X+Y = HAPPINESS

Alex Sharpe

Tabloid newspapers, trashy magazines and so-called ‘Self-Help’ books are constantly giving us advice on how to make ourselves happier. Be it through fad diets, finding the man or woman of our dreams or how to ace that interview, we’ve seen it all! But is there actually a formula to happiness? And how can we even begin to judge something as subjective as happiness?

Research conducted by the World Happiness Database suggests that although having meaning in life increases happiness; it is actually living an active life that most greatly increases our happiness. Unsurprisingly, being in a long-term relationship, actively engaging in politics, going out for dinner and having close friends all increase happiness. However, unexpectedly, men tend to be happier in a society with greater gender equality (proof that feminism is the way forward), good looks increases the happiness of men more than of women, and having children lowers happiness levels until they grow up and leave home. Interestingly, being sad for 10% of the time is actually beneficial, as it allows for greater appreciation of the positive emotions. So next time exam stress is getting you down, think of how much happier you will be after exams are finished because of it!

However, this research begs the question of how investigators worked out the relative happiness various events brought to individuals when every person is so different and their perception of joy is very subjective. Some social factors were looked at to judge happiness: years of schooling, student performance rates, income levels and mental health. On a societal level, gender wage gaps, income equality, mortality and poverty rates are also used as indicators of happiness. 

But do these indicators only paint a small fraction of the picture, when happiness can fluctuate so greatly from moment to moment. As each person derives pleasure from different activities, any study into happiness attempts to put a qualitative figure on the abstract emotion that is happiness. Surely the key to happiness is not fulfilling a formula through political activism and a long-term relationship, among other things, but to instead do things that make us happy and not to fixate on ticking boxes? Although, of course, if ticking boxes is what makes you happy maybe a happiness formula is for you!

'Mothers and Others' by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy - A Short Review

Isabel Sherman

Are you looking for a new read?  Maybe even something that will enhance your understanding of Psychology?  'Mothers and Others' is definitely a highly recommended book by Izy, you should read why...

Sarah Hrdy is an American anthropologist, primatologist and author who has made significant contributions to our understanding of evolutionary psychology and socio-biology.

Published in 2011, Hrdy’s Mothers and Others is her most recent book. The book takes the reader through the evolutionary origins of mutual understanding, and demonstrates why humans are able to empathise and cooperate in ways unlike any other animal. Hrdy begins by showing that what separates humans from other primates is the ability to question, observe and discuss abstract concepts, including the past and the future. 

Benevolence is also a unique feature of human cognition, and adults are wired for shared care and the upbringing of offspring using ‘alloparents’ (non-biological parents). A non-human primate would rarely trust the care of their baby to someone else. These unique abilities have allowed the human race to develop intellectually into the most dominant species on earth. Hrdy questions how it was possible that the more empathetic and generous hunter-gatherers prospered in ancient African landscapes, which were primarily occupied by highly self-centred apes. She shows that even before language, there must have been an endemic desire to communicate, and so humans must have been far more interested in each other’s inner feelings than were other apes. 

Humans descended from a common ancestor from Africa between 50,000 and 150,000 years ago, we are the first anatomically modern creatures to have thought symbolically and used language. But why us and not them? Why did humans benefit from empathy and mutual understanding when other apes remained selfish and aggressive? Hrdy’s book speculates that the evolutionary pressure for cooperative breeding, combined with emotional modernity in apes with bigger brains and bodies, extended lifespans and prolonged childhoods, caused such emotional modernity to flourish early in hominid evolution long before language did. Other apes lacked an environment in which mind reading and sharing could develop and then be subjected to selective pressures.

Hrdy uses evidence from genetics, fossil records, comparative and developmental psychology and anthropological research in order to present her argument. Her simple and clear explanations allow readers who have no biological knowledge to understand her writings.

Hrdy shows how the human brain is adapted specifically for sympathetic interrelations; a large amount of brain tissue is allocated to processing faces, expressions and gestures and the neocortex allows a baby to form attachments to the mother. Selection pressure clearly favoured people who could read others’ mental states. Babies today babble and maintain eye contact in order to attract the care of alloparents, and therefore to survive.

