Philosophies of Happiness: Preferences for Experienced and Remembered Happiness

Which life would you prefer: a life where you experience happiness on a moment-to-moment basis such that you feel happy during your life; or a life that you reflect back on and feel happy thinking about and remembering? Now, imagine answering this same question for just your next hour, rather than for your life overall – would you choose an hour of experienced happiness or remembered happiness? We explore not only people’s preferences for happiness, but also examine how these different philosophies of happiness play out in how people spend their hours – and ultimately how they live their lives. Blaise Pascal observed, “All men seek happiness. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.” Although everyone wants to be happy and research has begun informing this universal pursuit, the factors shown to be associated with happiness seem to be largely dependent on how happiness is assessed (Kahenman and Deaton 2010; Nelson et al. 2012; Stone et al. 2010). While some of the research treats happiness as a moment-to-moment state, where the goal is to optimize the happiness people experience over the course of their daily lives (Csikszentmihaly and Hunter 2003; Kahneman et al. 2004; Killingsworth and Gilbert 2010; Mogilner 2010; White and Dolan 2009), other research asks people to evaluate their happiness by reflecting back on their lives more generally (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin 1985; Easterlin 1995; Lyubomirsky and Lepper 1999). Kahneman (2011) describes this distinction as experienced happiness (being happy in your life) versus remembered happiness (being happy about your life). Although there has been considerable research identifying factors that are associated with each kind of happiness, researchers have not asked people which form of happiness they would prefer. In short, we ask the question: which happiness are people looking to optimize?