**3. Emerging happiness: evidence from psychology**

Through a critical review of psychological models of happiness determinants and other related empirical studies, this section reports the arguments in favor of emergent (affective) sources of happiness. That is, affective factors, such as emotions, which would modulate happiness in a bottom-up rather than top-down manner.

### **3.1 Initial scientific pessimism**

In the field of psychology, happiness measurement is commonly operationalized by the self-reported measure of "subjective well-being" (SWB), which is defined by frequent positive affect (prevalence of pleasant emotions and moods), high life satisfaction, and infrequent negative affect (prevalence of non-pleasant emotions and moods [9]). Even though happiness is associated with several advantages such as better self-control [10], superior work outcomes [11], and a strengthened immune system [12], research about sources of sustainable SWB improvement has been neglected until the early 2000s. This neglect has been even stronger for the study of bottom-up sources of happiness. According to Lyubomirsky et al. (2005), this neglect was due to a "scientific pessimism" about the ability of individuals to increase their happiness over time [13]. The three main well-documented causes of this pessimism are strong genetic determinism of happiness [13–15], temporal stability of the two personality traits more strongly associated with happiness (*i.e.*, neuroticism and extroversion; [15, 16]), and the hedonic adaptation process (also known as the "*hedonic treadmill*"). This process represents the automatic tendency of humans to readjust their happiness to its initial level after a short-term positive or negative change of personal experience [17, 18]. Despite these three impediments, researchers have recently accumulated findings indicating that happiness is a complex multi-determined concept that can be sustainably increased. Interestingly, these findings have not been restricted to topdown processes. They also indicate that the sustainable increase in happiness can be underpinned by emergent (bottom-up) sources.

## **3.2 Emerging sources of happiness according to the hedonic adaptation prevention model (HAP model)**

Factors promoting a sustainable improvement of happiness have been progressively revealed through the development of successive empirically supported theoretical models. The Sustained Happiness Model (SHM) has been the seminal modeling of happiness determinants [13]. It posits that SWB is determined by three general factors:

### **Figure 1.**

*Hedonic adaptation prevention model and its two main routes. Notes. Model adapted from [Sheldon, K. M., and Lyubomirsky, S. (2012). The challenge of staying happier: Testing the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(5), 670–680. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212436400]; [18]. Original figure p. 671 ("Figure 1"), in Sheldon & Lyubomirsky (2012). Copyright © 2012 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc. Adapted with Permission of Sage Publications. A = well-being initial boost. WB = subjective well-being, T = measurement time. = bottom-up route (marking added in this chapter), = top-down route (marking added in this chapter), (+) = positive effect on, (−) = negative effect on.*

genetic basis, intentional activities (*i.e.*, activities or practices that people deliberately decide to engage in, requiring effort to be achieved, *e.g.*, trying to be generous with other people), and circumstances (*i.e.*, stable and incidental events such as life changes that occur by themselves in an individual's life, *e.g.*, getting a new apartment).1

Circumstances are a particularly relevant determinant regarding emergent happiness. Indeed, it suggests that it is possible to achieve a sustainable increase in happiness from the daily life changes that are experienced, that are not related to a volitional pursuit of happiness. This bottom-up route to happiness was conceived and experimentally tested by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2012) as part of the empirical validation of the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention model (HAP model; **Figure 1**; [18]).

### *3.2.1 Variety*

This HAP model includes a non-affective emergent source that promotes the persistence of an initial SWB boost from a positive life change by limiting the hedonic adaptation process. This emergent source of happiness is variety. In two experiments, Sheldon et al. (2012) showed that rating or practicing varied experiences derived from a positive life change was associated with long-term persistence of the initial increase in SWB [19]. Conversely, repeated exposure to the same experience derived from a positive life change was associated with a decrease in SWB, consistent with the

<sup>1</sup> According to Lyubomirsky et *al*. (2005), one critical distinction between "circumstances" and "intentional activities" is related to the amount of associated effort: " […] *circumstances happen to people, and activities are ways that people act on their circumstances* " (p. 118; [13]).

### *Enacting Happiness from Emotions and Moods DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106954*

hedonic adaptation process [19, 20]. The more we are exposed to the same derived life experience, the more its effects are understood and anticipated, and the less the associated pleasure will be, resulting in happiness returning to its initial state [21]. Thus, regardless of a particular state of mind oriented toward happiness pursuit, happiness could be sustainably increased through a bottom-up process. The first source of this emergent happiness is variety of daily life experiences that contributes to generating pleasure from positive life changes [22].

### *3.2.2 Positive life events and emotions*

The global empirical validation of the HAP model has been conducted by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2012; [18]). In a longitudinal study based on the reports of 488 students, SWB was measured three times (T1, T2, and T3) at 6-week intervals. At T2, students were asked to indicate the most important positive life change since T1 (referred to as "original life change"). They were also asked questions related to the amount of positive "thought-events" derived from the original life change ("Amount of Positive Events"), positive affect experienced from the original life change ("Amount of Positive Emotions"), variety, appreciation of the original change, and aspiration (*i.e.*, the qualitative and quantitative contentment level of the original change).

Path analyses validated the HAP model, consisting of two routes influencing SWB maintenance over time: one referring to a bottom-up process (boxed in red in **Figure 1**) and another referring to a top-down process (boxed in blue in **Figure 1**). Both routes originate from a positive original life change that occurs, independently of a volitional pursuit of happiness [18].