Over 2 million years, natural selection led to the evolution of cognitive tendencies which encouraged infants to stay connected with others even when out of physical contact; babies became more skilled in this ability to read and trust adults who were not their biological parents. This also had an effect on the capabilities of older people. Young adults would ‘practice’ caring for others’ babies, allowing them to develop skills which would eventually lead to their children surviving and passing on their genes.  

Hrdy finally relates her research to today’s upbringing of children. She demonstrates how alloparental care is often not required, and grandparents, aunts and family friends may not be used in today’s society. Many children are therefore being brought up without forging trusting relationships with adults other than their parents. She demonstrates the correlation between a lack of empathy and understanding in adulthood and children who have been brought up without strong relationships during childhood.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in evolutionary and developmental psychology, as well as anthropology. It is readable, enjoyable and accessible and provides an excellent explanation of the origins of mutual understanding in humans. 

Intrigued? Click here to Buy 'Mothers and Others' now and find out more!

Food Glorious Food

Noureen Lakhani

Ask yourself these question: What makes you hungry? Why do you get hungry? Does hunger cause eating?

Pear and Chocolate Crumble, as per NLCS tradition, looking enticing?

It seems quite logical to say that we eat simply because we are hungry.  We experience a signal of hunger whereby certain events take place in our bodies when we haven’t eaten for a certain period of time and these act together to ‘signal’ us to eat.

However, have you ever considered that it could be possible to eat in the absence of hunger, or eating despite not being hungry?  This is probably a situation we have all found ourselves in; being tempted to eat by the smell of food or the look crunchy yet soft pear and chocolate crumble.  This suggests that hunger isn’t necessary for eating.  

Blundell and Hill (1995) carried out an experiment that promoted an ‘appetite control system’ where hunger, eating and physiological mechanisms are coupled together.  These physiological mechanisms could include eating because the level of nutrients in our body have fallen below a certain point.

One of the most earliest formal theories were proposed by Cannon and Washurn in 1912.  They conducted an experiment where Washburn swallowed an empty balloon tied to the end of a thin tube.  Cannon would then pump some air into the balloon and connect the end of the tube to a U-tube glass filled with with water.  This initiated Wasburn’s stomach to contract and increase the level of water in the other end of the U-tube.  A ‘hunger pang’ - stomach contraction resulting in hunger - was noted each time a large contraction was recorded.  The results confirmed that when there is food in your stomach, small contractions known as peristaltic contractions, mixed the food and moved it along the digestive tract.  However, when the stomach is empty, the contractions were larger, reporting hunger.  

Other factors that influence eating  can be eating for pleasure.  Food has incentive properties that anticipate pleasure-producing effects and drive us to eat that food. There are many food-predicted cues, or conditioned stimuli, such as the smell of food, the dinner bell, or seeing 12:25 on the clock which trigger salivation, insulin secretion and gastric secretions.  These metabolic events are called cephalic phase responses.  These responses can be conditioned  by our senses which causes us to feel hungry at those times of the day when we usual eat, regardless of the fact that we are not experiencing an energy deficit.  

Looking at these conclusions may be no surprise to you, but simply reinstates the idea that we enjoy eating whether we our body needs food or not.  It is tumours in the hypothalamus that cause hyperphagia (excessive overeating).  What I want to question is what exactly is in the food that we eat that makes it our favourite?  Is it that it is served hot, or that the texture is how we enjoy it?  Most importantly, might social factors play a greater role in rather than in your eating?

Why do we sleep?

Noureen Lakhani

The average person spends 36% of their life sleeping - but why do we sleep? Moreover, why do we dream?

The hypothalamus in the brain has a biological clock underneath it – tells us when it’s good to be up, when to sleep and interacts within other areas of the hypothalamus, combining to send projections down to the brain stem.  This then projects forwards, bathes the cortex with neurotransmitters that keep us awake and provide us with consciousness.
Director of the Sleep Disorders Centre at Newton Wellesley Hospital, Boston suggests that "...a possible (though certainly not proven) function of a dream is to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events."  Many theories for dreams have also been thought of, all open to interpretation of course. 

