Most people have an innate sense of how happiness feels. However the study of the subject has required more formal definitions to be developed. Psychologists increasingly tend to use the phrase 'Subjective Well-being'. There is, in addition to Psychology, a second school of thought that we term 'Spiritual'. Unlike the Psychology approach, there is little compelling hard evidence as to its veracity. However the breadth of coverage of this school of thought means that it is worthy of inclusion in this article. If you'd like to learn more about this subject, I'd recommend you read the excellent 'The Psychology of Happiness'.

In psychology it is generally accepted that there are three parts to happiness: ·

- Satisfaction with life - our cognitive perspective on happiness ·

- Positive Affect - positive emotions, particularly joy ·

- The absence of Negative Affect - sources of psychological distress.

One of the surprising findings of Psychological research is that positive moods related to happiness (Positive Affect), are not the opposite of negative moods related to unhappiness (Negative Affect) and hence that happiness and unhappiness are to a large degree independent (Bradburn 1969). They correlate only by -.43 (Tellegen et al., 1988)). In other words the absence of psychological distress is only one aspect of being happy.

Satisfaction, the cognitive side of happiness, has also been shown to be independent of both positive and negative affect (Andrews & Withey 1976). It is believed that this is because these are processed by different parts of the brain. Those aspects of behaviour which create the tendency to approach things and seek reward are processed in the left hemisphere, those related to withdrawal and punishment avoidance in the right hemisphere (Davidson 1993).

Both Positive and Negative Affect are emotional factors in happiness. This contrasts with satisfaction, which is a cognitive perspective on happiness. There is one major positive state of happiness, most commonly referred to as 'joy'. This compares to unhappiness, which is connected with distinct and largely independent negative emotions of depression and anxiety. In addition there are a number of less common emotions in each area.

Emotions, whether they be positive or negative need to be viewed in terms of their intensity/depth and their frequency. Whilst both influence Affect, it is frequency of emotion that research suggests is the most important in its effect on happiness. In terms of happiness, we also need to be aware that there are different states - some are joyful with high-levels of arousal. Others are joyful and very relaxed.

A degree of propensity to be happy has been shown to be genetically determined through studies of twins (Lykken & Tellegen, 1996). Identical twins showed a vastly closer correlation in their happiness than did fraternal twins. It was estimated that genetics accounted for 55% of negative emotion, 48% of well-being and 40% of positive emotion. One genetic trait with clear links to happiness is Extraversion-introversion. Extraverts tend to get greater responses to external stimuli, so go out into the world with a view to meeting people and doing things. This tends to result in them being involved in more social relationships, which tends to make them happier. There is a .50 correlation between extraversion and happiness. On the flip side, there is also a strong correlation between neuroticism and unhappiness, especially Negative Effect where it is almost equivalent (Costa & McRae, 1980, Watson & Clark 1984). This leaves a group of happy people who are both introvert and not neurotic. It is believed that their happiness is caused by a combination of optimism, purpose in life, self-esteem and belief in personal control over events. It is also believed that each of these are cognitive skills that can be taught using skillsets like NLP™. They are described as being dependent upon how we frame events in our minds. For example do we see the causes as due to ourselves or other people, do we feel the causes to be permanent or temporary, or tell ourselves that they are just lessons to be learnt as we go through life.

Gender has some, albeit a small impact on happiness. In general women tend to experience higher and lower extremes of emotion, and tend to express these more (Diener et al., 1985). Women tend to suffer from 50% more depression than men. Explanations vary, though the most likely is that women tend to ruminate on a problem, thereby prolonging and deepening it (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). In contrast men tend to distract themselves though activity, which has the effect of lessening the connected emotions.

This second model of Happiness originates mostly from the world's religions, and in recent times has been picked up by many writers of 'Self Improvement' type books. Whilst it is a little tricky to trace the source of the model, it is generally ascribed to a religious figure (e.g. Buddha, Christ, or sometimes less well known people, e.g. Krishnamurti). The general story is that this person came to be close to 'God'/'Nirvana'/'The Godhead' thorough spiritual practice and experienced pure bliss, then taught what they had learned to mankind.

If one looks at the findings of the relatively new field of Transpersonal Psychology, then there is a consistent series of levels of expanded consciousness. Click here to find out more about these.

Reports by spiritualists who have reached these levels of consciousness (and there are a lot of them) describe increasing happiness, with absolute bliss at the highest. The model of the world they describe is that: 'All things are connected' - in other words everything that exists is part of a larger entity that functions as a collective whole. This is the sense that 'I' is not the same as one's ego and body, and that it transcends these to be a part of something larger. At this point people cease to fear the death of the body, since they perceive that 'I' lives on. 'Everything is one' - At this level, there are no boundaries. The 'I' is everything. Once you reach a level of consciousness where you experience this, then you can no longer be made happy/unhappy by events, since you are those events.

In reaching these levels there is a common belief that you have to let go of all things connected with the ego - money, status, relationships etc., since the desire for these is what drives unhappiness. To many people, this sounds like gibberish. Indeed the Psychology community (except the Transpersonals) tends to treat this model with disdain. Whilst they ascribe positive affects to being religious, they suggest these are a mixture of having a purpose in life, beliefs about closeness to God, and the social factors surrounding the Church or other religious community. The Spiritual Model claims a much deeper form of happiness, though suggests that a very small proportion of 'religious' people actually experience this type of happiness.