Fluent Essays

Your reading this week focuses on What Makes Us Happy? The section provides a wide range of answers to that question. If you have been reading critically and annotating your reading, you have begun to articulate what makes you happy.Please read the articles attached and prepare discussion post. Please annotate the articles and provide their citations in the end enjoyment.pdf can_money_buy_happiness.pdf howhappyareyou.pdf ifwe_resorich.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview Northwestern University Library Reserve Services WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS The Copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or reproduction. One of three specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If electronic transmission of reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes “fair use”, that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This policy is in effect for the following document: Klein, Stefan Enjoyment (Chapter 7) / from The Science of Happiness: How Our Brains Make Us Happy--and What We Can Do to Get Happier Translated by Stephen Lehmann. New York: Marlowe, 2006. pp. 104-117. NO FURTHER TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS MATERIAL IS PERMITTED ... • STEFAN KLEIN, PhD THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS How Our Brains Make Us Happyand What We Can Do to Get Happier TRANSLATED BY STEPHEN LEHMANN DaCapo C\J LIFE LONG A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP .~lo. ........,_ ·· Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters. Translation copyright© 2006 by Avalon Publishing Group, Inc. Copyright © 2002 by Stefan Klein First published in Germany in 2002 by Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, Rheinbeck bei Hamburg. The chart on page 237 appears courtesy of Ed Diener & Eunook M. Suh, eds., Culture and Subjective Well-Being, published by MIT press. Copyright © 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. For mformation, address Da Capo Press, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. Designed by Pauline Neuwirth, Neuwirth & Associates, Inc. Set in 11.5 point Whitman by the Perseus Books Group Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-1-56924-328-2 Published by Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group www.dacapopress.com Note: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own physician. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your doctor. We strongly recommend you follow his or her advice. Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the authors or Da Capo Press. The authors and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. The names and identifying details of people associated with events described in this book have been changed. Any similarity to actual persons is coincidental. Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, or call (800) 8104145, extension 5000, or e-mail special.markets@perseusbooks.com. 10 9 8 7 6 FOR ALEXANDRA ..... ENJOYMENT Mcinerney in his novel on smoking, ... a mix of ozone, blond tobacco and early-evening angst on the tongue. 1 In such moments a chain smoker begins to hate himself for his dependency and weakness. He despises his cigarettes, and yet he wants them-so much so that he runs to the store in the 7 ENJOYMENT WANTING AND LIKING are two different matters. How often do we go to a party, although were fairly sure that we wont feel comfortable? Therell just be a lot of boring people clutching their beer bottles, and, frankly, were not even close to the hosts. Why bother? And yet we want to go, though we cant really explain why. Its as if were afraid of missing something exciting. But as usual, once were there, nothing happens, and for a few hours we stand around in a kind of small-talk hell. We swear well never again waste an evening in this way ... until the next time. Smokers, too, know the difference between wanting and liking. A cigarette can be wonderful. The smoke caresses the nose and tickles the throat like a thousand tender feathers. On its way down, its pleasant bite unfolds as it releases a flavor that is both austere and soft. But by the days eighth or ninth cigarette ... ? Difficult to describe precisely ... wrote Jay pouring rain when his pack is empty. We arent accustomed to distinguishing between wanting and liking, for very often the two come to the same thing. You probably wont order something off a menu if you know you wont like it. But to confuse the two impulses can be a source of unhappiness, as the bored partygoer and the desperate chain smoker demonstrate. In the worst case, it can lead to serious addictions. On the other hand, the opposite can happen as well: we can like something without wanting it. After a seven-course meal, youd still like the dessert, but you wouldnt want to order it. Positive feelings come about in two different ways: when we want something, or when weve gotten something that gives us pleasure. The brain creates the two sets of impulses-wanting/ enjoyment, liking/anticipation-in different ways. The Harvard neuroscientist Hans Breiter was even able show that they activate different parts of the brain. Anticipation activates a center in the forebrain-the nucleus accumbens, the leaning center, so called because it is angled like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Its controlled by dopamine, the molecule of pleasure, and plays an important role in remembering positive experiences. But when we enjoy something, the areas of the cerebrum responsible for conscious perception are also activated. 2 And the transmitter here isnt dopamine, but opioids, natural substances that resemble opium. THE TRANSMITTERS OF EUPHORIA Every enjoyment is a kind of rush. Whether its a hot shower on a winter morning, a massage, a good meal, or sex-the same 105 ..._. THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 106 mechanism is at work, and the same synapses in the brain are responsible. And they have the same chemistry: opioids are involved in the creation of every experience of pleasure. At their core all pleasures are the same. What distinguishes the delights of a massage, therefore, from the enjoyment of a cold beer on a hot summer day isnt the melody in the brain, but the different instruments on which its played. In the one case, signals come from the pressure-sensitive sensors on the skin, in the other, from the tongue and gums. Once the stimuli reach the brain, however, the resulting pleasure is the same. Maybe the French poet Charles Baudelaire suspected these connections when he exhorted his readers: You should always be drunk. Everything depends on it. If you dont want to feel the awful burden of Time breaking your shoulders and pressing you to the ground, you must be ceaselessly drunk. But on what? On wine, poetry, virtue ... whatever you want. But get drunk. 