Have you ever considered whether other animals dream?  Research shows that rats have had dreams about running in a maze. An experiment was carried out where a rat was hooked up to a device that measured the pattern of neurones firing in the hippocampus - the part of the brain involved in memory.  The rats performed many tasks in the maze and produced distinctive brain patterns, some of which were reproduced during their sleep.  This lead scientists to conclude that the rats were dreaming about running through the maze.  The correlation was so high that the scientists were able to place where in the maze the rat was dreaming and whether the rat was dreaming of running or walking.  Just imagine what a nightmare this must have been for the rat.

Do you think that dreams have real significance?  Or are dreams simply random events that occur while we sleep? Find out more from this TED Video - Russel Foster: Why do we sleep?

Snippet from BBC news on “National Lottery: Why do people still play?”

Since 1994, the Lotto has been a popular game for the public and even with the price of Lotto tickets doubling to £2 in October 2013, players still keep buying more tickets - but what grabs them every time?

Neal Stewart, a professor of psychology at Warwick University believes the slim prospect of a big event can cloud reason.

"It works in the same way with the probability of bad things happening - such as a person's fear of the plane they're flying in crashing" he said. "People believe that rare events are more likely when there is an emotional context to them. They focus on the emotion and don't acknowledge the chances of it happening. If you don't play the lottery you definitely can't win. If you want to indulge the dream you have to have a ticket.”

Do you know family or friends who play Lotto? What makes them keep buying tickets?  Is it a psychological need and desire to continue testing your luck? 

Read more about it on BBC News - National Lottery

Clothing and Psychology: Revealing the common misconceptions -

Chisato Tsuji 

So you think you know what looks good and what doesn't? Psychology begs to differ...

Which shoe looks smaller to you? (They're both the same size!)

• Black clothes do not make you look slimmer. They show you as your true size by sharpening your outline. 

• Warm colours make you seem less slim. It looks expanded with the blurred outline and makes you seem closer than you actually are. Cool colours make you look slimmer. It seems further away with the clear outline. (This principle is also used in art where things in the distance e.g. mountains are painted with cool colours and objects closer are painted with warm colours. 

• Horizontal lines make people more submissive. Horizontal lines are associated with mental stability and lack of desire to attack. This is may be why many sailors and criminals used to wear horizontal lined clothes. It is also more likely that someone will listen to you without objection when they’re wearing such clothes. 

• Want to look younger? Don’t wear skirts/dresses that show your knees. Showing your knees has the psychological effect of making someone look older, especially if you’re over 30. 

• Short torso? Wear V-necks. 

• Dress against the situation if you want people to be interested. Comedians should wear suits, and if you are going to be serious, wear casual clothing. Wearing formal clothes when talking serious make you seem contrived. A research showed university students took 7 times more interest, when the teacher wore jacket/jeans instead of a suit, despite talking about the same topics. The dissonance of the situation and the clothing creates interest. 

• Research has shown that the T can make you up to 12% more attractive, as it makes the chest look broader and the waist slimmer. For maximum effect, the horizontal bar should be equal or longer than the vertical. The illusion has more percentage increase for chubbier men than those who are already toned.

Psychology exists in our everyday lives

Laura Plumley

What is Psychology? Why does it relevant to me?  

Although most of us never even think of the word ‘psychology’, it is a science that most of us will have to apply in our lives. If we use it carefully, it can make life much easier. For example, I’m sure most of us know at least one person who is always convinced that she/he knows exactly how to spend a free day. They always have a plan ready – something they want to do and the rest of the group are supposed to agree with.  In this situation, if you can manage to introduce your own suggestion , whilst making the dominant one believe she/he had thought of it first, you can usually get at least some of your own way!

Applied psychology is often used even in the ‘lay-out’ of work space: should an office be ‘open-plan,’ for instance, to give the workers the feeling that they are all equal? The choice of colours in work places is also psychologically important, because different colours can have different effects on people’s moods: bright colours having a cheerful effect whilst gentle pastel shades can calm people.

As you can see from these few thoughts on the subject, psychology has an immensely important role in our lives. As the American psychologist William James wrote in 1890 – ‘psychology is the science of mental life!’