Happiness is something that we all strive to gain, but may be able to create. Synthetic happiness is what our mind generates when the situations in our lives turn out less than ideal. Dan Gilbert argues the case of synthetic happiness, and provides some crucial examples to flesh out the concept. He asks the simple question; Who is more happy? The man who won the lottery or the paraplegic who lost her leg? The answer is that they are equally happy. Of course they start in different spectrums, but over the course of a year they gradually even out. This is because our minds deal with our dissatisfaction by making what we have more satisfying.
The paraplegic would of course be devastated at first, but over that course of one year she will gradually become more adjusted to her situation and her mind would synthesize happiness. She may speak out to prevent this happening to other people, she may gain a new perspective on life, or maybe meet people she would never had met. Her mind makes happiness out of her upsetting situation. This present in all of our lives in less extreme cases as well.
Perhaps a more a relatable example is choosing a college to attend. If we look at a man who has his safe school, his dream school, and a school in between, we can flesh out this concept of synthetic happiness. If he does not get into his dream school, but gets into the middle ground, he will synthesize happiness to make it seem like it was the best choice. He would argue that he’s saving money, getting an equal education, and that he had professors he would have never met at his dream school. Four years down the road he forgets that he ever really wanted to attend that silly Ivy League and is perfectly happy where he is. If he does get into his dream school and realizes he is going into mass debt, he will synthesize happiness by saying he is getting a better education, opening more doors, and getting ahead of other people his age. It doesn’t take long to look back at our lives and pick out multiple instances of this happening in our lives.
The human species as a whole is full of diverse people living diverse lives. In all of those scenarios people are able to be happy and adapt to the lives they have. This is because of synthetic happiness. There is no definite happiness, it is all subjective because our mind generates it relative to our situation in life. We can look at the extremes, but looking at our own lives is where we can really see this concept shine. The next time things don’t go the way you want and you decide it was for the best, remember what your brain is synthesizing.
Works Cited
“The Surprising Science of Happiness.” Dan Gilbert:. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.
“Synthetic Happiness.” Sources of Insight. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
“We all think we know what will make us happy, but it turns out that we may have the whole concept wrong.”
– Happiness is an important pursuit for humans, but what truly defines being ‘happy?’
I dunno.
Not a fan of the rhetorical question, Rachel, especially as an opener. —DSH
First Sentence- Apparently we’ve been going about happiness all wrong. We’ve been wasting our time trying to find happiness instead of simply creating it.
Love it, Simone. John, I’ve criticized your sentence for vagueness, and praised this one categorically, but maybe Simone’s doesn’t seem less vague than yours? Two important differences distinguish her version:
1. In hers, happiness is something we DO. It’s not a thing, it’s process, something we “go about.”
2. In hers, instead of a broad claim that we completely misunderstand the concept, a line is drawn: happiness isn’t something to be sought; it’s something to be made.
Does that seem fair? Are the differences clear? —DSH
First sentence: Everything you know about happiness is a lie. Even the happy can be oblivious to the fact that their lives are dreadful.
I don’t think I understand this assignment very well, but this kind of blunt humor would definitely intrigue me.
Get thee behind me, Satan. I spent a full semester getting John to avoid the temptation of the 2nd person, and here you go offering him “Everything you know”! 🙂 —DSH
We assume we know what will make us happy, but our understanding of the concept may be wrong.
– I didn’t want to drastically change your sentence, but this might be a nice alternative.
It’s a reasonable alternative, Saarah, but it makes the same vague claim John makes. It doesn’t identify what makes us happy. And it doesn’t identify the fallacy in our thinking. —DSH
The happiness we know may be a lie;
having our view of it completely skewed. The objects in life we think bring us happiness are a waste because we can create our own.I like most of this, Luke. I struck through the part I didn’t. —DSH
John, you made very valuable contributions to your classmates’ essays in the form of well-crafted first sentences packed with terse, clear claims. Now is the time for you to use that same skill on your own.
Then, get rid of all the 2nd-person language from your P1. Then ask for anything else you might want.
Hello Professor!
This is the first of many revamps of my papers. Feedback is greatly appreciated and I’ll continue to update this essay in response to your feedback. Thank you!
Feedback provided. —DSH
Need Feedback! Posting this to get it into the comment sidebar.
Feedback provided. —DSH
Still need Feedback professor!
Feedback Provided. (Hope you’re not sorry you asked! 🙂 )
P1. If you can’t tell me by now what’s wrong with “the paraplegic who lost their leg,” I will cry.
Before you move on to a “more relatable example,” you’d be very well advised to offer us SOME explanation of how the paraplegic finds happiness in HIS situation, John. Or why the momentary euphoria of winning the lottery doesn’t last a year. Your claim that “things even out” is not satisfying. You’re supposed to persuade us, not present us with your conclusion (Gilbert’s conclusion).
P2. If you can’t tell me by now what’s wrong with “someone who has their safe school,” I will fail you.
This is a helpful example. But to be convincing, it would need to explain what happens to the student who DOES get into her first choice school. Does she synthesize unhappiness to balance things out?
P3. Don’t even start with the counterexamples, John, before you’re absolutely certain you’ve nailed down your own thesis. Our confidence in your conclusion is not exactly unshakeable. You shouldn’t be weakening it by suggesting that it isn’t always equally true.
Specific language trouble: “should be viewed as a something impacts individual cases.” (While you’re waiting for feedback from me, you should be reading your own work VERY carefully to eliminate stuff like this.)
If you can’t tell me by now what’s wrong with “the person is generally happy with their life,” I will never hire you to write my copy.
Out of three paragraphs, one hints at what your proof will be, one provides a reasonable example but no proof, and the third undermines the validity of your own argument.
Your Works Cited should contain all the necessary bibliographic notation “title, author, publication, date” AND hyperlink to the source.
(Feedback gets more critical as the semester progresses, John. Sorry if these notes are harsh, but this should be a time for fine-tuning only.)
Hey Professor,
Just letting you know this essay has been revised.
That’s clean. Grade recorded for Portfolio.