The Dark Side of Happiness: June Gruber at TEDxCambridge 2011

Yale psychologist June Gruber asks whether, in a culture obsessed with pursuing happiness, it's possible to have too much of a good thing.
Learn more about TEDxCambridge at www.tedxcambrid....

[@micr.6446]

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore

[@naranjasss]

thank you. beautiful

[@GwynnieJ]

Well, in the last point, she was really saying that obsessing over being happy can lead you to be less happy (e.g. "Why aren't I happy? What's wrong with me?!") - which seems true; when you micromanage your own emotions and beat yourself up over any negative thoughts, because you've told yourself you "should" be happy, you're actually pushing yourself further from your destination. She doesn't think happiness is bad - just that ALWAYS being happy can be detrimental.

[@Engleasy]

I'd say there's sufficient unhappiness going around and we need not be particularly worried about being overwhelmed by happiness. Quite the opposite.

[@PeterOzanne]

She just doesn't define "happiness" in a reasonable, normal, or comprehensible way. For example, the "extreme happiness" she shows with the graph around 4.35 seems more like the "manic" phase of someone with a severe personality disorder or bi-polar syndrome. Or, more bluntly, the riskiness, and drug/alcohol misuse would be even more typically the behaviour of someone who is really UNhappy. It's not happiness itself that has a "dark side" - it's most people's totally false idea of what happiness is, and what we need to do to experience it.

[@mollycampbell6060]

Anti-depressants aren't part of a growing trend towards "greater happiness." They're a medication to treat diagnosed medical issues, not a self-help fad to make one the happiest on the block.

[@azial2737]

Translator Bayader , you are something else! Keep up the good work . You did a great job 😘

[@egodust11]

Yes, taking the path of the Middle Way, which is popularly attributed to Buddhism, can also be found in the Perennial Philosophy (which is the esoteric undercurrent within all metaphysical philosophies). As I've come to understand this general topic, happiness in fact cannot exist without its [inevitable!] counterpart in suffering. Both have their vital roles to play, not only in the evolutionary development of the individual, but as being integral to life itself. For example, if we look at nature, we realize it can be both beautiful/wonderful and ugly/terrible, both creative and destructive, attractive and repulsive. IMO, it's best to embrace happiness and do our best to avoid resisting suffering..

[@richardliang3848]

Haven't seen your lectures in awhile/ always interested in what you're saying Regards Richard

[@SuperSetCA]

Just listening to her makes me happy. She's the perfect person for her field of study.

[@yasmeen66]

Being content is priceless and leads to happiness, " in moderation" Don't worry.. Be happy :)

[@MrCanigou]

Beautiful and inspiring talk ! thank you !

[@NatalieSpa888]

Living in the moment is all good and well if you're currently somewhere nice, people forget that.

[@aaceytuno]

Fascinating, thank you for sharing your research, and maybe helping people out there that have set the bar too high, and constantly feel bad about not reaching it. Highly ironic, and not intuitive unless studied. Your power points are some of the best I've seen. Keep up the good work. Thanks

[@PeterMcGraw]

Nice job, June!

[@horfittamamamknullar]

My happiness comes from living in the moment, take nothing for granted and being thankful everyday! Always happy, love and light JAH Raspect!:)

[@abdollahi20]

This young lady seems to be a genius in her field. Take a look at her CV: about 400 books, papers, presentations, etc -- within a period of only 12 years. Wow!... There is another lady at UNC working in the field. She says she can help us to raise our positivity ratio. Wow! Wonderful.

[@GwynnieJ]

Good question - it seems to vary wildly depending on who's doing the research. They often just give participants a questionnaire asking "How _____ do you feel right now?" on a scale of 1-7, which items like "happy", "bored", "curious" etc. Some studies actually use physiological measures, but most just rely on self-report - which, of course, has a lot of limitations.

[@Redflowers9]

Thank you very much, June. I'll probably understand where you're coming from a lot better then, even though I enjoyed the presentation through to the end.

[@marekdrzewiecki3780]

Excellent lecture, thank you!

[@mufyp6196]

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Bliss, Peace, Ecstasy, Happiness are all different but the speaker uses the term Happiness very loosely. The dark side of happiness is the price you have to pay for it, what goes up must come down, and the down side is the dark side. Happiness and Sadness are polar opposites and balance out peacefully :-)

[@johnnywlittle]

“Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness”... John Stuart Mill

[@casiandsouza7031]

Spoke on a topic without definition. Quoted Ari on anger without mentioning it. "Too" means out of range, in other words "not". It makes no difference whether it is much or little. What does one do after clearing a low bar?Happiness is about striving for a goal. At the end all that matters is that you gave it your best shot. One of my problems as a kids soccer coach was mothers and elder siblings who made them feel bad for not scoring.

