the science of experiences and well-being

Now that I’m back in school, I learn a lot each week that I think, “wow, that’s so interesting, I’d love to share that with the tennie faithfuls!” So here we are, bringing you the biggest “ah-ha” moments from my classes. You’ll basically have your own MBA from reading!

And while we’re in a self-reflective mood today, I wanted to share a lecture from my class titled “The Science of Experiences and Well-Being,” where the professor provides a behavioral economics view of what makes people happy.

In the class, we spoke a bit about what well-being is and how to measure it. We learned about the Cantril Ladder, a universally accepted measurement of contentment. If you’ve ever heard that people in Sweden are the happiest in the world, that was probably measured from this scale.

How it works: Surveyers ask people to picture a ladder. At the top of the ladder is their absolute best life, and they basically ask people to describe – on a scale of 1 to 10 – how close or far away they feel from the top of the ladder. While not perfect, Cantril does a good job of not prescribing any one lifestyle as superior, instead asking people what their subjective vision of their ideal life is.

✨tennie tip: I’m not going to create a poll or anything, but I encourage you to think about it for a second. Where would you currently fall on the Cantril Ladder? And is there anything you can do over the next few weeks to reach the next rung on the ladder?

The other interesting thing we discussed was perception of contentment. According to a study, people believe others are less happy than they say, and this is consistent across the world. Person X will say they are at a 7 or 8 on the scale, but when asked what they believe others in their country likely responded, they say a number far below that.

This makes sense to me when you think about Kira’s social media piece a few weeks back. The loudest, angriest voices are often the most visible when you’re scrolling. The trolls and arguments that go down in the Comments section definitely contribute to the perception that everybody is miserable.

✨tennie tip: Being aware of what’s happening around the world is important, but online vitriol can perpetuate anxiety. At the end of the day, a troll is just a troll. Kind reminder to take care of yourself when you feel the sense of doomscrolling dread.