3 The frenzy of enjoyment interrupts the flow of time-the idea isnt as odd as we might think, since opioids chemically alter our experience of time. During orgasm, for example, the clock seems to stop. Baudelaire recognized that all intoxicants have the same effect and, whats more, that we dont even need artificial stimulants to get intoxicated. The equation of good and bad states of intoxication seemed a monstrous thought at the time. Baudelaires volume of poetry Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) caused a scandal when it was published in 1857. And his collection of prose poems that includes But get drunk wasnt published until after his death. More than a hundred years later, neuroscientists provided the biological basis for Baudelaires bold claim. In 1973, three research groups determined independently that neurons in the human brain contain receptors-chemical docking stationsfor opiates, among them morphine and heroin. To what ENJOYMENT evolutionary purpose? Certainly not for people to yield to the pleasures of the poppy! Scientists searched feverishly for answers and discovered that the brain can create morphinelike substances that fit exactly onto the mysterious receptors: the first natural opiates-drugs that the body itself creates-had been found. They were called endorphins, a neologism forged from the Greek prefix endo; for inner and morphine. Soon more such substances were identified: the enkephalins. Finally dynorphins, which have exactly the opposite effect from the endorphins, were discovered-instead of pleasure, they stimulate repugnance. Today all these substances- .. endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins-are brought together under the term opioids. Opioids are neuropeptides, molecules that are much bigger and have a more complicated structure than dopamine. After scientists discovered these chemicals in the human brain, it didnt take them long to find the transmitters for pleasure in other animals as well. Opioids flow in the brains of dogs, rodents, and insects, and even in the simple nervous system of the rainworm. Does this mean that all of nature is moved to search for happiness? EMBRACING THE WHOLE WORLD Without endorphins and enkephalins the world would be terribly gray. Just how gray we know in cases where medications cause these transmitters to temporarily lose their effectiveness. Naloxon is such a medication. It is taken to cure heroin addiction, but it also kills the taste for food, stifles laughter, and transforms ones perception of the environment into something resembling soulless machinery, peopled by robots. Sex loses its appeal entirely, although the body still has all the normal physiological responses to orgasm. Without opioids, people seem to 10? ·· ENJOYMENT THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 108 be perfectly capable of copulating-they JUSt dont experience pleasure. 3 The situation gets even worse when the field is left to the endorphins opponents, the dynorphins. The misery caused by the resulting feelings are hard to describe. Experimental subjects who have ingested substances related to dynorphins report chills, insane thoughts, physical weakness, and a complete loss of self-control. Some of them found the experience so terrible that they wanted to jump out a window. 4 Rats reacted similarly when researchers removed the part of the midbrain controlled by opioids. Everything disgusted them. When they were given sweets that they had especially favored before the operation, they spat them out. If they hadnt been fed intravenously, they would have starved. 5 But what joy we feel when the endorphins and enkephalins are circulating in our heads! We suddenly notice an entire fireworks display of flavors when eating a perfectly normal dish. Our appetite grows and persists even when were actually full-a reason why pleasure in eating can lead to overweight. 6 Everything seems bright and friendly. If we could, wed embrace the whole world. We beam when we encounter perfect strangers, not only because were feeling so good, but because they really seem nice. Our happiness is spilling over-would that we could share itF When people are under the influence of this substance, they seem to be incapable of sadness. Even Helen of Troy knew after the Trojan War that her relatives needed an intoxicating drink to help ease their sense of loss. In the fourth book of the Odyssey we read: lnto the mixing-bowl from which they drank their wine she slipped a drug, hearts ease, dissolving anger, magic to make us all forget our pains ... No one who drank it deeply, mulled in wine, could let a tear roll down his cheeks that day, not even if his mother should die, his father die .. .8 Neuropharmacologists today assume that this mixture contained opium,9 and, indeed, into the nineteenth century treating anxiety and depression with opium was considered best medical practice. For the relief of the psychic pains nothing equals opium; wrote the author of an American rnedical textbook of the time. It is almost as specific in its action in relieving the mental suffering and depression ...10 Given its addictiveness, no one today would advise us to smoke opium to assuage our sadness. But the brain naturally creates a substance, beta-endorphin, which is much more effective than opium. As harmless as it is effective, it is produced by a gland of the midbrain, the hypophysis cerebri. Sometimes all it takes is a good meal. TASTE, SOURCE OF PLEASURES The close relationship between happiness and roast turkey is a marvel, as is the hearts resilience when a bottle of Marcobrunn parries its every beat; wrote the German novelist Theodor Fontane. 