[@mauriciogerhardt3209]

The problem with mania is not too much happiness, but rather too little fear. That's what makes him do dangerous things. Another example she gives is that it's better to be angry when fighting, but anger and happiness are not mutually exclusive, so just because a person is angry doesn't mean it isn't happy. The only bad moment to be happy is when someone got killed, because if you're the only one that is happy, they'll assume you're the murderer. XD

[@Radblur]

I find that a potentially major flaw with this is that it presupposes what things count as "good". If my goal is solely to win in a chess game, then it is true that being super happy isn't going to help me achieve this aim. But if I am playing a chess game with a friend, for instance, I would much rather be happy than care about winning.

[@maiashakti]

Equanimity is the key to true peace; not happiness. Thank you for a wonderful video!

[@Redflowers9]

Happiness is a subjective feeling. It means many different things to many people, and it's not necessarily the same thing acquired through different means; we all individually know and appreciate what nature has allowed us know and appreciate i.e. being content? joy? relaxed? Despite our similarities, you can't just assume that this is the same feeling for everybody and it's too general a set to seriously invest in. Define it properly and then try it out, lol.

[@fivetimesyo]

Well here's confusion if I have ever seen it... Why would you hold back on pursuing happiness, as Mrs. Gruber suggests: in order to be happy perhaps? Oh the absurdity. Once again, defining terms is essential to clear thinking...

[@NightFalcon5052]

How is the amount of happiness of someone measured? Through hormone level or something else?

[@johnmiller7453]

Wow it's amazing how much help people need with their emotions. Yet it's no problem building an advanced civilization. Or am I wrong about that? (That professional is seriously cute)

[@drbtdangable]

Happiness is not a goal! It is natural consequence of a state of "selflessness" and freedom from attachment!

[@eggheadeinstein]

How about we settle this by throwing the word "happy" out of the dictionary along with "nice". Neither describe anything but the most banal negation of their opposites. Happy is a cartoon's idea of contentment... and nice, allowing for a false-front, should be idealized as compassion, which contains within its definition a pure honesty. I'd like to add in today's world if you are too happy, eventually someone who is not is quite as happy, is likely to try to make him or herself feel happier by happily punching you in the face, setting you back two-steps towards the side of unhappy. Lastly as someone who experiences mania in a non-predictive lifelong cycle, I would think she has it backwards. Being manic is such a high that when you aren't... you tend to want to be... and some manic people will spend a lifetime looking for ways to trigger their mania, not realizing that its not quite right to be so unrealistically enthusiastic and ambitious, and furthermore than mania has to boil up from the unconscious or it doesn't work. If you've never been manically charged you'd probably be less likely to be found in the bookstore's self-help section unless you were depressed. But depressed people can't get out of bed to make it to the book store. Leading me to believe those who continually search for happiness have a tendency towards mania, know how it fuels them, and love it dearly.

[@junenquiry1]

Thanks for your thoughts. If you'd like to read more work on happiness, positive emotion, as well as bipolar disorder please check out my lab website: www.gruberpeplab.com

[@jayzee7467]

Smash the happiness industrial complex.

[@teddycollier4909]

Tomorrow i'm going to install a happiness meter. I ordered it from Amazon. I need to know when I'm happy. I'm tired of having to rely on the media to tell me what makes me happy. If I install it correctly, That will make me happy, I think.

[@Redflowers9]

I feel that she could have better defined what "happiness" was to her before asking whether it was a good thing, because happiness to me is when you've achieved something and always confined to that moment... how the hell is that too much of a good thing?- and don't even think of bringing up the context-dodging easy 'over-achiever' throw away. I would really like to know what she means. Does she mean getting high?

[@lafoliedebon]

Happiness is dull.

[@dejanromih7913]

I think this talk is too vague and not enough specific to be valuable or worth considering. What happiness are you talking about? There are many different "types" of happiness specific to different cultures so I think you should first have defined the happiness you are talking about. If you are talking about "buddhist" concept of happiness, then there's no dark side (they consider it not really an emotion but a spiritual state where don't stress over things, you stop reacting to this feelung of happiness or sadness. So for example just their happiness is something completely different from our "western" definition of happiness ...

[@junenquiry1]

Please see original paper: Gruber, J., Mauss, I. B., & Tamir, M. (2011). A dark side of happiness? How, when, and why happiness is not always good. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3), 222-233.

[@MrsLBHenderson]

I didn't hear any definition of happiness, and I'm wondering if they have an effective measure and understanding of it. This is the Dark Side of Psychology.

[@rajbeekie7124]

I think this presenter really mixes up happiness with a variety of illnesses. A person who sees high risk activities, alcoholism, drugs, etc. may be happy in some aspects of their life, but they are also afflicted by some serious pathologies.

