive-behavioral therapy."
- 3) Prozac. Prozac is what we generally call the "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Resistant (SSRI)" class of antidepressant drugs, such drugs include Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, etc. Prozac enters synapses first, but it selectively affects only synapses that use serotonin for nerve conduction. Once inside these synapses, Prozac resists the process of resorption. People taking Prozac have higher levels of serotonin at certain synapses in the brain, so connected neurons respond more frequently.
Another claim about Prozac is that Prozac increases the concentration of neuro-growth hormone in the brain's hippocampus. Because people who show a negative emotional style usually have a high concentration of stress hormones in their blood. When these stress hormones are high, it is easy to kill important cells in the hippocampus, and one of the functions of the hippocampus is to cut off the cells that kill themselves. stress response. Therefore, people who display negative emotional styles may often suffer from mild neurological damage to the hippocampus of the brain.
We don't know exactly how Prozac works, but we know it works: whatever the mental illness, depression, anxiety-related disorders, panic disorder, social phobia, premenstrual anxiety disorder, diet Disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, etc., the effect of Prozac is better than the placebo or non-therapeutic control group.
But there are two main points of controversy about Prozac: first, it is a shortcut; second, Prozac not only relieves symptoms but sometimes changes the patient's personality.
17. If you want to tame an elephant, you must use the right method. If you want to change your mind, you must take it slowly. Meditation, Cognitive Therapy, and Prozac are three fairly effective methods, but they are different for who they are. Life itself is what you think it is, and just through meditation, cognitive therapy, and Prozac, you can see yourself in a whole new light.
18. The principle of reciprocity (see "Influence"), you give benefits to others, and others return benefits to you. When a salesperson gives you a free gift or free consultation or makes some concessions, don't let the other person start your reciprocal instinct. Cialdini (author of "Influence") suggested that the best way to deal with this situation is to treat people for their own sake.
If you can reassess the salesman's truthful intentions - want to use you. Then you can turn around and take advantage of each other. You should accept the gift or concession as a winner—because you're taking advantage of someone who is taking advantage of someone else—and "don't give back unintentionally."
Part of the reason reciprocity works so well is that the elephant in us is a natural imitator. Mimicry is the glue of a relationship, a way of saying "we're one".
19. We are all hypocritical, and when we despise the hypocrisy of others, we make ourselves even more hypocritical.
20. In ambiguous situations, we choose to compare what we have, and then look for evidence that we do know how to work with others. Selfish prejudice often turns mutual benefit into mutual hatred whenever we need to cooperate with others.
21. Hypocrisy and misjudgment are the two biggest killers of interpersonal relationships. Identifying your own faults is also the key to overcoming these two vices.
22. It is normal for us to be indifferent when faced with success. When animals evolve behaviors that help them stay ahead of the game of survival, their brains secrete dopamine, a pleasure nerve. Food and sexual intercourse will bring pleasure, and this pleasure will become a reinforcer, which will later become the motivation of animals to seek food and sexual intercourse.
Elephants act in the same way: whenever an elephant does something right, the elephant feels happy. Elephants remember the immediate pleasure of each action (similar to Skinner's behaviorism).
23. Psychologist Davidson (Richard Davidson) pointed out that people have two kinds of positive emotions. The first is called "pre-goal positive emotion," which is the emotion we feel as we move toward our goal. The second is called "post-goal positive emotion," which is the emotion we feel after reaching our goal. The latter is that after the brain has achieved a goal, the activity of the prefrontal cortex slows down, and we feel a short-term release of satisfaction.
In other words, when pursuing a goal, it is the process, not the result, that really matters. So set goals for ourselves first, and every time we take a step toward our goals, we will feel the joy and satisfaction of moving toward them. The instant success comes, the feeling in our hearts is actually the feeling of relief when we unload a heavy backpack after a long journey, rather than ecstatic.
24. The principle of adaptation.
People judge the current situation on the basis of being better or worse than what they have already adapted to. "Adaptation" is actually a feature of neurons: when new stimuli appear, nerve cells will have a strong response, but after that, nerve cells will gradually "habituate", and the response to the stimuli that they have adapted will tend to soften.
25. Two major findings on happiness: First, genes have a strong influence on the average happiness of an individual; second, most environmental and demographic factors have little effect on happiness.
Happiness makes marriages, and happy people marry earlier and last longer than those with lower happiness thresholds.
26. The external factors that affect a person's happiness can basically be divided into two categories: the individual's own living conditions, and the spontaneous activities chosen by the individual. The so-called personal living conditions refer to the facts that you cannot change (race, gender, age, disability, etc.) and the facts that you can change (wealth, marital status, residence, etc.). These conditions persist for a while in our lives, and we can probably adapt.
