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Does the happiness formula really add up?

The Noughties were never going to be good for pessimists. The tone for the decade was set in 1997. As a grinning Tony Blair romped home to a soundtrack of "Things Can Only Get Better", an American psychologist named Martin Seligman, renowned in his field for his work on "learnt helplessness", was elected president of the American Psychological Association. Within months, he announced that having devoted 35 years to the study of human suffering and mental illness – the standard fare of psychologists – he would use the platform to explore human happiness instead.

The idea wasn't new – since the 1950s, voices in the American psychological community had been suggesting that the discipline would benefit from an arm devoted to what makes us feel good rather than bad. But Seligman was the one who did it. In 2000, he set up the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Pennsylvania and the tentacles of the movement have been spreading ever since.

Seligman soon came up with a formula for happiness, H=S+C+V, where happiness (H) is the sum of a person's genetic capacity for happiness (S), their circumstances (C), and factors under their voluntary control (V). Research showed, he said, that circumstance (in particular wealth and health) plays a less important role in our happiness than most of us believe (executives report only slightly higher levels of happiness than people in the post-room); and that people who become paraplegic eventually return to their previous levels of happiness.

What this means is that voluntary control – the V in his equation – has a high value, which means we can all learn to be happier (not least, Seligman would no doubt say, by using the exercises in books such as his own Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realise Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment). We should do this not only because happiness is desirable in and of itself, but research shows that happy, optimistic people are healthier, live longer, are more successful and have more fulfilling relationships.

To achieve greater happiness, positive-psychology advocates "learnt optimism" exercises, such as sitting down each evening and listing things that went well that day; learning to feel grateful for what we have; and practising random acts of kindness. Seligman also points out that lasting happiness has nothing to do with the hedonistic pleasures – shopping and partying – and more to do with solid values: a sense of community and meaningful work. If it is all starting to sound a bit like self-help, positive psychology has always made much of its academic credentials. Everything it advocates is research-based and proven, it insists.

drive from www.independent.co.uk