11 Since Fontane wasnt one to drown his sorrows in liquor, and German white wine is not all that potent, the explanation for this phenomenon lies in something other than alcohol. Tasting roasted meat and wine releases betaendorphins, which scatter sadness to the winds. But good feelings dont come from opioids alone. The entire body is set up for enjoyment. Nothing demonstrates this as clearly as the pleasure we get from food. Nourishment is a necessity of life, but eating is one of lifes great pleasures. And because our enjoyment of food is such an elementary happiness, it is the best 109 ·-· 110 THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS ENJOYMENT and also the best-researched example of all sensual pleasures. The machinery of taste shows the extent to which human beings are built for happiness and how useful enjoyment can be. If, as many religions believe, the body is Gods temple, then the mouth is its gateway. It is equipped with about three thousand taste buds, tiny little nubs a few hundredths of a millimeter high, mainly on the tongue. Each of these little bumps contains about fifty sense cells that respond to the different tastes. The taste sensors are the reason some people like spinach, for example, while others dont. A quarter of the population consists of so-called supertasters, who perceive bitterness and sweetness more intensely than the rest of us. Just what the combination of genes is that ruins the taste for spinach we dont yet know. Two groups of scientists, however, have recently identified hereditary factors that are responsible for the sense of sweetness. 12 release a nutrient solution that flowed through a tube directly into their stomachs, completely bypassing the taste/pleasure circuit. Although they could ingest as much as they wished, after a few weeks they lost almost a third of their weight. The Altogether, more than a hundred thousand nerve strands, bundled into two cords, pass taste information from the tongue to the brain. In addition, there are sensors that report heat and cold, and others that identify texture-whether its soft or crunchy, moist or dry. Cotton candy tastes different from caramel, although both are made of sugar. Finally, there are those sensors that register burning and thus respond to the spiciness of chilies. Every bite and every movement of the tongue sets off an entire firework display of electric signals. But the signals dont translate into pleasure until theyve been received in the brain. As I explained in the first chapter, nature invented positive feelings to seduce us into useful behavior. The pleasure we derive from taste serves to control our energy supply, as experimental psychobiologists have demonstrated on rats. If the rats-whod been given nothing to eat-wanted to receive nourishment, they had to press a lever, which would 13 pleasure that eating gives us is anything but a luxury. There is another reason a thousand things are indifferent to touch, hearing and sight, but nothing is indifferent to taste; as Jean-Jacques Rousseau observed. As omnivores, humans are not limited to a small menu-unlike dogs, for example, who eat little except meat, or cows, which feed only on grass and herbs. So humans are constantly having to try out unknown foods, which we evaluate with our sense of taste. Pleasure and distaste indicate what is likely to be good for us, and what not. Taste, however, doesnt always lead us to the correct conclusion. Notorious counterexamples are the pleasing taste of the deadly amanita mushroom, or the Japanese blowfish, on which more than one gourmet has feasted to death. Incidentally, humans do not recognize only four kinds of taste, but in all likelihood five, as scientists have recently discovered: sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness, and savory, also known by its Japanese name, umami. This signal is released by certain amino acids, like glutamate, which are found in meat but also 14 in foods like mushrooms, cheese, and tomatoes. Unsalted food tastes bland because the body needs salt to function, just as it also needs protein. But we tolerate bitter and sour tastes only moderately-a warning, for most poisons are bitter, and many sour fruits arent ripe. Instead, we devour anything sweet, for sugar is straight energy. Thus the dieters dilemma: evolution hadnt foreseen diets. It made its creatures to absorb as much nourishment as possible-as a precaution against bad times. The addiction to cake and ice cream is inscribed in our brains. 111 ... _._ ENJOYMENT THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS an otherwise so-so campfire meal tastes superb. Desperate times, desperate measures-but these sometimes turn out to be THE APPEAL OF MASSAGES 112 With the help of opioids, the brain evaluates everything that we experience, just as it does with food. When something good happens to us, it releases endorphins. But when bad things happen, its the dynorphins that give the signal. In this way evolution gets its creatures to do what they should do, and to do it gladly. Mammals have to care for their young. Because theyre under the influence of opioids, mothers pursue this task with enthusiasm. Endorphins and enkephalins sweeten responsibility: Reward and pleasure are always better motivators than force and fear of punishment. It is precisely those things that are most pleasant that are most necessary for the survival of the species. Sex is a good example: since nature wants us to pass on our genetic inheritance, opioids flow at orgasm. People also like to be stroked. And not only humans, but monkeys, cats, and guinea pigs are calmed by touch. 15 Even birds, when touched, release opioids in their brain. 16 Interestingly, the surge of opioids brought on by physical contact seems to be less about creating desire than assuaging fear and calming individual members of a group when they feel abandoned or frightened. When young animals are touched, they immediately stop making unhappy sounds. If theyre given opiates from an external source, their need for physical contact is diminished. People who are satisfied require less reassurance than those who arent. 17 And a massage can do miracles when we feel lonely or depressed. \ THE PATH TO HARMONY Enjoyment is a signal that the organism is getting what it needs. But what do we need? That depends. When were thirsty, water. When were hungry, food. When were sad, solace. When were thirsty, the first gulps taste the best, and after a strenuous hike, j 11 j~ l ,, rather appealing. Whenever lifes basic needs are missing, the body ascertains a deficit. When were hungry, for exam ... Purchase answer to see full attachment