In his article, Jon Gertner revisits certain works studied by university professors concerning the behavioral and emotional predictions that humans make. According to Tim Wilson and Dan Gilbert, it is apparent that the predictions people would make concerning their feelings after a choice is made or after an event takes place will be wrong. Daniel Kahneman ponders on how the world would be if everyone happened not to make errors in his or her predictions about his or her happiness. George Loewenstein holds the view that when in a calm state, an individual’s rational thinking would differ from when in stress or during times of passion.
Jon Gertner concludes that an individual will most likely be wrong when predicting how he or she feels in the future. He therefore does not think that it is possible for happiness to be achieved. He well presents the works of the researchers whom he writes about, only analyzing and criticizing bits he perceives not to be a reality. These help him come up with his own conclusion. In the pursuit of ambitions by mankind, the ultimate goal is normally the fulfillment brought about by being happy. Happiness is known to be dependent on certain occurrences; these will make an individual blissful if they are positive. Even though happiness can be realized due to such events, the belief that by targeting a luxurious life one would attain happiness is misleading. Gertner therefore believes that the attempts by humans to pursue happiness are in vain.
After acquiring that which you have desired for ages, and it hits you that you are not as happy as you had imagined you would be, you tend instead to desire something else, and hence a cycle emerges. The same again applies to undesired outcomes. When faced with a misfortune, and when it slowly hits you that you aren’t as unhappy as you had imagined you would be, you end up fearing another different misfortune more than you should have feared it. This is still a case of miswanting or impact bias.
George Loewenstein discusses empathy gap in his explanation about a hot and a cold state. When making a decision, the mood in which one is in definitely becomes a factor at play. When fearful, anxious or aroused one cannot predict accurately whatever it is that they want. It is due to empathy gap that an individual tends to have different thoughts about an event that is far away in the future.
A fundamental problem exists in Gilbert’s work that could be viewed as the reason as to why happiness is regarded to be an illusion. This is with regard to the given definition of happiness. It is generally focused on material pleasures with very few examples touching on non-materialistic things and interpersonal relationships. These have the effect of showing that happiness cannot be pursued just as Gertner points out. However, defining happiness in the context of maximization of life’s potential, personal peace and the attainment of goals for the collective benefit of other people will make true happiness be both attainable and worth pursuing. Other than this, happiness remains elusive.
However, all is not lost; we should not be convinced to pursue other things rather than happiness. What can be done in line with the prediction of how outcomes of future events will make one feel is by attempting to be more accurate in the predictions. The very first thing in doing this is by getting to know that empathy gaps and impact bias are in existence. This will enable one to counter them. When trying to recall how past events impacted on your emotions, try as much and remember a series of these and not just one event. By recalling only one event, chances are that the event is an extreme one and, therefore, untypical. In predicting how a future event will impact on your emotions, try and put this happening in context. By thinking through this event, in terms of the potentially diverse outcomes and its inevitability to change, one can be able to analyze the good and the bad aspects of the outcome. Other things that will be taken place during this future time to distract you should also be taken into account. Lastly, when one becomes older he or she becomes less likely to over predict the effect of future events on their emotions since they have been through several experiences in their lifetimes.
Works Cited
Gertner, Jon. "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness." The New York Times. New York, 7 September 2003.
Nugent, Michael. "But will it make you happy?" 3 June 2008. www.michaelnugent.com. 17 April 2012
Scott, Michael D. "Potential for Achieving Happiness ." 10 September 2003. http://www.docstoc.com. 17 April 2012
Soman, Ebey. "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness Analysis." Society. Washington DC, 31 May 2011.