But spontaneous activities are made by personal choices, such as meditation, exercise, learning new skills, vacations, etc. Because these spontaneous activities must be a personal choice and take considerable time and energy to complete, the way these spontaneous activities disappear from our consciousness will be different from the way the individual's own living conditions disappear. . Spontaneous activities can bring more happiness to the individual.
27. The most important concept put forward by positive psychology is what Lupomsky, Sheldon, Schrader, and Seligman call the "happy agenda": H(Happiness) = S(Setpoint) + C( Conditions) + V(Voluntary activities)
H is the baseline of happiness we really feel, S is the starting point of our innate happiness, C is our living conditions, and V is the spontaneous activities we engage in.
The challenge of positive psychology is how to scientifically find out which Cs and Vs can elevate H to the high point of our possible range of happiness.
28. It is impossible for a person to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh all day long because people's need for food and sex makes it easy to be full and bored. Whether it is food or sex, once it exceeds a certain level, it will make people feel sick.
29. Flow experience (immersion experience is a smooth, effortless action. Once we reach this state, we just need to go with the feeling. Flow usually occurs when we engage in provocative activities, like skiing, driving fast on a curvy country road, or when two teams are playing against each other. This immersive state of ecstasy can also be achieved when individuals engage in creative activities alone, such as drawing, writing, or photography. The key to the flow experience is this: it's a challenge that you can put your heart into, and you have the strength to face it.
As you progress through the activity, every step you take is immediately rewarded (the principle of progress), giving you bursts of positive feelings. In a state of "flow," the elephant and its rider work in perfect harmony with each other. At this point, the elephant (automatic process) is mostly running, running smoothly all the way, while the rider (conscious mind) is completely immersed in it, searching for problems and opportunities to help the elephant move smoothly.
30. Pleasure must be restrained, otherwise, it cannot maintain its original effect. Pleasure should be tasted slowly, seeking more changes.
31. The psychology of people's conspicuous consumption and non-conspicuous consumption is different. Conspicuous consumption refers to the consumer goods that others can see and use as a symbol of personal status. These goods are like a kind of arms race, and their value does not come from objective assets, but from others' evaluation of the goods. Conspicuous consumption is a zero-sum game: individuals devalue others by improving their status. And it's hard to convince a whole group of people or people who belong to that subculture to let go of that competitive mentality and go back to basic needs consumer behavior.
Non-conspicuous consumption refers to the behavior whose value comes from the commodity and the activity itself and is mostly private consumption. The purpose of consumption is not to show status.
32. Part of the reason why experiences are happier than physical objects is that they have a higher social value. Most activities that cost more than $100 are activities we do with other people, but the behavior of expensive in-kind purchases is often driven in part by a desire to be envied. Activities allow us to connect with others, but matter increases the distance between us and others.
Spend money reasonably, don’t fight with rich people, and don’t waste money on conspicuous consumption methods. The first step is to reduce workload, make less money, accumulate less wealth, and “spend more” time with family members. Take more vacations and do more physical and mental activities.
33. The pursuit of luxury is a happiness trap, a dead end, but people mistakenly believe that such behavior will bring them happiness.
Utility maximizers like to compare themselves with others, so they can easily fall into the trap of conspicuous consumption. But utility maximizers get less happiness for every dollar spent than contented ones.
34. Attachment theory children's behavior is guided by the two basic goals of "security" and "exploration". A safe environment allows children to survive; children who can explore and play develop the skills and intelligence needed for future adult life.
If you want your children to grow up healthy and independent, then you should hug, hug, coax, and love them. As long as they are given a safe fortress, they can explore and conquer the world on their own.
35. When a man loves a beautiful carcass, he must learn to love the beauty of the entire human body, not just someone's carcass. He must see the beauty of the human soul, and then the beauty of thought and philosophy. Finally, he will understand the form of beauty itself.
36. Social norms, people with fewer connections and obligations are more likely to commit suicide. Protestants, who lived the most pure-hearted lives, had higher suicide rates than Catholics; Jews, who had the densest social networks and religious obligations, had the lowest suicide rates. People who live alone are most likely to commit suicide; those who are married have a lower suicide rate, and those who are married with children have a lower suicide rate.
Durkheim believed that people need obligations and constraints to establish structure and meaning for their lives.
37. The benefits of adversity
- First, once you can stand up to the challenges of life, you can stimulate your original hidden abilities, and these abilities will change your original concept of self.
- The second benefit is in interpersonal relationships. Adversity not only lets us know who is a friend of wine and meat, and who is a friend who can share weal and woe. We will also have love and gratitude for those who care for us in times of trouble.
