User:Talton452/sandbox/Humans Need Happiness to Survive

Happiness is important, but it is more than the temporal ending of suffering, which most people practice. It is something that has to be worked on. It takes a certain attitude, goals to accomplish that reflect creativity and or intellect, and experiences in nature or of true love. Happiness is not something that is out there, something that you have to find or earn. Feeling happiness is up to you only, is not directly connected to the material things that you have, your health or if you have accomplish all your goals. Happiness allows humans to feel joy, and allowing he or she to reduce the possibility of depression. Also happiness makes humans want to survive, without happiness humans would just be going through motions. Additionally happiness separates humans from beasts, letting humans survive as men and women instead of savage beasts. Thus happiness was meant to allow humans to survive in whatever environment he or she happens to be in. Happiness is then a product of natural selection and the drive to survive; it is one way that humans are encouraged to give his or her attention towards the things, which were beneficial to the human’s survival. Researchers also find that people with strong social connections have less stress-related health problems, lower risk of mental illness, and faster recovery from trauma or illness. Friends and family can also encourage and support us in healthy lifestyle habits, such as exercise and moderation. Researchers have also found that people are happier when they are with other people, rather than when they are alone. They also are finding that happy people are more pleasant, helpful, and sociable. So being around people makes us feel happier, and when we are happier we are more fun to be around, creating an “upward spiral” of happiness. Being happy allows humans to stay away from depression, allowing them to live longer and have better relationships throughout their lives, allowing them to survive for a longer period of time. Rousseau explains that humans need happiness to survive and thrive in the world. For Rousseau, man in his state of nature is essentially an animal like any other, driven by two key motivating principles: pity and self-preservation. In the state of nature, which is more a hypothetical idea than an actual historical epoch,man exists without reason or the concept of good and evil, has few needs, and is essentially happy. The only thing that separates him from the beasts is some sense of unrealized perfectibility.

Studies show that a person's health is one of the strongest predictors of happiness. Happiness is not just in the mind, for example, adverse changes in health do have a negative impact on happiness levels, at least for a little while. Poor health has the potential to significantly affect almost every aspect of life: independence, self-image, personal relationships, and the ability to work and carry out basic daily activities. So it's no surprise that when health takes a hit, happiness does as well. And both physical health and emotional health influence happiness. Mood disorders diminish quality of life even more than chronic physical ailments, such as arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. According to the founding father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, a happy life is one that is pleasurable, engaging, and meaningful, the more engaging and meaningful, the better. Seligman suggests that people who focus their energies on leading an engaged and meaningful life are more successful at achieving lifelong happiness and are more likely to live longer.

Harry Harlow studied contact comfort in babyhood, wondering which would be more powerful, contact comfort or food. Suddenly he got the idea of providing the babies with a choice between two mothers, one of which would provide something soft to embrace, the other of which would provide milk. To make a cuddly mother, Harlow's assistants covered a wire frame with terrycloth. A second mother was identical to the first but had no terrycloth; it was just a wire frame with a built-in milk bottle and nipple. Harlow raised rhesus monkeys from birth, and he found it was necessary to keep young monkeys separate from each other for health reasons. This separation began soon after birth, and he noticed that young monkeys deprived of contact with their mothers appeared to suffer mental distress. The babies became very attached to cheesecloth diapers in their cages, clinging onto them like security blankets. Harlow found that baby monkeys preferred the terrycloth mother, spending as little time as possible on the wire frame mother. Contact comfort was more important than food, except when the baby monkey was actually eating. Harlow performed this experiment in 1962, at the University of Wisconsin. This study shows that animals and humans both need comfort in their lives to survive, or have a chance of surviving. The monkeys that did not have contact with a comfort blanket or stuffed animal had mental illnesses that made it much more difficult for them to survive. Comfort can be linked to happiness and this experiments that happiness is a key ingredient in surviving.

Happiness plays a huge role in human’s lives, without happiness humans would be depressed, savages or dead. Humans need happiness to survive life and life to the fullest. Humans need food, water and, shelter to truly survive. This writer believes that Humans need food, water, shelter and, happiness to survive. Thus happiness was meant to allow humans to survive in whatever environment he or she happens to be in.



Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The First and Second Discourses. Harlow, Harry. Contact Comfort