[@lamsrojo]

Raj Beekie agreed, almost like saying if your happy it means ur a maniac with no common sense. well that's what I got from her message. either way I dont feel she did a real good job of explaining her point of scientific results or proof of some solid kind. she could be right in what she was intending to say but it was poorly explained and shown.

[@micr.6446]

she talks of happiness like something to achieve, a goal (in the future) while happiness can only be felt in the present.

[@crackpotproductions4091]

Most psychologists due seemed to be baffled by happiness.

[@MrsLBHenderson]

Sorry, I can't see the comment above.

[@crackpotproductions4091]

This video will not be helpful to anyone who is depressed. Nor will it be beneficial to a teenager starting out in life being happy because this video teaches them to feel guilty. MANY important things were NOT taken into consideration: What if some one was abused as a child? Is it wrong for them to pursue happiness now? Would they not tend to pursue happiness with a higher incidence of alcohol and / or illicit drug consumption?

[@TheCerealluvr]

AMEN

[@markc5960]

Comedy TV It's true a lot of things are not taken into consideration, because this is a talk at a specific place on a specific subject for a specific audience. If someone has issues from something like abuse they should probably not look for advice via KZbin anyway. I don't know why anyone would feel guilty from this video though, if someone interprets it that way it would be good for them to recognize they are doing it, and maybe they are just used to a certain view because it's the social norm and not really anything about the individual. I think the issue is not a matter of positive or negative, but context or lack of it. With the example of abuse, someone who realizes their issues stem from that may feel anger, without that context and understanding of where they're coming from someone might be quick to say "anger is negative" but it may be totally appropriate for them in their process considering what they've gone through. Same thing with happiness or what most people call happiness, it is just not the panacea to everything and nobody would suggest the pursuit of happiness would cure them of a deep seated psychological issue right?

[@BuzzZu]

is it still possible to email her?

[@Redflowers9]

I think she was saying that mania can be caused by too much happiness, which is still silly.

[@louiesch4384]

She is suggesting that striving after happiness too much is linked with depression and bipolar disorder. What is that supposed to be, some ground breaking discovery? Oh wow, what a surprise that people with depression look for ways to become happy. Who could have thought.

[@crackpotproductions4091]

She should watch the Del Talk show.

[@EricS0072]

You mean the Del Taco show. Happiness is Taco Tuesdays.

[@fivetimesyo]

There's the rub. You put your finger right on it. This is just sloppy thinking...

[@Radblur]

@MkdGoranRed judge the idea, not the voice.

[@richardliang3848]

I'm definitely pro-PhD guy / my first goal was to get A PhD in the science field !! I settled for A couple of masters degrees Regards, Richard

[@PeterOzanne]

It becomes very clear very early in this video - she's not actually talking about happiness!!

[@GetDrunkGetBlunted]

lol this is a joke, when an emotional surfaces inside you, just observe it.

[@saipavan851]

you are trying to measure happiness?! I feel that the presenter is trying to objectify all the feelings and emotions, i guess that is not the way. sounds so lame.

[@junenquiry1]

if you have specific questions about the science behind this talk, please see our lab website: www.gruberpeplab.com

[@chantalx388]

June Gruber What a beautiful website 😍

[@louisegoodes-take5physio292]

This is the most ridiculous talk I’ve ever heard in my life & the greatest departure from true science perhaps ever demonstrated.

[@dennisr.levesque2320]

All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy. But, all play and no work, makes Jack a spoiled brat. How much of one or the other? What kind? To benefit who? The devil's in the details. And how can you get it right without examining the "the dark side"?.

[@deevee6865]

You misunderstand happiness - If someone is happy, that is inherently good. If happiness suddenly becomes bad at a certain point, it is no longer happiness, it is sadness.

[@mkxx013]

Dee Vee nope

[@thistle9080]

What if someone is happy about the suffering of others? Pretty sure that's a bad happy. There's also a happy that stems from self-deception. People deny themselves the release of negative emotions all the time because we are taught that we must be happy. Depression would probably less of a problem in society if we weren't all being told that it is wrong to feel. Just a hunch.

[@PeterOzanne]

@@mkxx013 Yep! Because happiness is totally wrongly defined in this video. It's got zero to do with hedonism. Or even having stuff.

[@elijahgarcia5504]

Great subject sweetness!

[@ThuHuyen1982]

I hope she doesn't have any patient under her care ! LoL

[@junenquiry1]

If you'd like to know more about the work we do in my clinical research laboratory, you're welcome to check this out: www.yalepeplab.com

[@davealmeida9786]

o boy I think I might be a manic😨

[@tiktokgirl007]

what

[@crackpotproductions4091]

Most psychologists due seemed to be baffled by happiness.

[@watching99134]

Maybe because it's because they "do" see troubled people most of the time by definition, same way doctors see people when they're sick or injured primarily.