- Third, trauma changes life priorities and perceptions of the present moment and others (living every day to the fullest).
38. Personality can be divided into three levels: the lowest level is "basic material" (most people focus on this), the second level is "individual adjustment" (including personal goals, defense, and adaptation mechanisms, values, belief, etc.), the third level is to make up a "life story", the so-called life story is: in the long river of time, people subjectively make up stories from the impermanent changes they have experienced. You can't make up a wonderful life story.
The life goals that people pursue at the personality level of "individual adjustment" can be roughly divided into four categories: work and achievement, interpersonal and intimate relationships, religious and spiritual life, and productivity (contribution to society and legacy to society). ).
39. When there is a crisis in our life, our methods of facing the crisis can be basically divided into three types: positive face (direct action to solve the problem), reassessment (first clarify your own thoughts, and then find out what is beneficial to yourself), escape (deny or avoid the occurrence of the event or use alcohol, drugs, etc. to anesthetize to suppress one's own emotional response).
People with the basic optimistic personality trait (level 1 personality trait) develop a set of coping strategies (level 2 personality trait) that alternate between positive confrontation and reassessment.
40. The ability to grow after adversity does not depend on the optimistic attitude itself, but because the optimistic person can easily find out the meaning of the event.
Anyone can benefit from adversity, it’s just that pessimistic people have to work harder and take some conscious steps to slowly lead the way towards the right path through self-guided psychology. The first step is to change your way of cognition before encountering adversity; the second step is to cherish and build your social support network; the third step, religious beliefs, and rituals can help us grow because religious beliefs and rituals not only Directly let us find the meaning of the event, and at the same time strengthen our social support;
finally, whether you are ready or not, once something goes wrong in your life, a few months after the event, you must remember to take out a piece of paper and write down your feelings. Write down the event process one by one, and then answer these two questions well before making a conclusion: Why did this event happen? What good lessons can I learn from this myself?
41. Classification of knowledge: explicit knowledge (explicit) and tacit knowledge (tacit)
Explicit knowledge refers to the facts that we know, consciously speak, and are not limited by time and space conditions. The tacit understanding is a process (emphasis on "knowing why" rather than "knowing how"), and obtaining and obtaining this kind of knowledge does not require the help of others, but is related to personal values.
Tacit knowledge exists in the elephant, and it is a skill that the elephant has honed over time from life experience. Moreover, tacit knowledge will vary with the time and space environment. Wisdom comes from tacit knowledge.
42. The best way for parents to cope is to give their children a rich life experience so that children can gain tacit knowledge in different areas of life.
43. Franklin was a brilliant psychologist who intuitively knew that only by first training the elephants would be successful riding. So he devised a virtue training program, where he listed 13 virtues, each of which had behaviors he should or shouldn't do.
44. Virtues must be based on specific traditions to thrive, but modern man has lost the language of virtue, so it is difficult for modern man to find meaning, consistency, and purpose in life.
45. People's morality is divided into three main areas: the ethics of autonomy, the ethics of groups, and the ethics of divinity.
People think and act according to the moral code of autonomy, the purpose is to protect the individual from harm, to pursue the maximum autonomy of the individual, and to facilitate the achievement of individual goals. Following the moral code of the group, the purpose is to protect the integrity of the group, family, company, or country, so it values the virtues of obedience, loyalty, and wise leadership.
To abide by the moral code of divinity is to protect the individual from falling, and to keep divinity in the hearts of all people. Therefore, people advocate a pure and sacred way of life to keep themselves free from moral pollution such as desire, greed, and resentment.
46. Virtues change one's emotions, and these emotional responses create a warm or pleasant feeling in one's chest and a conscious desire to help others, or make oneself better.
47. The vagus nerve may be activated when a sense of elevation arises in people's minds. The vagus nerve is the main nerve in the secondary sensory nervous system. The vagus nerve has a calming effect and also eliminates the emotional disturbance caused by the sympathetic nervous system.
The vagus nerve is also the main nerve that controls the heartbeat and has various effects on the heart and lungs. Therefore, when people feel a strange feeling in the chest, it is probably related to the vagus nerve.
48. There is a divinity within each, so the ideal society is to help people find a way of life that can be in harmony with the divinity.
49. Most people can get more satisfaction from their work. The first step is to master their own strengths and choose a job that allows them to exert their strengths every day so that they can at least enjoy a moment of flow every day.
50. The correct hypothesis of happiness should be: the way to happiness lies in the mean.
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About Muhiuddin Alam
Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, Substack, Vocal, Flipboard, and Amazon KDP. Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel.