Interestingly, the bottom-up route highlights two new related emergent sources of happiness: the number of positive events derived from the original life change and the number of positive emotions associated with that change. Indeed, results showed that the more participants reported frequent positive thought-events related to the original life change, the more they derived (in intensity) positive emotions from that change (*i.e.*, happy, pleased, joyful, relaxed, and cheerful emotions), and the more the SWB at T3 was important. In addition, the authors found that variety was an enhancer of this relationship. The more participants reported frequent varied experiences derived from the original change, the greater the effect of positive emotions derived from the original change on the sustained increase in SWB [18].

However, the positive effect of this bottom-up process on the sustained increase in SWB can be diminished by a top-down process that corresponds to the second route of the HAP model. The results showed that the more participants reported positive thought-events derived from the original life change, the more they aspired to an even better change and the less the initial SWB gain was maintained. But the data also indicated that the more participants continued to appreciate the original positive life change, and reported various experiences derived from that change, the less they experienced aspiration. Thus, this detrimental top-down process on sustainable SWB increase can be inhibited to favor the positive effect of the bottom-up process. This can be achieved thanks to appreciation and variety, two moderators that inhibit aspiration, *i.e.*, the desire to "want more". High-level processes are particularly complex because they can lead, depending on the direction of thoughts, to either a decrease or a sustainable increase in happiness [23, 24]. Later in this chapter, we will embrace a more sophisticated view on these top-down processes and see how they can be used to support a sustainable increase in happiness.

### *3.2.3 Summary and criticisms of the HAP model*

In sum, the empirical work on the HAP model supports the existence of an emergent pathway to happiness. This emergent pathway is based on the idea that in everyday life we experience positive life changes regardless of a volitional pursuit of happiness. These life changes lead to a short-term gain in SWB that can be sustained by various factors embedded in daily life experiences derived from these changes, referred to in this paper as "emergent sources," which will prevent the hedonic adaptation process. Considering the results obtained by Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2012), the emergent source that most directly promotes sustainable SWB increase has an affective nature, namely the positive emotions derived from the original life change. The more positive the derived emotions, the more limited the hedonic adaptation process, and the more the initial gain in SWB (due to the initial life change) can be maintained in the following months. Two other related non-affective emergent sources more indirectly contribute to the sustained increase in SWB: the number of positive events and the variety of life experiences all derived from the original positive life change. The most important source of both is variety, as it promotes positive emotions and inhibits aspiration, while the quantity of positive events (which increases aspiration) "only" promotes positive emotions derived from the original life change [18, 22].

It can be noticed that in the HAP model, the so-called "top-down" route to happiness is supplied by the bottom-up route. While the bottom-up route of the HAP model incorporates the one and only input of the model (i.e., positive life change independent of a volitional pursuit of happiness), the "top-down" processes are only a secondary reaction caused by the bottom-up processes and cannot exist without them. Indeed, appreciation and inspiration would not occur without the life events derived from the original change. This empirically supported organization of the HAP model reinforces the relevance of its integration in the proposal of an emergent approach to happiness. However, this should not lead to the general conclusion that bottom-up processes predominate over top-down processes in enhancing happiness. Several data suggest that rather than being two independent routes, bottom-up and top-down processes may have a circular relationship, discussed later in this chapter.

Regarding specifically the bottom-up route of the HAP model, the emotions derived from life change must be positive to promote sustained increases in happiness. This suggests that if these emotions are not positive, such as hatred, then they will not favor the maintenance of the initial gain in SWB. In their paper related to the "secret of happiness," Tamir et al*.* (2017) obtained intriguing results that question the bottom-up route of the HAP model [25]. Indeed, their results suggest that it is not enough for the emotions derived from life changes to be "merely" positive to promote a sustained increase in SWB. In their study, more than two thousand students first indicated the emotions they wanted to feel. Then they performed an unrelated, emotionally neutral word-generation task for five minutes, and reported their current emotions and SWB. The results showed that participants' SWB was positively related, not to the positive emotions experienced, but rather to the equality between the emotions experienced and those desired. In other words, the happiest participants were those who were able to experience the emotions they wanted to experience, whether they were pleasant (e.g., love) or not pleasant (*e.g.*, anger). Thus, it is likely that to achieve a sustainable increase in SWB, the important thing is not to derive positive emotions from the life change, but rather to derive emotions more generally consistent with the ones that we want to experience. However, the structure of the HAP model has not yet been reconsidered according to this possibility [22].

### **3.3 Environmental stressors**

Studies on the empirical validation of the HAP model have not been the only ones to provide arguments in favor of a bottom-up modulation of happiness. Individuals' stress level is a critical component of their affective state. In everyday life, we may be confronted with external events that can generate stress and thus modify our affective state in a bottom-up manner. These events fall into the category of "environmental stressors" [26], which include daily hassles (e.g., traffic congestion, disruptive students), ambient stressors (e.g., car noise, dust in eyes), stressful life events (e.g., bereavement, child's birth) and cataclysmic events (e.g., major storms, heatwave). Within this framework, several studies have shown that environmental stressors have a significant impact on SWB.

### *3.3.1 Daily hassles*

Feist et al. (1995) asked 160 students to complete a battery of self-reported scales every 1 month for 4 months to better understand the causal influences of happiness [27]. They obtained results indicating that daily hassles (considered as a bottom-up factor in the model), such as financial inadequacies or time constraints, do not directly but indirectly decrease SWB level, through the degradation of constructive thinking (i.e., developing coping strategies from life experiences). More recently and specifically, Udayar et al. (2021) showed, using data from 1170 individuals living in Switzerland, that daily hassles (e.g., financial inadequacy, having an illness, family problems) negatively predict life satisfaction, one of the three components of SWB [28].
